Is this a terrible idea?

[Circle_10]

I’m not much of a bolt action guy, my bolt guns are limited to a small selection of milsurps and a Savage 10FP I hardly ever shoot. Lately though I’ve started formulating a possibly idiotic idea.
One of the milsurps is a 1937 dated K98 that was unfortunately sporterized before I got ahold of it. The bore isn’t in very good shape and I had to replace the trigger guard/mag housing with a Czech substitute because the original was so badly warped you couldn’t load the magazine to full capacity.
8mm Mauser is also not a round I really enjoy shooting. So my idea is this:
Since it’s collector value is already nil, could this K98 be rebarreled for a lighter cartridge, maybe something in the 6mm range, and rebuilt back into something with the general form factor of a K98 sniper rifle?



The idea of a K98 sniper-esque rifle chambered in something lighter-recoiling like .243 or something, or maybe 6.5 Swede, or hell, even 6.5 creedmoor, kind of interests me. I could either just re-finish the Yugoslav K98 stock I have now or buy a repro K98 stock.

Alternatively I also have an FN Mauser action that could form the basis for such a build too, and it’s already drilled and tapped for a scope.

While I can assemble my own ARs, I’m not even close to a gunsmith so I’d have to enlist a professional for this.
But does this even sound worthwhile or just a total waste of time and money?

[Coal Dragger]

If it makes you happy, and you can afford it then it’s worth it.

[czgunner]

Sounds like a fun project. I’d go for 6.5 Swede. It’s actually a cartridge I see on the shelf sometimes. Also, I love the accuracy in my Tikka.

[Circle_10]

Sounds like a fun project. I’d go for 6.5 Swede. It’s actually a cartridge I see on the shelf sometimes. Also, I love the accuracy in my Tikka.

Yeah I was kind of thinking of choosing a cartridge that isn’t so popular that people are scrambling to buy every box they can find, but not so niche that it’s never on the shelves in the first place.
That’s assuming I actually try to do this. I wish I had some actual gunsmithing proficiency so I could just do the whole thing myself as a project....and probably save some money as well.

[twm134]

Another thing to consider is these Mauser actions were built around the cartridges for which they were chambered. What this means is feeding can be a little problematic if using a cartridge based off of the .308 versus the original Mauser based cases. So a 6.5 swede or 6mm Remington may be more reliable compared to one of the Winchester or Creedmoor cases.

[1168]

Yeah I was kind of thinking of choosing a cartridge that isn’t so popular that people are scrambling to buy every box they can find, but not so niche that it’s never on the shelves in the first place.
That’s assuming I actually try to do this. I wish I had some actual gunsmithing proficiency so I could just do the whole thing myself as a project....and probably save some money as well.

6.5 Swede has been available consistently the past year.

[Circle_10]

Another thing to consider is these Mauser actions were built around the cartridges for which they were chambered. What this means is feeding can be a little problematic if using a cartridge based off of the .308 versus the original Mauser based cases. So a 6.5 swede or 6mm Remington may be more reliable compared to one of the Winchester or Creedmoor cases.

Good to know. Is that because shorter cases have trouble spanning the distance to the chamber when fed out of a magazine designed around a longer cartridge? Or are there other reasons too?
One of the things I have in my small collection of Mauser parts is a Czech trigger guard/mag housing that has a sort of spacer/feedramp welded into the front portion of the mag well. I figured it was from an Israeli 7.62 conversion or something and was intended to prevent the shorter round from dipping and going nose down during feeding.

[Circle_10]

Also, I’m pretty much just posting this link so that I’ll know where to find it later, but here’s a 6.5 Swede barrel that has the “stepped” military profile that I think I’d need to put it in a K98 stock.

https://www.lothar-walther.com/drop-...oly-steel?c=20

[utahjeepr]

I would add up what it is gonna cost you to build it, plus the street value of your 98 as is. Then decide if you are willing to pay that for the rifle you will have at the end.

I only put it out there cause I've dumped time/money into projects that I was dissatisfied with later. There is always the having fun, tinkering, enjoyment value aspect to factor in as well.

I've got an old Oviedo 93 that is probably gonna become an overpriced .257 Roberts or 6.5 Swede, so I know how these things go.

[1168]

I’ve got a clapped out Turkish Mauser that had been previously sporterized bubba style. It’ll end up as a classier sporterized 6.5 Swede one day. I got the thing as a trade for a .22 WMR. If you consider that I bought the .22 when I was 18, I’ve been accumulating costs for this silly project almost 20 years. A smarter me would have just bought something comparable back then for like 400 bucks.