I spend a lot of time reading competition shooters' pages, and looking at the speeds and pressures they are shooting with standard cartridges, I think this barrel length thing is open to more debate than "You want a 24, or a 26?" If in a packing rifle, I've noticed that bbls around 22" seem to balance better in the hands, but I don't notice when packing or shooting a 24". Never hunted with a 26", but I wish I had. The point for me in getting a 7 mag would be to increase my velocity over say a 280. What extra recoil, blast, etc. I'd deal with had better get me the most speed for my bang, so I'd opt for a 26". I don't get the 'fast handling 7 mag' concept.
My first custom build is going to have a 25" bbl. My long range rig plan is for 27 or 28.
