barrel length 28" or
30"
camo or black synthetic?, I know most will say camo, does it make that much difference?

Barrel length is strictly a matter of preference, camo may be preferred as it allows for a bit more undetected movement but it's no deal breaker, especially in a good blind. Just make sure your gun/chokes are capable of shooting steel shot. P_102

30" barrels are a carryover from when you needed that much barrel to burn all the powder in high brass loads. 28" is all you need these days unless you perceive a pointing/swinging advantage with the 30" barrel. Camo guns look better than black guns to me.

I prefer 26 personally but have a 28 as well. Can't imagine a 30. That's too long in my opinion. The long length doesn't give any real advantage besides the feel of the swing. Just my opinion though.

28" on a 3" gun and 26" on 3.5" gun is what I prefer...it doesn't make a hill of beans difference, get which one you prefer the feel of.

On the camo...it's worth the additional cost of not worrying about rust and especially if you take one to the coast.

2 inches of barrel isn't going to make a huge difference but if I had a preference I'd go with 28, little lighter and easier to swing. I'd say you don't want a shiny blued steel gun but so long as you're sitting still in a good blind a matte gun will be fine. However, if I had a preference I'd prefer camo for the times that I'm just standing in the water outside of my blind. This is why I went with a camo 28" gun.

Black and 28"

Swing them both and see which you prefer. If like the 30 a lot better, than get it. If you can't tell the difference, or not interested in even messing with trying them both, then go for the 28, it is most popular, so your resell is better, and shorter is better when going thru weeds and stuff.

Shoot what feels good to you. If you like your gun, who cares what the guy next to you think.

I like Wood and 28 inch.

+1

26 auto for teal

28 pump or auto for big ducks...

but i kill um with a 20g too... no need to split hairs

I'd venture to guess that way more ducks have been taken w/blued steel and wood auto-5's, 870's and Ithica 37's than all the plastic stuff...

As long as it's synthetic I don't care if it's black or camo, that being said, I don't hunt the coast. I prefer synthetic because I know my guns will get muddy and wet, it's inevitable. Ive carried wood stocked shotguns but after a season the wear and tear is obvious on the wood. I've never had birds flare because I was carrying my black synthetic that day instead of my camo. Barrel length is preference, used to hunt with a guy that shot a mossberg with a 24" barrel, he didn't have problems killing birds.

I'd say it depends on what you are doing. If you are only hunting geese a 30" would be the way to go. If you are doing everything, get a 28". If you are just shooting decoying ducks in timber or a faster duck like teal, I'd go with a 26".

I hunt a 26" and it kills em pretty dern good, but a 28" should be just fine. As far as camo v. black, I buy black simply because I want to be as far removed from the Duck Dynasty image as possible. I'd bet a case of your favorite shells that there has never been a bird that flared because a guy had a black gun instead of camo

That depends more on the guy than the gun, but geese will flare on camo or black guns.

28" is what i think swings best.