I went through the same dilemna. Two years ago, I went back and forth in my mind, did a ton of research and finally decided on the 700 PSS 26" barrel.
I ordered it and received it. Nice rifle except for the fact that it was just too damn big for me. Now, I've got a small frame and weigh in at 137lbs, 5' 7" . That 26" rifle was just too big and heavy for me to shoulder without support and that was without the mounts and rings and scopes and mag loaded with 5 rounds. In addition, the grip was too big for me. Felt like I was holding a big round firelog as opposessed to a precision rifle stock.
So I did some more research. I contacted Scott Powers from snipercountry.com and he told me that most military snipers feel that 26" is overkill and a good many of them have the barrel re-cut and crowned to 24".
He corroborated that the .308 round is just by nature a very tolerant round.
His experience in shooting a 26" vs. the LTR was that out to 500 yards there is no difference.
That was good enough for my purposes, so I sold the 26" and got the LTR. Am very happy now.
But, still have not gone to the range yet (just completed the rifle). So the proof of all this is not yet in the pudding.
I asked him a bunch of questions - below is his response :
Ed, the LTR has proven to be a very capable rifle.
If the LTR you seek is of the BDL style mazazine (vs. the detachable magazine model, which sucks) by all means, get
it. You will lose some velocity at the longer ranges, which will allow wind
to affect the bullet more, but if most of your shooting is with in the true
effective range of the .308, it doesn't really matter. From 0 to 500 yards
you won;t notice any real difference. Beyond 600 things will be worse in
terms of more wind drift, but not by a great margin. The trade of is all the
good stuff you mentioned. In this vein, many police are cutting their PSSs
down to 20" so they can enjoy all the benies of a light rifle. They never
engage targets beyond 100 yards statistically so it makes little sense for
them to have a true long ranger rifle. They simply need precision at close
range. Anyway, the LTR is certainly precise enough and even holds moa out to
beyond 500 yards, which is as far as I have experience with it. I am told it
will do well beyond that, but I have no personal experience. I would feel
perfectly comfortable taking shots on a range out to max distance with the
LTR. Hell, the barrel on the M21 is what? 20" I can;t recall. It's muzzle V
is somewhere around 2500 because of the shorter tube yet they used it
affectively well beyond 500 yards. The LTR is WAY more accurate. so you
probably can't lose if you want one in the first place. I can;t say the
fluting is anything special, but the rifle will SHOOT well, and that is all
that counts.
Scott