How well the muzzle is crowned after the cut will have more to do with accuracy than the two inches of barrel lost.

Any thoughts on the 270 WSM with the shorter bbl? Velocity loss may not be as pronounced. I may be wrong on that so check it out.

Safado and S.D are definately right on the accuracy statements

When and If you have the Barrel Cut to 22" the "crown" is most Important part for Accuracy,Velocity loss is 75FPS/Per-inch Removed on a .270W/SG and Bullet weight you chose to shoot counts also.~JMO have the Best Gunsmith in your Area to Cut&Crown your Barrel.
Welcome Home and Good Luck on your Project.

"Winchester M70 Jack O'Connor Custom Tribute .270 Win. 22" barrel, black fore end, inletted sling swivels, Mauser claw extractor, beautiful bluing and gorgeous AAA Walnut with check piece and custom checkering pattern! Patterned after Jack O'Connor's famous custom .270 Win. Complete looks and feel of a custom rifle at an afordable price. VERY LIMITED production. This one is NEW IN THE BOX!"

This, from an online auction. I have seen one of these in my LGS. Price for the auction was $2450, American.

Navy,
Performance of the.270win from a 22" barrel would only amount to 150fps out of between 3,000 and 3200fps depending on bullet weight. Not much of a factor.
Another consideration is if the high $$$ rifle is standard in 24" and you choose 22", the value could be affected.
Noise will be a little louder and you could get a bigger muzzle blast. As others have stated the cutting and crowning of the shortened barrel is of utmost importance for maintaining accuracy.
A 30-06 could be another consideration as it works fine from a 22" barrel and offers a little more versatility as far as bullet weights.
In any event, enjoy your new rifle. Jim

If the engineers at the Winchester factory thought that a shorter barrel was a good idea, they could have saved the company some money in production costs.
The .270 was designed as a long range hunting rifle.
As a consumer, I would not do anything to alter the balance of the rifle, or to reduce its muzzle steadiness and bullet velocity, while increasing its muzzle blast and recoil.
You can always change your mind later.

Congrats Navy, I retired in 1990 from the Army. Still waiting for the wife to buy me a Winchester.
If you reload you can mitigate the muzzle blast and loss of velocity somewhat by using a slightly faster burning powder. Something like IMR4350 or H4350. Avoid the very slow stuff like H1000, etc. A chronograph is useful for this job also. If it were me I would stick with the factory barrel as cutting will definitely degrade value regardless of how well it is done.

Bench rest shooters have proven that 22" (actually 21 3/4") barrels are optimum for accuracy at 100 yards and that is what you will see on the 100 yard line. This barrel length has minimum flex for best shot-after-shot consistency. However, if you are buying your Ruger for bench rest shooting, you will be sadly disappointed because their barrels are not likely to be competitive when running against Krieger, Bartlein, Broughton, etc.

In these tests, given the exact same barrel contour, the difference between 22 inch and 24 inch barrels will be measured in a couple thousandths of an inch at 100 yards. When you actually choose the best weight/contour for each length, they are quite similar in accuracy.

In hunting applications I recommend a 24" barrel because in a .270, bullet speed is much more important than .002" grouping improvement at 100 yards, especially with hunting bullets that are not capable of that fine level of accuracy. If you want more shot-after-shot accuracy in a hunting rifle, get a heavier contour barrel.

The M70 Ruger .270 24" barrel will make a very nice rifle for most hunting applications out to 400 yards. I would only use the 22" if I were in brush so thick that walking was difficult. If I were in that situation, I would be using a .35 Rem rather than a .270.