What's the best shotgun barrel length?

[glockshooter]

I’m in the process of selecting a shotgun and trying to choose what's the best in terms of handling, recoil, and sight plane. For those who have experimented with different barrel lengths, which one did you prefer the most?

 

[DR505]

That depends on the target. I had a 14" barrel Remington 870 with Trijicon rifle sights issued from my agency for anti-personnel, I have various barrel lengths for different gauges and applications...goose, upland game, deer, etc. There is no one size fits all. I sure miss that Parkerized 14" 870 though.