Which is why my original post on this thread also suggested buying a new stock for the 7mm-08....
I agree with this.
Originally I had it in my head the OP had a Model 7 Youth, with the skinny barrel and crappy M7 stock (if there is a worse rifle to start young people out with, I can't imagine it would be much different than that).
However, I realized it's the SPS Youth model with the excellent 20" Remington no.2 type contour. Heck yeah, re-stock it.
And if you want more barrel length, find a Rem take-off barrel and screw it on. In fact, if you want to be really exotic, locate one in 308
