There is a price to be paid for a short barrel. A friend had a stainless Remington Model Seven rebarreled into a 250 Savage with a 1 in 10" twist factory contour 20" barrel, just like the one from the factory. It was done by a benchrest gunsmith (now retired, unfortunately) using a Hart barrel. He asked me to break in the barrel and work up some loads for him. I did, and it shot very nicely. However, velocities were quite a bit slower than my Savage Axis with 24" E.R. Shaw barrel. I would have to look up my records to say how much slower. Some years ago I had a Remington 700 BDL rebarreled to 250 A.I. The barrel was 23" long, and it was also very accurate. I sold it a while back....don't ask why. Rifle loonies do strange things. I guess it I were to have a rifle made up with a short barrel I would make it a 250 A.I. or a 250 Souper, the 308 case necked down to .257, basically a shorter Roberts.
As you might have noticed, I'm a bit of a 25 caliber junkie. I started with the 25-06 and went down in case capacity over the years. I have owned several 250s, a 250 A.I., several 257 Roberts, and a 257 Roberts A.I. as well. As I get older and more feeble I enjoy mild cartridges all the more.
Nit picking aside, it would be hard to find a better light kicking, light weight, handy deer rifle than the Model Seven I described above. I think he had a 2-7x Leupold compact scope on it. I can look up my notes if anyone is interested.
