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?