When did the increased desirability of longer barrels begin & why is that so?

[randallro]

I’m small and light and I like shotguns that are too. I shoot all the short presentations and rabbits at sporting with a 20 inch 20 gauge coach gun. haha...not the norm but it works. I use more conventional guns for the longer shots...like my VH 30 inch. I’m fairly new to this and just do it for fun so I just don’t know better.

[Mike Franzen]

I like shooting both the long and short. I have 24” bbl 12 ga I like for wild quail, grouse or woodcock. For game where fast shooting isn’t necessary, ducks, geese, turkeys, I like the longer bbls. For targets, which I shoot for fun, I like longer bbls.

[Drew Hause]

Interesting how what was old is new again

1878 available in 28", 30" & 32"



1898 Sears 28", 30" & 32"

"We can made shorter or longer barrels..."



1906 now 26" listed



Edwin Hedderly, Forest & Stream, December 26, 1908, “Twenty Bores for Duck Shooting” began promoting long barrel small bores for waterfowl
https://books.google.com/books?id=ej...C&pg=PA1018&vq

Response February 27, 1909, “Small-bore Guns and Loads”
https://books.google.com/books?id=nE...AJ&pg=PA337&dq

Hedderly was the editor of Western Field starting in July 1910, and beginning in September 1910 he ran a series of articles on the smallbore shotgun. He received several guns from Parker Brothers in exchange for ads. April 4, 1911 he ordered a 32-inch 28-gauge pistol grip DHE engraved “Wildfowl Mfg Expressly for E.L. Hedderly.” April 26, 1912 he ordered a 20-gauge 32-inch A1-Special, and May 14, 1912 a 32-inch 16-gauge A1-Special.


1912

26" only listed for the small gauges



Parker Brothers’ “Advent Of The Small Bore Gun”
Breeder & Sportsman October 3, 1914
https://archive.org/details/breeders...p?view=theater


IMHO part of the move to 26" barrel doubles corresponded to the introduction of Skeet in 1926

The Ithaca "Skeet Special"



Hunter Arms' offering was initially named the "Skeet Upland Special" with barrel lengths of 25" to 32"; 26" was the most popular



The cover of the August 1926 National Sportsman by William Harnden Foster was “the first painting ever published of a scene in the new sport of Skeet” and possibly depicted his son using Foster Sr’s 27" barrel 20 gauge Parker DHE.