I owned a 20” and a 22” 7mm-08 at the same time. The noise difference was very noticeable. To me 22” is the sweet spot. I still have the 20” but only because it is in a youth rifle. I wish it had a 22” barrel. Yep, the 20” is very handy, but I have a 22” youth 243 as well, and the tradeoff in noise reduction is very worth the 2” of barrel.
I’ve never shot a 7-08 longer than 22”. Isn’t a 24” barrel 280 territory? Why shoot a short action with a long barrel? It’s not like a “long” action is unbearable - you just need a long barrel to use the powder, and once you start putting long barrels on short-action cartridges, I really don’t see the attraction. I would guess any handiness of a short action over long is gone once you go over 22”.
Muzzle blast is worse to me than recoil.
