I dislike short actions, and I have a few. I tend to shoot a lot and I will eventually burn out the barrel in most calibers under 375. With the some/many short actions the cartridge length is limited by the magazine length so with the 51mm and longer cartridges there's no way to chase the lead. With a short action, that means the accuracy fails sooner. If your 7mm-08 is on a Mauser action, that wouldn't be an issue and there's a couple of commercial actions that would work too.
The 280 is my one of my favorite cartridges. And although I have a 7mm-08 in a Tikka, there would be no question/hesitation for me, it would be the 280.
I didn't read where you mentioned what you're hunting in Texas. There's a few "exotic" game ranches in Texas, I understand, though I have not hunted on any. But other than that: several species of deer, wild hogs, pronghorn, coyotes and I suppose elk (I never hunted elk in Texas and do not know about same).
If you are a 20 rounds per year or less shooter, the barrel life is no big deal.
