Not saying your wrong at all, but I've loaded for 3-4 of our 7-08's and had to seat at max mag box length to get as close to lands as possible. Still wouldn't touch, but by max OAL is usually in the 2.805 range.
What bullet are you using? I suppose I could chamber cast the gun and get a exact picture of whats going on inside. But I am not concerned really. I just don't want to be shoving the bullet into the lands. Its a hunting gun, not target, so I want 100% reliability - with as much accuracy as possible.
