I'll share a personal experience with you, and hopefully it will help your decision a little easier.

Back in the early '80s, I won a Remington 700 ADL with a 24" barrel, and immediately sent it off to a well known gunmaker to have him work his magic on it. I told him I wanted it for hunting Dall Sheep in the Yukon Territory, and he suggested I let him turn the barrel down to a very light contour, get the trigger pull down to 2 3/4 pounds, skeletonize the action and magazine box, and epoxy bed the action into one of his light weight fibre glass stocks. I agreed, and 2 months later I had a rifle in my hands that wouldn't shoot a group larger that 5/8" with Federal 160 grain factory ammo. With handloads, it kept almost everything well under 1/2 inch- from the bench.

Shooting offhand though was another story alltogether. That rifle was so darned light at the muzzle, that I was very hard pressed to shoot a group smaller than 10 inches at 100 yards. It just wobbled all over the place. On the sheep hunt I was fortunate enough to shoot a 38", 12 year old ram the first day of the hunt, and later shot a B&C Caribou with it. Both shots were from the prone position, using my back pack for a rest. I sold the rifle shortly after I returned from the trip.

Now, all of my rifles sport either 24 or 26 inch tubes, and have either a #3 or #4 contour. The weight out at the end really makes the rifle settle in well, and really helps eliminate most of the wobble. For example, with my Winchester Model 70 in 375 Ackley, firing off hand, I can keep 10 shots in under 6 inches unless I screw up. I'm sold on the heavier barrels. Hope this helps you out.