Ian,
A few months ago, I cut my Buffalo Classic back to 27". It was simple, I could take it to a smith, and have him cut and recrown, or I could take a hacksaw, put the barrel in a jig, and cut it myself. I opted to do it myself. I figured I could always have a smith fix it if I screwed up. It worked just fine. Once it was cut, I polished the end smooth using a Dremel tool with a cut off blade, and held the side of the blade flat againt the muzzle. I then reblued the muzzle end. No crown, and no problems. It shoots just as good as it did before, if not better, and at a much handier length. I had been using a 2.5-8 VX-2 scope before I cut it, so the loss of the front sight didn't matter. I had to have lost some velocity with this move, but it's not noticeable and it was a very worthwhile swap. One thing I found very odd and totally unexpected, it truly seems to have less recoil than it had before.
Don