I grew up shooting 26in barrel Remington 870s at summer camp. Proud to say I was hitting 80-90% of the clays in five stand. Fast forward a few years to college and I was hitting 80-90% of trap clays with my buddy's Browning Maxus. I graduated and bought my first gun last summer. A Benelli Nova with 28in barrel. Since purchasing, I have been hitting only about 50% of my clays (10 trips to shoot trap), 40% of my doves (7 dove hunts), and maybe 20% of my ducks (2 duck hunts). I don't know if I have just become a bad shot or if my gun doesn't fit right.

I am 5'8" 135lbs; so not a big guy. I do admit the Nova feels and looks a bit goofy with me since it is rather a large shotgun (50in, 8lbs). Am I shooting a gun that is too big for me? Do I just need more practice? Should I try to sell it and buy something else?
I don't want to buy a shorter barrel bc that is $400 for a new barrel on a gun that I paid $425 for. I am also hesitant to sell or trade it because it is the first gun I've ever owned. But I am considering it.

Looking for advice because I am new here. I am the only one in my family that hunts and I just started hunting this past September 2020. So I am still learning. Any tips or advice on what I should do are greatly appreciated.

Don’t worry about barrel length. Shotguns are made to fit the ‘average’ sized person, (whatever that is), and can be a bit off for some but usually nothing too serious. Simple test: shoulder your gun with your eyes closed then open them to see if you’re looking straight down the barrel. If not it’s probably an easy fix and many manufacturers include stock shims with the gun for that reason. Also, educate yourself on your chokes and which to use at certain distances....many people way ‘over choke’, causing a miss where a more open choke would have been fine.

^^^^ agreed

Also, shoot it on a pattern board...make sure it's shooting where you are looking.

Good point, Judd.

man, been there and had the same issues. I used a rem 20 ga english stock for years growing up and into high school. went cheap with the nova and didn't have the success. pattern the gun is spot on as well as spending the time to line your eye back up. reaction time as well as point of shot might be a little off. now I try to pull through the skeet more and lead birds more because my reaction time is different. you might not want to admit it, but you have changed just as much as the gun has changed. practice is hard because you are reprogramming your own reactions/actions to match what works, not what has worked. hard to blame the gun, most times this comes down to a simple fact, don't blame the paint brush, it is typically the painter.

Fit could very well be the issue. I have a $1500 Benelli that feels like it fits great but i cant hit anything with. I have a $700 Browning that feels like im holding a 2x4 but i shoot it lights out.

Could be fit. I am about your height and find the length of pull on the Nova to be a little too long for me. If I were you, I'd try to get an aftermarket recoil pad that is a little thinner, or trade for the SuperNova so that you can adjust the stock.

Maybe just go back to an 870.