Mauser question

There is a lot of pleasure in the pursuit. But economy is not in those cards! For the pleasure go for it. To end up with a great shooting gun just go buy one. It could save you thousands. A trick I do for Sporterization is buy used with some of the work already done. Welded an bent bolt, new low safety installed, stock work etc. Rebarreling or reboreing and a blue job alone will run around $1000. And it’s quickly becoming a challenge to find Smiths’ that want to do that kind of work. Many have died off with the skills and from a business angle it’s lots easier to make money bolting things together rather than machining or hand fitting.

It’s fun, satisfying, but not cheap. Enjoying the old beater guns for what they are is my highest recommendation. My old Turkish 98 has a pretty worn bore but pie plate groups at 100 yds. is fine for what I use it. The history that goes boom is what it’s all about.