Welcome to ShootersForum, Buffalo Bob!
If your gun was originally chambered for the 8x57 Mauser round, it's going to be a standard length action and you might have feed problems if you switch it over to a short-action round like the 308 Winchester. What you might do is have a gunsmith go over the action itself, to make sure it is sound, and then have it rebarreled to the same 8x57. Two other popular options, historically, have been to bore out the chamber to 8mm/06 (for original barrels in good condition) or just rebarrel the gun to a standard 30-'06 chamber. This would allow you to use many of your 30 caliber components and give you a very strong, accurate 30-'06 and there's nothing wrong with that!
What I would probably do is replace the original with another 8x57 barrel or go to something a little more interesting, like a 338-'06 or 35 Whelen. Personally, I'd lean toward one of those latter options, since brass will be readily available until the end of time and then you'd have something a little "different".
If your gun was originally chambered for the 8x57 Mauser round, it's going to be a standard length action and you might have feed problems if you switch it over to a short-action round like the 308 Winchester. What you might do is have a gunsmith go over the action itself, to make sure it is sound, and then have it rebarreled to the same 8x57. Two other popular options, historically, have been to bore out the chamber to 8mm/06 (for original barrels in good condition) or just rebarrel the gun to a standard 30-'06 chamber. This would allow you to use many of your 30 caliber components and give you a very strong, accurate 30-'06 and there's nothing wrong with that!
What I would probably do is replace the original with another 8x57 barrel or go to something a little more interesting, like a 338-'06 or 35 Whelen. Personally, I'd lean toward one of those latter options, since brass will be readily available until the end of time and then you'd have something a little "different".
