Found a nice looking Preduzece 44 Mod. 98 Mauser (the Yugo capture k98) for sale, but it's been sporterized. Front part of the stock has been chopped off and sights have been replaced. The rest of the stock was refinished.

 

The price is in the low 100s. The rifling and metal is awesome. I'd like to restore it back to original shape with the sights and stock.

 

Is this worth it at all, or should I just look out for an un-Bubba'd Yugo Mauser?

with out seeing it sounds like it may be a fun project . The trick to doing these things is dont rush, finding the parts cheep also makes it fun .

Look for an in bubba-ed one

Worth the hassle financially, Well I'd guess probably not though I do not really know much about them (at least in the short term, hold on to it long enough and it will probably be worth more than you put into it. Of course if you had bought an all original one in the first place it's value will probably increase greater than rebuilding that one you are looking at.) On the other hand if you are not looking at it as a financial investment and more as a fun project then I would say it's probably worth it. That's a matter of opinion though. Personally I do not like seeing historical equipment being altered in any way that is unnecessary, so I prefer to see sporterized firearms changed back to original configuration.