I have fired my S&W 27-4 often enough, and my Performance Center 27-8.
1 S&W 27-4 15 meters off-hand edited.jpgATTACH]372948[/ATTACH]ATTACH]372949[/ATTACH]
4 Fiocchi box edited.jpg
The person I bought the 27-4 from, eighteen years ago or so, said it was unfired. All I can say is that it was/is in beautiful condition. Other than substituting modern, thinner grips, it is as it was when I bought it. The serial number puts its year of manufacture as 1989.
I don’t really count rounds, for the most part, but believe I have fired about 900 through this gun, ~50 a year. To be blunt, after three cylinders-full of 357-Magnum ammo in any session, 18 rounds, with the original grips, I have had enough. It mauls the webbing at the base of my thumb. I’ve found the modern grips help some with that.
I bought the PC 27-8 second-hand, too. Saved me a few bucks! Smudging on the cylinder face indicated it had been fired, but clearly not much. I have fired about 800 rounds thought it, though I have had it for a far shorter time than the 27-4. This is one of the Lew Horton four-screw guns that originally had a PC aluminum case and a registration certificate. Those were kept by the previous owner, but *I* got a great gun to shoot!
Both guns are as accurate as one would expect of them. Since a major health disaster seven years ago, my ability to shoot accurately or rapidly has diminished. Would either gun perform better for me, now? Time to find out.
Clever me, temperatures around here were in the 40s during last week, so I waited until it dropped into the 20s to go shoot. Hey, I never said I was very bright . . ..
One major difference between the guns is barrel length. The 27-4 is four-inches, the 27-8 is five inches. There is one more difference that some find useful, and others say it is distracting. The 27-4 has S&W target sights, with a red insert on the ramped front. I’ve always preferred something on the front sight to make it stand out, and have often installed such sights on my duty and personal guns if they did not originally have them.
The 27-8 has a Patridge blade on the front, with a brass bead. I found it to be a good sight to pick up quickly, and I believe it does aid accuracy. The yoke has a ball lockup at the front, and latches with authority when closed. I have no doubt that for a better shooter, this gun shoots with superior accuracy.
Never having fired the guns side-by-side before, I didn’t know how it would work out, but expected the longer barrel and more visible sights of the 27-8 would make a difference. I mentally weighed that against the greater experience I have with S&W six-shot revolvers of various models and barrel lengths.
The day was really cold with an annoying breeze from my right. This was at 1300 and the sun was quite low, casting long shadows from my right. I put the target in the light at 15 meters, and stood in direct light as well. That ruled out whining about shadows.
I started with the 27-8. Before I realized it, I had fired 48 rounds, six cylinders-full, from it. I felt no fatigue or pain in my hands despite the magnum rounds. More about them in a minute. I think the longer barrel and modern grips helped mitigate the effect of recoil.
I fired at a rate of one round per second, double-action, two-hand hold. On the target you can see a max spread of about 9cm or 3.5-inches. The “Z” in the red rectangle was my six-o’clock hold. Hitting low may be due to the set of the sights, but the stringing from low-left to high-right is certainly my trigger control. The two out to the lower right are the result of hitting Wisconsin snowflakes. That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it.
I don’t have a target to prove it, but I used to shoot two-inch groups at that rate at that distance with S&W 357Magnum revolvers.
After a break to warm my hands until I could again feel my fingers, I loaded up the 27-4.
To me, the recoil was immediately more apparent than from the 27-8. Since the grips are almost identical, I believe the barrel length of the 27-8 made a difference. The photo of the target I include has the best of three groups I shot with the 27-4. In this one, the group is again about 9cm, but strung out from upper left to lower right. Point of aim was the tip of the middle line of the “E” in the red rectangle. The two hits under the ejector shroud and the one below the muzzle? I have no idea how they got there. The fact that they make the total hits 12, or two cylinders-full, is coincidence. Trust me.
To me, greater recoil was apparent. It seemed to take me a noticeably longer moment to get the sights back on target, and my right hand began to complain after the third cylinder-full. I fired 48 rounds, again. At six rounds per, that was eight cylinders. The fingers of my right hand were frozen after five, but I won’t use that as an excuse for any lack of accuracy.
In addition to the shorter barrel, I think the red-insert front sight was not quite as quick for me to center in the rear slot as the brass bead of the 27-8. I suspect that before my eyesight began to degrade, I would not have noticed.
Ammo. The box I grabbed off the shelf was Fiocchi 125-gr SJSP 357Magnum ammo. That is, until I opened the box. Seems I must have consolidated a couple partial boxes, because over half the rounds were Winchester SJHP. I don’t know what the bullet weight was. However, there was no doubt about the difference. The Winchester ammo was definitely stouter. Too bad I didn’t have my chrono. It is possible that the overall spread of the groups was affected by that. But, I won’t blame the ammo for my accuracy.
So. My conclusion. There was little measurable difference in my accuracy between the guns. However, the 27-8 felt decidedly easier to shoot. There was perceptibly less pain from recoil. I weighed both guns and found the 27-4 was one-quarter once heavier than the 27-8. I don’t believe that made a difference. I could feel no difference in trigger pull weight or smoothness. I’m sure that comparing them over the course of similar rounds and equal shots, I would do better with the 27-8 in the longer run. I also feel that having two more rounds than the 27-4 is a significant advantage in self-defense.
This was fun, despite feeling as though I was going to lose four fingers to freezing. I am doing exercises to improve my grip, and will likely get new glasses before spring. I’ll find some more Winchester 357Magnum ammo and a hundred rounds of my handloads, and set the target at 20 meters.
I’ll let you know how it turns out.
sdh
Ol' Guy's Day at the Range with 27-4 and 27-8
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