No kidding? I was thinking the 20" would be so nice and handy. What makes you think you'd like the extra two inches?
I think that for me personally, a 22" would be just as handy. For you, maybe not. ! Just a personal thing. I've hunted heavy brush forest most of my life with much longer barrels than 22", and have never found the short barrels to have any
actual advantage. They certainly "
seem" to handle faster, but I've never found even a 30" barrel to
actually slow me down as far as getting on target, or threading my way through heavy brush. But I would not say that is true for everyone. Having said all that, my .350 has a 20" barrel. !!! Also, to my eye, a 22" barrel on a bolt gun just has a better "look", which has nothing to do with anything.
If
you think 20" would be more nice and handy, then
you are right.
I could also say, that with a blindfold on, I'm not sure how someone could tell whether they were holding a rifle with a 20" or 22" barrel. Yeah yeah, I don't hunt with a blindfold on either. Seems like it sometimes when I don't see any game. But even looking at a rifle, depending on the length of the action, sometimes it is hard to make a good guess as to barrel length. I have a single shot with a 26" barrel, and you have to get out a tape measure to believe it. I can hand it to anyone, and they will guess that it's a 24" at most.
On ballistics, one can argue that 60fps is not enough difference to make a difference, but I think any/every little difference "helps". But again, that's a personal judgement. And, how far can you take it? Maybe an 18" barrel is just "as good" as far as ballistics. How about a 16", or 14"? However, I would agree, 60fps is not something to worry about, but would we worry or debate that an
extra 60fps is a bad thing? !! But if one thinks the boost in confidence of the rifle being more handy is greater than 60fps, then the confidence is more important.
Anyhow, that's where I'm coming from on that. I was only speaking in terms of personal opinion, and nothing to back up with hard facts. Kind of a "Mary Anne vs. Ginger" thing.