Unless you are going to go for one of those extra fancy custom rifles that cost thousands and are almost too pretty to take afield, I think you are generally better off to just buy a comercial Remington. I have converted a bunch of these rifles. Although the original military rifle is usually pretty reasonable, by the time you get it to the point where it is a good as a Remington, you have way more money in the thing than a Remington. And in many ways, it still isn't as good as a Remington.

The last one of these I did started out whereafriend of mine gave me a really nice Carl Gustoff Mauser 96. With no money in the action, and all my labor for free, I still wound up with over $500 in the gun when it was done. It's a very nice rifle. But I traded it straight across for a new Remington CDL a couple of years later.

Resist temptation, Jake.