I went threw a mauser phase for a while in my life. Dave Boone is correct to say that you can buy a new gun whether it be a ruger or howa or vanguard than you can get the work done for. I still mess with them some as a test thing before I put the money in a real gun but I've got the actions, turned down bolts, stocks and stuff still laying around from those earlier days. You should have no problems with a 98 changing it to an 06, but no mater what you do to it, it will always be a pigs ear (ok let me explain, if you take a pigs ear, put ear rings in it, plate it with gold etc it will always still be a pigs ear and never a silk purse). The other thing that you might look at is the remington 798 (if you can still find one) in 06, it's a mauser action from the ground up