If the action has never been built into a rifle it can be built into a handgun with no extra work, assuming you don't have to register a pistol in the state you live in. You can buy new Savage Target actions for around $550, not very often you see brand new Remington actions that haven't been built into anything.
Works with AR15 receivers no reason a bolt action would be any different.
I thought AR receivers that were marked "multi caliber" could be made into a pistol, but any receiver made as a rifle receiver (along with the federal tax being paid as such) could only be made into a rifle (with the exception of short barreled class III type stuff). I looked up the BATF regulations, this is what I found:
The NFA, Title 26, United States Code (U.S.C.), Chapter 53, requires that persons manufacturing, importing, transferring, or possessing firearms as defined in the NFA comply with the Act’s licensing, registration, and taxation requirements. The NFA defines the term “firearm” at 26 U.S.C. 5845(a) to include “(3) a rifle having a barrel or barrels of less than 16 inches in length;” (“short-barreled rifle”) and “(4) a weapon made from a rifle if such weapon as modified has an overall length of less than 26 inches or a barrel or barrels of less than 16 inches in length” (“weapon made from a rifle”). The term “rifle” is defined by 26 U.S.C. 5845(c) and 27 CFR 479.11 as “a weapon designed or redesigned, made or remade, and intended to be fired from the shoulder and designed or redesigned and made or remade to use the energy of the explosive in a fixed cartridge to fire only a single projectile through a rifled bore for each single pull of the trigger, and shall include any such weapon which may be readily restored to fire a fixed cartridge.” Although not defined in the NFA, the term “pistol” is defined by the Act’s implementing regulations, 27 CFR 479.11, as “a weapon originally designed, made, and intended to fire a projectile (bullet) from one or more barrels when held in one hand, and having (a) a chamber(s) as an integral part(s) of, or permanently aligned with, the bore(s); and (b) a short stock designed to be gripped by one hand and at an angle to and extending below the line of the bore(s)” (emphasis added). However; I was able to find in a BATF discussion page, if an AR lower had NEVER BEEN assembled as a rifle you could mfg a pistol, so I believe you are spot on in your statement.
But, nonetheless, I'm more interested in a single shot action, it would better serve my intended purpose. But thanks for the input.