Well, I'm about to become the owner of a Smith and Wesson 916 12 gauge shotgun. It was my dad's home defense shotgun, and mom wants me to have it. Well, I'm a handgun and rifle guy. Never had much use for a shotgun since I don't hunt. I've fired shotguns before, even carried one for a while in the Army. Other than that, I don't know anything about shotguns. The reason I'm asking is that this Smith has a barrel that measures 28" from the fron of the reciever to the end of the barrel. For my purposes, as a home defense/utility firearm, that barrel is just too long. My immediate thought was just to have someone cut the barrel down to about 20-22 inches. But, sa I read more about shotguns, I see that at the end of the barrel there's a choke that impacts the spread of the shot. So, I'm assuming (dangerous, I know) that it's not a simple matter of taking a saw or pipe cutter to the barrel and making it shorter, that you have to do something to the barrel to make it pattern accurately? Also, there's the issue of the bead front sight for aiming. I'm guessing that this isn't a home gunsmithing job, am I right? Or, am I overthinking this, and is it as simple as a quick cut and a soldering job?