Scorch
Clark- I saw a fully functional Vz24 in 223 a few years ago. I was amazed. It fed from the magazine flawlessly. I should have bought it.
As far as good rifles to sporterize, K98ks for projects are drying up, you can buy a new Remington 700 for what they bring these days. Other M98 variants may not cost so much (Brazilizn 1906s and Vz24s are still pretty cheap), and M48s are still pretty cheap. But really, what do you hope to accomplish by taking a $500 rifle and whacking off the forearm and barrel other than turning it into a $200 rifle? As others have said, find one someone else sporterized and be done with it.
~12 years ago I saw a 223 Turk Mauser that the late Randy Ketchum of Lynnwood Guns built that had an AR15 mag welded in place. He built is custom. The guy brought it back. I was on the shelf for $150 or something like that.
He used to do gunsmithing that was over my head for $35/hour.
I had to convince him it was an interesting project.
I used to go in there, buy a pound of powder, and ask some dumb question about sporterizing Mausers. He told me that accurizing a Rem700 was the cheapest path to accuracy, only in competition with buying new Rem700s, testing the for accuracy and reselling until you find a good one.
So I have built a couple Rem700s. I don't like them as much as Mausers, 1885s or Ruger #1s, but Rem700s and Sav110s are a fast path to accuracy. Just get a premium barrel on it.