Whatever makes you feel good RIP.

Zero Drift,

I understand now. Dakota is sort of a high end remchester, but they will give you the custom length of pull you want on the rifle.

Rich,
To get a 7.5# .458, must have been one of the Brown Pounder stocks that weighed one pound with pad and paint?

I have one of those on a .375 H&H Pre-64 M70 with a N0.3 sporter barrel. The rifle weighs 6.75# bare and has given good service, but it does not kick like a .458.

My other Brown Precision stocks have been 1.5 to 2 pounders, and these have been reinforced with my own crossbolts and pillars and barrel lugs on the keavy kickers.

McMillan stocks are usually around 2 to 2.5 pounds on the standard fill fiberglass, though you can get them filled heavier with less foam or even with no foam and all solid.

McMillan is making a light graphite stock now, but only for the likes of the Remington M700 and some other pushfeeds.

McMillan is a better buy in a synthetic stock nowadays.

Anybody cracked a McMillan stock?

I agree with your assessment of Don. A class act for sure.

Both of my Dakota stocks cracked but like i said before they were highly figured wood with a high mineral content in them, Don and I picked them out toghter, and he said that there was a good chance because of my choice of calibers that they might crack(375 H&H & 450 Dakota). This is the exception to the rule I'm sure. After they cracked Don said send them in and he would sort out the problem on his nickel. I never did. This was back in 1999 or 2000. The 375 has had the same crack forever and it is superficial. On the otherhand the crack in the 450 is a bit more serious and I'm going to re-stock it and do something else with that piece of wood.

Don was a man of honor and integrity. I miss him. I asked if he would make me a .22 with one of the stocks(during the time they stopped .22 production) he just laughed. i wanted to use the one that is on the 450. I had to ask because I had missed the boat on them before.


BTW: They did cut the LOP to my specs.

RIP,

I whiled away some happy hours back in college filling, sanding, bedding and painting some Brown Precision stocks. Put a 270 Remington barreled action in one. It was my go to mountain rifle for twenty years. Gave it to my daughter for a high school graduation present. She is grown and gone to college now. I hope she is cutting class to go deer hunting as I write this.



I agree that McMillan stocks are a good way to go.



Their copy of the Sako Hunter series stock fits me perfectly, and they will inlet that design to fit Remington, Ruger, Browning, Tikka, Weatherby (Safari style) and of course, Sako actions.





On top is a Sako 375 H&H in a McMillan stock with a molded in hunter green color. That stock is a standard weight. The bottom rifle is a 416 Rem Mag. That stock has a heavier fill. Neither is bothersome in the recoil department. McMillan uses a polyurethane paint. It is pretty durable, and is less reflective than an unpainted stock.







This is a CZ in 416 Rigby in a McMillan Safari style stock.





The inletting was pretty decent from the factory. Of course, with fiberglass stocks, a dremel tool, and plenty of Marine-Tex bedding compound, you never have to say oops!





This is the female portion of a quick detachable sling swivel assembly. The first time I gouged my hand from firing a hard kicker with standard swivel studs was also the last.

Well,
What have I learned:

1. The Dakota rifle is the finest semi-custom rifle that money can buy, and a bargain at Dakota prices, compared to some of the European craftsmanship. The fit and finish, metallurgy, precision machining, and function of Dakota rifles cannot be beat. But we have to march to the Dakota tune, and do everything the "Dakota Way," or else follow Saeed's highway. Also, if you are going to get the marble-cake wood stock, better have them make up a synthetic stock to actually hunt with.

2. McMillan is still tops for the hard use big bore rifle stock.

3. If you want to use the lighter weight Brown Precision stock, better do all the reinforcing tricks that one does with wood. But Brown Precision seems to be passe nowadays, since McMillan makes stocks tougher and cheaper.

4. Charlie has good taste in color choices for his McMillan stocks.

Synthetic stocks on using rifles ? I thought that had been settled years ago. I also love the look of great wooden handles but top craftsman use the best tools at their disposal and one look at any of the worlds military rifles leaves little doubt about the pratical superiority of synthetic stocks.

Some interesting observations regarding Dakota being floated around here. There is no question that after Don�s passing that things were going to change at Dakota. Most of the changes are probably for the better. But having owned and shot 4 Dakota rifles (including the Dakota .416 and Dakota .450) for over 10 years with no split stock or other problem, I will call bullshit on the assertion that Dakota stocks are some how inherently inferior.



It does not surprise me that Dakota would not build a special order rifle outside of their usual lineup. If you want a Dakota action with your selected barrel and stock, go to any of a hundred guns smiths capable of building your gun, but that is not a service Dakota offers. In short, if you ask a gun manufacturer to build something they don�t do, don�t be surprised when they say �No�.

Gentlemen,

I think what we should bear in mind is that Dakota is manufacturing rifles - not a custom rifle builder.

From my own experience in using their actions, I think they are extremely well made, and have stood up to all the rough treatment rifles normally get in enduring several African safaris.

My old friend Roy Vincent, with whom I have hunted for so many years, made a comment as we were sighting our rifles earlier this year in Tanzania.

He said "Why are you sighting them again? Your rifles never change their zero!"

Which was a true statement. But to make sure, I normally fire a round or two before we go out hunting.

RIP,

Take my advice, use the Dakota 76 action, a Dan Lilja barrel of your choice, a McMillan or an H-S stock, and either build it yourself, or get a gunsmith to put it all together for you.

I wish I had built my "red death ray" rifle - as Walter calls it because we painted the flutes red!- on a Dakota action.

I just had a Sako 75 action here, so I built it on that. Using a 27 inch Lilja barrel, and chambered for our own 30/404.

My hunting loads with 180 grain bullets go between 3430-3480 fps, depending on the make of the bullet.

I used this in South Africa 3 years ago, and it sure came in handy for those cross canyon shots where Walter refused to shoot anything using his German contraption - Blaser R93 in 7x64 Brenneke.

I remember we saw a herd of black wildebeest on the side of amountain across a valley from us.

I said "Walter, you want to shoot a black wildebeest?"
Walter "Yes yes yes! Lets us go shoot one or two!"

Our PH, turned to him and said "Well, load your rifle and shoot the third from the left"

Walter "Mr. Harris, are you drunk or are you still sleeping? That animals is almost a kilometer away"

I said "No it is not. It is not even half a kilometer away. May be about 450 yards"

Walter "And you want me to shoot it from here? OK, I will. But first I will take a nap, while you two jokers go across the valley and herd them close to me. When I can hear them snorting, I will shoot the biggest one I see"

He takes his cowboy hat off, lays back on his seat, and puts the hat over his face, saying "see you in a few hours gentelmen!"

Walter noticed me taking my rifle out of the gun rack, and said "if you kill that animal from here, I will name your new gun the red death ray.

I fired a shot at the wildebeest, he ran a few yards and dropped.

Walter got his confidence back, and said "I can see they are not that far now. I am going to shoot one"

He fired a shot at one of them, his bullet hitting about 10 yards below the animal.

I said "Your bullet barely made it across the canyon. May you need to aim about 10 meters above him"

Walter "NO I won't. Both you and Peter are mad. I won't shoot anything further than 200 meters"

I said "You want to use my rifle?"
Walter "Absolutely NOT! That bloody thing kicks too hard"

Great response Ray. I just love a nice wood and blue rifle. I was tempted a few times to got Syn and stainless, but could not bring myself to it.
Even my son, who recently bought his first rifle, a 22 mag, would not even look at sythetic. He even paid a couple extra dollars for Walnut instead ot that crappy birch stuff floating around.

Saeed, Eric,

Don't take this as a "defending blaser post" nothing could be further from the truth.

I sort of inherited a Blaser R-93 last year and am trying to decide wether to keep it or sell it and get something I really want. Like a stainless Dakota light weight hunter.

I have heard many statements like "Blasers suck" and "they're over complicated pices of junk". What in particular have you two seen in reagrds to failures with Blasers. Any first hand experiences would be appreciated.

The reason I ask is so far that little Blaser has proven to be an extremly accurate smooth shooting piece. I hate to get rid of a good shooting rifle. Even if it is a plastic fantastic.

So any real world experiences with the R-93's failure modes would be helpfull.

HO HO HO GEEZ! Ray,

Accusing me of being a dentist? That is weird! Get your mental dentures in before chewing the fat! I am an M.D., not a D.D.S. nor a D.M.D.

I am not a D.V.M. either, so the next time you sire a litter of puppies out of Judge G's pretty little front porch bitch, I will not be able to help with the hush-hush puppy plastic surgery, nor any hush puppy euthanasia to hide the Atkinson lineage. I have heard that some strange looking mustachioed hound dogs roam in Georgia and Idaho.

Now, seriously, to Saeed, I hear you, and you are the man with the plan. A Dakota is in the works, the Saeed way, which is the High Way.

Pity not those nostalgia hounds, for they take comfort in their folly. Sort of like howling at the moon.

Hikerbum,
Good show! We need to associate with a higher class of individual... Dentists (Rip) and Arabs (Saeed) are an undiciplined lot at best!! Dentists are masochistic by nature, and a certain Arab is a cackling, sneaky, back shooting heathen that lurks in the bush and will shoot your bloody buffalo right out from under your sights, and then you hear this cackling laughter from him and that horrible, disgusting So.African who calls himself a PH for some reason known only to them... Apparently they both have been associated with Walter too long and its starting to show its long term effects...We must disassociate outselves from such low life sorts that use shiney metal and plastic stocks..They simply have no class, their guns are akin to modern art, kitchen utensils and modern cars, and besides all that, they talk funny!! :grin