Sorry to hear bout yer dads pup. Dog doing what it loves won't take time for itself. Glad he was playin in a field on a nice day hunting. Hope when my time comes I go out same way.......
I have a friend that took an old mexican mauser, cut the action in two, welded it back up and did one hell of a lot of work to make hisself a 7.62x39 javalina /white tail ultra lite iron sighted rifle. He graduated from the Colorado School of Trades Gunsmithing and Engraving course and it was his first project out of the chute. He did very well.
My only concern was the barrel he turned down to almost quirt like diameter. Rifle weighed in about 5 pounds tops and had a nice williams peep sight. Every place he could do so safely he removed metal - drilled honeycomb like holes to reduce weight. He even removed the metal ball on the end of the bolt and threaded a phenolic machine knob on to it for weight reduction.
Very nice woods/swamp caliber and construction IMHO for lower 48.....Stay Safe !