Beautiful gun! I remember that one actually, thanks for posting it. If you ever get tired of it..
Most of the originals were built on standard actions, though you are right, it’s quite the squeeze.
8x68S has OAL of 3.425" while 404 Jeffery is 5.35" long. 404 fits into a standard 98 Mauser after opening the bolt face, changing the extractor claw, moving the loading ramp forward, widening and lengthening the bottom metal, and of course modifying feeding rails. No need to move the ejector or carve away locking ring (e.g. fitting 375 or 416 Rigby in standard 98 action). I guess it depends on what one defines as "significant". As I understand it, bolt face on 8x68S would not require opening, the extractor would also be unchanged, and I doubt the loading ramp would need to be moved much if at all. Would not need to touch locking ring or ejector. Some modification would obviously be needed to bottom metal to handle the wider shoulder. Not a big deal.
Further edit and correction: 8x68S OAL is 0.2" longer than 8mm Mauser (for whom standard action 98 Mauser was designed). A standard action 8mm 98 Mauser can be upgraded to 30-06 without modifying bottom metal even though 30-06 has 0.11" longer OAL. So there is plenty of room lengthwise in the magazine box. Much longer 404 cartridge can eject from 98 Mauser without carving into the locking ring so the ejection/loading port is plenty long enough without modification for 8x68S. Like the 404, the 8x68S has gently sloping shoulder. This allows for smoother feeding with cartridges that are pushing the envelope for OAL in a standard 98 action. The point at which the cartridge jumps the rails fully onto the bolt face can be moved forward because the case shoulder is less likely to catch on the loading ramp and/or bullet tip get hung up hitting the top of the chamber. If the jump point to bolt face has to be pulled back to accommodate a sharp shoulder, then the probability increases for cartridges to come out of the rails prematurely before the bolt face is engaged and/or bullet end started into chamber = loose cartridge falling out of the gun during cycling. With its gently sloping shoulder and much shorter OAL, the 8x68S would be a much easier build on standard action than 404J. Not having to change the bolt face and extractor is icing on the cake. The result is a gun with lots of poop that's equally as versatile as 375. Interesting that my source says it is legal for dangerous game in Namibia if loaded up with sufficient pressure. Too bad ammo and components are so difficult to obtain.
Apology for the derailment.
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