TechBrute:
Skunky, from his writings here and his website seems like a sharp fellow. It is his name on the receipt and, this being America, he can do with his FR8as he pleases: even clean, lube and protect it with WD-40 (cue screams of horror, gnashing of teeth, and obligatory "WD-40 is not a lubricant, its a water-displacer!" howl.).
I think that some of these folks are, too, entitled to their $0.02, when they advise Skunky that there may be a better/different solution to his query. Heck, if he or anybody else goes ahead & cuts up their FR8, it will only raise the value of mine by a bit.
Here's kind how I see the issue:
"Custom-ized" Commercial Rifle
Generally speaking, add-ons & gimgaws don't reduce the value. Turn your Remington Model 7 into a repository of half of Brownells' catalog of rifle doo-dads (Harris bipods, cobra slings & mounts, funky "see-through" scope bases, etc) and you still have, at its heart, a Remington Model 7 and its basic functionality.
Commercial Custom Rifle
Give your rifle to a good gunsmith for some quality custom work and you generally won't destroy its value. You might, if lucky, increase its value by 1/2 of what you expend on it. (IMO, the best way to get a custom sporting rifle is to buy it after the owner who comissioned the work tires of it and moves on to the next toy.) Anyway, the value of the rifle is not poured down the drain.
"Sporterized" Military Surplus Rifle
There were some good examples of these made, before & after WW1. They were made by good smiths who, in many cases, did not have a really good bolt-action commercial rifle to start with.
Unfortunately, most sporterized milsurps today consist of hacking the stock back and attacking the metal with a dremel. Well-executed they are not. This is what many refer to as a "Bubba" rifle. The fact that stock work and metal work has been done (poorly) is not really the issue. What IS the issue is that "Bubba" just destroyed the monetary value of his rifle. In the case of a FR8, turning a rifle worth ~$350 as-is into a sub-$100 beater by destroying its collector value. Throw in $100 of add-on hardware (cheap scope & mount, maybe) and one has just managed to sink $450 into a rifle now worth $100. For that kind of cheese I can find a decent used commercial rifle at a gun shop and some hardware and still have somethnig worth close to what I paid for it.
Then there is the uniqueness and collector value of the FR8. It is truly a wacky weapon without any mods. The Spaniards musta been imbibing too many spirits, 'cause the FR8 is what you get when you cross an H&K G3 or a CETME with a Mauser bolt-gun. (H&K+Mauser+Intoxicants=FR8) Also, the FR8 may not fit J Cooper's definition of "scout rifle," but it is really close, being a really handy carbine-length 7.62NATO-chambered weapon with fine aperture sighting equipment. And it is nicer to shoot than the Enfield No. 5 Jungle Carbine, IMO.
