What bullets are you shooting that won’t fit mag length in a 7-08? Anything that heavy is going to be pretty darn slow I’d imagine. 7sst and wsm are good cartridges just no real quality brass manufacturers. Used to have a 7-300wsm. To have factory brass or a simple neck up is pretty awesome. I’d imagine a 7PRC with a 180 berger would be pretty badass in a short action and get decent barrel life.
Which mag? I'm not working inside an AICS. I'm using an HS Precision DBM. The max COAL is 2.860". This is a short lightweight hunting rifle. Not a PRS gun on a diet moonlighting as a hunting rifle.
I wouldnt shoot anything heavier than a 162 and obviously Hornady pretty much made the 150 ELDX for the 7-08 and 7SAUM. And of course at the time I was contemplating all this they couldn't be found. And Hawkins hunter mags didn't exist. I would actually be just fine with 140gr bullets but then you have to ask yourself, if you're just going to shoot 140gr bullets does it matter if they come out of a 7mm tube instead of a 6.5mm tube? Why not just go for the easy button in 6.5 CM? Which is what I did.
But I did mock up a 162 SST in a Creedmoor case. It barely fits the mag at 2.850" when you seat the bullet at a sensible place in the neck. When I mocked up a 308W case with a 162 SST the bullet was way down in the case. Not like you're gaining anything at that point.
L-> R: 308W, 7 CM, 7-08AI, 7SAUM, 7WSM, 284W