I think it depends on how and where you hunt. I'm mostly a still hunter and just love hunting the edges of cedar swamps and beaver bogs. While not common moving on hands and knees is not unheard of. The 8" D.W. seamed a bit much, the 5.5" S.B.H. is about right. Although one wouldn't think that 2.5" would matter that much.?. For hard wood ridges he D.W. was as sweet a gun that ever left the factory. Well my 39 M94 32wcf excepted ofcourse