I think the 70 compact has a 20" barrel. Thats GOOD. I've shot a Model Seven 20" 308 on deer for over 20 years. Works well. You give up a bit of velocity over a 24", but its not material. Don't buy something like the little ruger compact with a 16" barrel. I've shot that in 7mm08 and its nasty. The 20" still gives you a fireball, but 16" seems like most of the powder is burning about 6 inches off the end of the barrel, and the blast is harsh.
I'd go short. You can always add a little bit of stock buy slipping on a recoil pad. Want it short again? take the slip-on off. Its done.
My Model Seven 20" and the compact you are looking at are about the same. Do it. VERY compact, handy little rifles, that carry very well. And they have longer legs than the 30-30 carbines do. My hunting is usually in the woods (20 yard shots) or over small North East fields. Shots are 150-200 yards. The small 308 handles all that VERY well.
DO NOT OVER SCOPE IT!!! I've used a small Leupold Vari-X III 1.75-6x since I bought the rifle 20+years ago. Its perfect for the caliber and ranges. Find a small, light 1.5-6x or 1.5-5x and go for it. A trim little 11-12 ounce scope on these carbine length guns makes for a trim, easy to carry. light weight package that covers woods any anything out to an honest 250 yards without an issue. 6x has put a LOT on venison on the field for me at those longer ranges with no issues. Weaver makes a Grandslam 1.5-5X that works well too.
One word of advice: Modern super premium bullets like Barnes X and the Nosler Accubond are made for a variety of calibers. Barnes and Nosler don't know if that .308" diameter 150 grainer is going into a 300 Win Short Mag or your .300 Savage. A short barreled 308 simply doesnt have enough speed to really open these hard deep penetrators really well. A 20" 308 simply gives up too much velocity and the end result is these bullets tend to penetrate super deep, but with a relatively narrow wound channel. These short 308's actually do BETTER with a softer, cheaper bullet. Your grand dads old Rem Corelokt or Win PowerPoint usually drops deer FASTER than the Barnes X and the like (AT THESE SPEEDS).. I've used a hand loaded Nosler Ballisitc Tip (which is way to fragile in many calibers) over a modest load of powder. With the short barrel, I'm basically shooting a load that is closer to old .300 Savage levels than true modern 308 Win. It doesnt matter: The speeds are PERFECT for these ballistic tips, and it hammers 200 lb whitetails. more often than not, I get dead-right-there, dropped-in-its-tracks performance with this load. In contrast, I've used Nosler accubonds at the same speeds out of the same gun, and its usually a 150 yard tracking job. The gun simply doesnt push super premium bonders fast enough to really open them with authority.
Buy the compact. But a high quality, low magnification 1.5-6X on it, a fill it with regular cup and core or nosler ballistic tip bullets. You'll have the best possible whitetail rifle for woods and meadows hunting. I've bought, sold, traded and otherwise tried a few dozen different rifles for deer over the years. I've been thru .223, .260, .30-06, 350 Rem Mag, 7mm rem mag, 30-30, 375 Win, 35 rem and a bunch more I cannot think of. There isn't a one of them that has been able to top the 20" bolt carbine in 308 with that little Leupold scope for 'perfect deer rifle".
Fro