During the beginning Israel was fighting for it existence against the Arab league. WW2 98K's in original 8x57 was one of the standard weapons used by them against the Arab's. in 1948. This fight was one that continued for many years and with time many of the weapons they had were worn or shot out. So by the early 1960's they began to rebuild the 98K's for use by the home guards in the new settlements. Much military assistance was flowing from the US so it was natural to rebarrel these rifles in 7.62 x51 as there was plenty of ammo to use. By 1967 they had become secondary weapons for all of Israel as USGI arms were flowing into Israel. Much of it to replace lost or damaged weapons from the 1967 war. What has surprised me is that so many of the 98K's have poor bores and remind me of corrosive ammo being used which would not be right as all USGI ammo by then was non corrosive and I do not think that Israel used corrosive primers that late in their own production.