I know all the benefits of a .308 in short barrels and I agree they are hard to beat, I run a 16.5" GAP 10 in .308 and its a hammer. I reload and was kind of looking for something different. 7-08 has me interested, also saw someone running a .243 at 18" hitting 3000fps with 75gr amax, but thats to light for deer. A lever would be cool, I could sell this and probably cover the cost of a lever, Surgeons are not cheap, but I'm a big fan of the bolt! Keep it coming, anybody run anything with a folder other than a KRG W3, I've had that, excellent stock.