Thanks for all the measuring Waidmannsheil, I'm looking forward to those other measurements! Perhaps I will use a Brazilian or similar for a future build, but I think I will be proceeding with the VZ-24 action seeing as I already have it and I have heard that most Mauser 98's made prior to 1930-ish tend to be a bit soft. I'd appreciate some photos of that Rigby too, if that's alright.

As for what I'm looking to accomplish as an end result, I was leaning heavily towards this:

http://jamesdjulia.com/item/lot-2234-rigby-mauser-short-rifle-with-case-47100/

but perhaps with a slightly longer barrel. 21" seems awfully short to me. I'd like to find the balance where I can still have a handy, lightweight rifle that still makes the most of the 7x57's powder capacity.

*Note that the auction was in 2013, and is no longer active. I hope this won't be a bother to the moderators.