I bet. 20" seems about optimum, at least to wring out what it can do....Plus, one of mine has no constraints on mag length and has a loong throat. Seated way out and 20+" of barrel is different to work with than a 16" short boxed repeater, LOL
For sure an extra 4" would give me an extra 100 fps but I am fine with the shorty. 160s at 2800 fps is flat enough to 400 and if I wanted to shoot further than that I gave other rifles I can use for that application.
Something about a 34" rifle that's only 4.25 pounds that makes it oh so nice to carry in my hands or in my pack.
I agree though if one wanted to take full advantage of the cartridge a 20-22" barrel would be optimum certainly.
As is it has the same trajectory to 300 yards with similar weight bullets as my 308 did but with 4" less barrel.
