I was referring to the store brand guns (JC Higgins, Wards Western Field, etc) as these used to often sell for less given the perception of a "Sears rifle" as a lower quality piece.
I guess I've never experienced any excessive roughness in the MK X. I think it's because they don't have 50 plus years of break-in like most FNs do
Every action should be judged on its own merit. Yes, the sleeper FN's can be a great deal, but then so can the Mk X actions. Each have their pluses and minuses.
I had a brand new, in the box, FN Commercial in 7mm Rem that wouldn't feed at all. Beautiful rifle but if it won't feed it's [bleep].
I agree that the Commercial actions are the ones to look for, at least for those wanting to build a Mauser but not committed to a full blown custom on a milsurp style action. For the average consumer, the Commercial is already scope friendly, already has a 3.400" mag box and is set up to feed '06 length cartridges. These days the number of GOOD milsurp 98's has dwindled and the costs to recontour the rear bridge, drill and tap, and weld on a scope friendly bolt handle can add up to more than a rifle based on a commercial action can be acquired for.
Be advised that unlike the Sears JC Higgins, a good many of the Westernfield rifles were built on Zastava 98 actions (Mk X) or the Zastava supplied commercial intermediate actions (often sold as Heym) . So, inspect before you buy, don't assume automatically that a Westernfield Mauser rifle is built on an FN action.
