The KAR98a is a small ring short rifle dating to WWI. Not to be confused with GEW98 large ring of WWI or the K98k large ring of WWII. All 3 were 8x57. I am sure the OP understands this, becasue he properly identified the rifle in his post. I dont see why that this would be problem for the 450BM, but; maybe some difference in the barrel. Dont know. Seems most replies did not pickup or make mention of the gun. That could be due to the prior discussion which i did not read.
The KAR98a is a little bit on the special (ie. collectable) side of things. Then, anything German seems to be sought after.
The small ring 98 is a cool value proposition for a 450 Bushmaster conversion. I believe Rhineland Arms sells more small ring mauser barrels than the large ring mauser 98 barrel.because cheap small ring mauser Non-98 actions are available. There are a lot of Non-98 small ring 93-96 mausers converted to 450 bushmaster due to its low 38,500 psi level. The fact that the Kar98a is a small ring should not be a problem for this conversion.
