Just learned this fact about my rifle over on the
www.smith-wessonforum.com.
A minor correction:
The Israelis did acquire a large number of original 8mm 98k’s out of German service, and later in the 1940s from Czechoslovakia (Brno production), and most were converted to 7.62 in the 1950s.
Yours, however, recognizable by the large Israeli crest on the receiver, was made by FN as a 7.62 rifle from the start, not a conversion, in the 1950s with new receivers and 7.62 barrels, although they reportedly used up other German components.
I did not know that. All these years I believed it had been converted.