About a year ago, I bought a Ruger light weight in 308 Win. for my cousin's son. Thebarrel may seem a bit "thin" as you put it but this one shootsgreat. I have a daughter that has recently decided to get into hunting. She is very short .. 5' 1". She liked, as she put it "the cute" Ruger compact in 7mm 08 that we saw at a local shop. I was very skeptical about long range accuracy of this design because of the short barrel. I was wrong. I know 200 yards is not "long", but around here that is about the max you'll ever have a clear shot. The rifle I bought here was in 308 Win. It is a legitimate 1.25 MOA shooter. I shot several groups right at 2" at 200 yards. I rea;lize some velocity is lost with shorter barrel guns, but unless you are shootiung way, way out there, thiat loss os of little consequence. Might want to look at this design too. I did have the trigger lightened to 3.5#.It was about 2 tons from the factory.

My personal favorite rifle is a Styer Pro-Hunter "Mountain" (20" barrel) I have, also in 308 Win. The length of pull is easily adjustable by adding or removing "blocks" from the stock butt. This is the best performing rifle I have.I highly recommend the Styer.