I have stayed away from shortened barrels, re-choked and re-chambered guns- But I have an 'optical illusion perhaps' with these "Given factors for me- (1) I shoot 12 gauge shotguns 95% of the time (2) at age 70 I still have 20-20 vision with perfect depth perception (3) I am right handed and have a right dominant eye- no cast on or off (4) Any shotgun stocked about like a factory original field grade Model 12 from 1936 to 1960 will fit me well (5) I always shoot from the low gun position- with the butt tucked up under my right armpit- learned a lot from the H&H Ken Davies Videos-
That being said- I have two LC Smiths with different barrel lengths and ribs- a 1945 Ideal FWE 12 with 26" barrels and the raised solid rib they brought out in about 1939- no middle bead sight- and that raised rib makes the barrels seem (to my vision anyway) more like a 28" barreled 12 (my 3E and my GHE)-- But the flip side-my favorite Tower bird, goose and turkey 12 (since I sold the heavy HE Super-Duper Fox anyway) is a 2E 12 Smith rebarreled with 32" Nitro Steel barrels, factory ventilated rib with NO middle bead sight- and not a Longrange- it has 3" chambers and the steel Y lower rib reinforcement- and that cannon with the ventilated rib makes (again, just to my vision) the barrels seem shorter- much like the 30" Crown Steel barrels on my 12 gauge 2E--
I don't notice that illusion with my M12's however- 2 12 ga. M12's I own- a field 30" mfg. 1937 (Dad's gun) with a factory solid rib Full choke- and a 1948 Pigeon Grade trap with the old style milled rib- 30" Imp. Mod. choke- I focus on the bird anyways, whether clay or feathers-
You have to be very careful- about 6 years ago at an area gun show, I saw a nice 4E NID 20 bore with straight grip, single trigger, early NID with the visible cocking indicators- priced at about $2250- I asked the dealer, a man whom I knew slightly, for OK to examine it- he said "go ahead' and handed it to be-as I reached for my 10' Stanley tape rule, he "jumped the gun" and said- Those are 28" barrels, no need to measure- but I did- three times and each time I read 26 & 3/4"- He knew the "jig was up" and I removed the forearm and read the barrel choke numerical code- No 4 in each barrel- so- my guess-it was originally a 28" barreled gun Full choke in each tube- and some "hacksaw Jack" wanted to open the patterns- Wrong move- I would NOT have bought that Ithaca for any price-you can never re-sell it to anyone that knows what to look for-
