doublegunshop.com - home Forums Thread Like Summary - Opinions on 27” barrels

How many of you guys use them and for what mainly? I’m not a fan of 26 inchers. Do you much difference from 28’s?

IMO the balance and dynamics of the gun are more important than the barrel length.

After a long time believing 28 was a rock bottom minimum, I came to the conclusion I'd only been cheating myself. One's height had nothing to do with it. One's preconceptions and acclimation have everything to do with it.

Totally agree, But, consider that the balance and dynamics may better for a person, with longer barrels. A person with long arms, like myself (35" sleeve) naturally places the front hand farther out on the forend, which means it's farther out from the center of balance. By doing so the perceived MOI is changed and a 30" barrel may feel the same to that person as a 26" might to a shorter armed individual.

Shorter barrels are not exclusively indicative of quick (or good) handling. There are many other factors that go into that, only one of which I just indicated above.

I have a Belgian 12ga SLE “best” gun with the metric equivalent of 27” (it’s 27-1/4” I think) and as much as I’d like to not like that gun I shoot it about as well as anything. It’s choked pretty tight with about 5” of taper and just flat-out kills birds.

Taught me not to judge a gun by its barrel length.

I think trends in shooting are no different than trends in clothing. Some are more susceptible to the latest hot fashions. Lots of people jump on a bandwagon lead by a few vocal "experts" and ride for a while before another bandwagon comes along that suddenly looks more attractive. If I can track a bird across the yard with just my finger at the end of my extended arm, I can probably track a bird with a pair of 26" barrels. And so it is.

I can't believe that so many of you think that 1" of barrel legnth will make a big differance in the handling of a shotgun.
Most of you probably wouldn't notice.

Of 17 guns I have 4 guns with 27inch barrels. Only two shorter.

I have found 27 inch barrels linked with good balance is not a problem.

If I had a dream pair of 16’s they would have 27 inch barrels and maybe a second set of 29 inch barrels too.

At 6'2" and 235 lbs 27 inchers are still too short. 28s I can deal with, but prefer 29s and 30s.

I “compromised” on my 16 bore round action and bought a gun with 27” barrels. 28” is my minimum, ordinarily. Sometimes it is necessary to compromise on a desired aspect of a gun in order to acquire an obscure caliber or configuration. The gun is well balanced, lightweight 6lbs., completely hand made, and engraved by a well known engraver, And I shoot it very well. But when I carry it, it just feels stubby. I can’t quantify or measure the feeling, which may be unwarranted, but it is there. I don’t think I will buy another 27” gun…

Fine for quail, woodcock, maybe grouse (dunno). Five inches too short for me for dove, duck, sporting clays.

Edited to add: The question of barrel length is not, for me, what can I get by with using, but what do I use BEST. A lifetime of shooting flying has convinced me I shoot better averages, in most situations, with longer barrels. The best woodcock day I ever had was shooting a 30" barreled 28 gauge. Different strokes for different folks.

I have three guns with 27" barrels; a E.J. Churchill 12 bore O/U, a Scott Premier 12 bore light game gun w/ two sets of 27 1/4" barrels, IC/Mod & Mod/Full, and a Scott Premier 16 bore with 27 1/4" Cyl/Mod bbls. I love them; super fast handling and I'm 6'4" w/ 35" sleeve length. Trends in shotgunning are strange; used to be that everyone wanted 26" barrels for quail guns and light weight. Clays shooting has changed the whole picture. Now, you can hardly give away a short barrelled shotgun, particularly a 12. I've never felt at a disadvantage using one. Sandlapper

It would be interesting to see how many guys here could look at a shotgun from 6 feet away, or even hold it in their hands, and know at a glance if it had 27" or 28" barrels without actually using a tape measure.

Barrel length is but one of many factors that may have an effect upon the ability of a shooter to regularly hit a moving target. Guys have mentioned other factors like balance and dynamics, moment of inertia, gun weight, and choke boring. But nobody mentioned gun fit, which I feel may be the hardest thing to overcome while attempting to hit a fast moving target, if it isn't close to correct.

I experienced the negative bias on a 27" barreled H. Atkin BLE 12 ga. that I sold via auction this past spring. Barrel length and gauge were the negatives. It was lettered from the current records holder as being made and sold for a particular individual in 1938 with 27" barrels, one of a matched pair. It had simple border engraving and straight grained wood. Nothering fancy but with bright original case coloring remaining. It was in excellent original shape. Someone got lucky on it as it sold below $1K. Things more than evened out for me with other guns in the auction, however, but they were all subgauges. Gil