I am looking at 20ga Merkels, AyA's and Arrieta's at the moment. I plan to use the gun solely for Upland hunting. I am finding a lot of used guns with 27" barrels at the moment. Does the shorter barrel length effect the value? Is that why I am seeing them sit while others with 28" or 29" barrels are selling more quickly?

I prefer 28" tubes when in the field but is that one less inch a deal breaker? I assume it'll be dependent on each individual gun and how they balance but unfortunately I can't handle any of these guns prior to purchase as they are all online sales and not even remotely local to me.

So what says the tribe, should I hold out for a 28" gun or save some coin and grab one of these 27" guns now?

Is the gun exactly 27" or 27.55"? A typical Continental gun often has 70 centimeter barrels--27.55". It might not have been made in 28". It wouldn't bother me if it were a 27" gun if the gun was otherwise okay. Gil

There is definitely less demand for shorter barrels, everything else being equal.

Shoot a 27" barrel Arrieta in 12g and its a fine gun to shoot!

The 27” barrels were a standard off-the-rack length, particularly on small-gauge guns, back around the turn of this century. When some of the importers and dealers started ordering all of their guns with longer barrel lengths, the manufacturers started producing more guns with longer tubes to meet the popularity of longer barrels. It took us a little time and ordering some serious quantity of AyA guns for Cabela’s to convince them to make ours with 29” barrels.

I have a 27" 16 bore trigger plate gun and I must say I prefer the feel and swing of other examples I have handled by the maker in 29". This is of course all subjective and probably not empirical as many on this board have pointed out to me, but it remains a mental strike against the gun. No MOI or teeter-totter analysis can cure this mental black mark. On the plus side, it gives me an excuse when I miss.

Lol, I think this is where I stand with it as well. I simply prefer the 28" barrels and no matter how good of a deal I can get on the 27" guns I think it would always be there in the back of my mind eating away at me lol.

This makes a lot of sense. I have a 20ga Beretta Golden Piegeon QU that has 26.5" barrels and it was built in 2002 so of that era. It's the one double gun I have that has shorter barrels and for some reason I don't mind it with that gun in particular and I shoot it quite well. The funny thing is that it's actually 2oz. lighter than my smaller baby frame 28ga 686 with 28" barrels. I guess that extra 1.5" of steel adds up. It appears to have denser wood as well.

27 inch barrels wouldn't stop me from buying the gun if it had other attributes I liked. I have guns with 26 to 30 inch barrels and I can hit or miss with either of them.

Ain’t that the truth. I kinda’ wonder what the discount from a 28” barrel a 27” barrel gets you.

Best,
Ted

Lol, we can miss with all of them, that's for sure. It's more of a balance and mind block thing for me. I am seeing prices $500-1000 cheaper for same gun with 27" barrels, that's nothing to sneeze at.

I don't currently own a side-by-side with barrels shorter than 28"- but if I could have purchased my Savage-Fox 20 gauge Sterly (1932 mfg.) with 27" original (uncut)for $450 less than I paid for it 12 years ago, I sure as heck would have--if memory serves, in the 1930's when Skeet was becoming popular, The Hunter Arms folks offered their Skeet Special in 26", 27" and 28"- and also with the option of a single non selective as well as selective trigger-I believe ejectors were std-maybe. So, if the gun has good dimensions for you and your style of mounting and shooting, what's 1" of barrel length/sighting plane either way.?? RWTF

The difference between 26" to 27" barrels and 27" to 28" is about trivial. However, 26" to 28" is just noticeable. You have to get into the 30's" before one inch makes a difference. That is, 31" to 32" is generally noticeable. The barrel length is part of a squared factor, so as length gets longer the factor grows much faster.

In the psychological realm, confidence/belief that the given gun or some of its attributes are unexplainably important trump facts. You could very well have a deep seated first learning that 28" barrels are to be much preferred.

I'd suggest that you save the money ONLY if you become convinced
that you can ultimately overcome a bias against 27" barrels.

If you are interested, post back and I will post some 27" vs 28" data.

DDA

European guns with 27” barrels are usually 70cm.

I have a D-grade ($140 quality) sixteen gauge Lifter Parker on the lightened 0-frame with original Parker-made Laminated Steel barrels. It is not listed in the Grades section of The Parker Story but I have the PGCA factory research letter attesting to every feature of the gun, including the 27-inch barrels.
It is light, swings very nicely and has killed a few birds for me.
Value? IMO it is more valuable than any of Parker's 28-inch guns, all other features being equal.