What people tend to forget...
1. It's not always a money thing. Otherwise nobody but WalMart or other bargain-basement outfits would sell any rifles, and we know that's not true. Everybody would be driving a Chevy Cavalier, or Ford Escort/Focus. People are not afraid of spending more to give them what they really want, vs. buying an "everyman's" rifle. Shooters wait years and pay tons of money for custom 1911 pistols, why should it be any different for custom rifles? People still call me an idiot for fitting an expensive Krieger barrel, Canjar trigger, and titanium firing pin to the 1916 J.G. Haenel '98 action you see in my website above. But when 5 rounds go into 1/4" at 100 yards, I could care less what they think. Or when that same rifle rifle drilled a golf ball at 500 meters during a competition.
2. When you build a rifle on an older '98 Mauser action, you're dealing with a piece of metal forged and crafted from steel that immediately brings to mind the Krupps name. Granted, it's an old piece of steel, I'd have the donor action magnafluxed prior to working with it. Of course, stay away from last-ditch WWII samples. But you got something to work with.
There's a reason that the post-'64 Model 70 Winchester and Model 700 Remingtons are built the way they are - cost savings. They've engineered away the last little bit of excess material and manufacturing processes to cover the profit line per unit.
There are all of about 2 or 3 modern manufacturers of the true '98 Mauser action these days, assuming the late Robert "Teenut" Bastow's business (Express Rifle Company) survived after his death. Mauser-Werke reintroduced the classic '98 action just recently. Guess what? They're EXPENSIVE! But I'd have no problem taking a '98 sporter in the proper caliber out on safari, with controlled-round feeding, positive safety, 3 locking lugs, excellent gas escape system, etc.
Before anybody labels me a poster child for Peter Paul Mauser, let me state clearly that the military '98 Mauser is not the be-all, end-all of bolt rifle actions. I'd never build a benchrest gun on one. It's too sloppy, and not stiff enough for guns that need to group in the tenths of inches to be competitive. Hall, Stolle, Nesika, sleeved Remingtons, they're all built for that game. Nor would I use one to build a gun that fired the big Lazzeroni magnums. Leave that to the big actions that were designed from the start for those pressure levels.
I'm sitting here, looking at three more project rifle donor actions. One's a Siamese Mauser that'll be chambered in .45-70. One's a Czech VZ-24 that'll be a .220 Swift. The last is a 1942 byf that'l be a counterpart to my Interdiction Rifle, but in .308.