What I am saying is that any unaltered military 98 bolt will not give you the clearance required to clear the ocular bell. So, why replace the bolt when the smith can just cut the existing handle off and weld on a handle that will clear a scope?
In my experience, the only reason I ever replaced a bolt when I was asked to weld on a new handle was if someone previously welded on a handle and it had lots of inclusions and contaminants.
I believe your advice is sound.
I have a safety coming from Brownells that I can install myself, then I'll haul the rifle to Stumpy's Custom Guns, about an hour drive away in Swansboro NC to have the handle replaced all together.
As much as I like this little rifle, the fact remains that the work is going to knock out any aspect of the deal I got on it. I'll have $60 in the safety and I'm sure the bolt handle will be north of $100. Thats a hefty add-on to the $420(rifle, tax, shipping, transfer)I have in it already.
