[Jeff Higgins]

You have all the rifle you need in that 8mm Mauser, Tom. I would go so far as to say it's a better rifle than any Remington M700. If it wasn't drilled and tapped for scope bases as a part of the sporterizing process, any competent gunsmith can do so for very little cost.

One of the issues for scope mounting on Mausers (and Springfields) is that big old safety on the back of the bolt. It will hit a properly mounted scope. Since this is an age-old problem, solutions have long since been worked out. There are cheap aftermarket safeties readily available, that can be fitted at the same time by the same gunsmith that drills and taps the receiver for scope bases.

There are a few features of the Mauser action that make it essentially the bolt action of choice, and the one by which all others are measured. The massive claw extractor is essentially dead reliable and bulletproof under even the worst conditions, where the cheesy little extractors fitted to M700's and the like can break, or pull a tiny little piece of the rim off of a stuck case, leaving it effectively stuck. That Mauser extractor also grabs the rim of the case as it leaves the magazine when feeding it into the chamber; the M700 (and others) simply pop the round up and out of the magazine without grabbing hold of it, then just pushing it willy-nilly in the general direction of the chamber. I've seen these rifles pop the next round out the ejection port instead of into the chamber.

That safety is also a great feature of the old Mauser. It locks the firing pin and the bolt, or just the firing pin - your choice. Aftermarket safeties retain the same functionality, but just swing differently so as to clear a scope. M700 safeties block the sear, not the firing pin. The firing pin is still free to move. I really, really don't like the idea of that.

Anyway, you've got the rifle - my vote is to spend money on ammo and practice, practice, practice. Maybe look at getting some instruction, or some instructional videos or something. G. David Tubb has some excellent videos on the ins and outs of rifle shooting - I bet Amazon might have them. Midway would if they don't.

Rifle shooting is definitely a challenge. Just picking one up and making it go "bang" is the easy part. Getting proficient takes a good deal of effort and commitment. Not many people (unfortunately, including modern day "hunters") put the necessary time and effort into it. Ammo is expensive for centerfire rifles, even if you handload your own, and it takes a good deal of it to really become expert with the rifle. It is very gratifying once you have attained a high level of skill, though, making all that trouble and expense worthwhile.