Mauser bolt face mods

[Durby]

Today I acquired 2 Mauser 98's, one with a (supposedly) new, in the white, F.N. .308 stepped barrel on it. The other has a (supposedly) Sako barrel on it, magna-ported, chambered in .338 Win Mag. Now both of these were acquired as "unfinished projects", neither have been headspaced.
My main question is: is it worth messing around with a .338 Win Mag barrel on an old Mauser action? The bolt face has not been modified yet, and I don't even know if it is possible to use it with the larger magnum bolt face. If I were building a Mauser action with a .338, I would pick 338-06 to keep it simple.
By the way, I am kind of obsessing over a .338 Win Mag right now, but I have a Rem 700 that already has a mag bolt face set aside for that.

 

[Big Az Al]

98 sporter magnum

If the magizine is long enough for the factory cartridge,

opening the bolt face is a fairly simple task.

And as the working pressures of any centerfire caliber is limited to what the casing is able to handle, there is no more pressure for a 338 mag, then there is for 8X57JS or a 30-06.

To me the only question is: What is the most marketable caliber in my area?

That is if a 338 will sell for a better price then anything else finsih it, but if the 338 is one that will only move discounted, pick another cal.

 

[Durby]

it is not to sell, it would be for me. I was just wondering about the difference between a .473 and a .532 (from memory?) bolt face. It seemed to be a pretty big difference, and I was concerned if it was even possible.
Thanks

 

[Big Az Al]

bolt face

It can be hard to get bolt turning TRUE, but once there, a carbide tool bit will turn it fairly easy.