I traded a bunch of safe queens for a Dakota 76 in 7mm Rem mag. According to the factory reps, who are a bunch of nice folks, the rifle shot to the guaranteed one MOA. They sent me the test targets to prove it.

When I received the rifle, it shotgunned. Sent it back and Dakota sent the scope, a 3.5-14x50 Leupold LPS, to Leupold. A problem was found with the scope. Dakota shot another test string and grouped one MOA or less, using shop scopes.

I have several other rifles that shoot MOA or less. The Dakota still shotguns all over the paper, shooting a very occasional MOA group, but averaging around two MOA. I have fired it with around ten different loads, some few handloads that work well in my A Bolt, (which shoots tighter than the Dakota by far), and six or seven different factory loads from Fed. 140 ballistic tip to Rem. 160 A Frames, to no avail.

My last attempt is changing the scope to another LPS which shoots MOA in a 300 Rem Ultra. I have yet to take the new combo to the range, but will do so next week.

The Dakota's chamber shows .7" of freebore.

Does anyone have any potential solution to my problem? It is a truly beautiful rifle and I don't want to sell it and pass my problems along to someone else.

Undoubtably, Dakota fired the gun in a machine rest, try to find out if they leave the stock on or just clamp in the barreled action. The barrel may not be coming down to the same contact point in the stock.

I would look at the scope mounting carefully, make sure the action bases are properly torqued, the rings are cleaned, free of oil and properly torqued.

The freebore is a little over rated as an accuracy killer, I have a 340 WBY that shoots 1/2 MOA and I can all but guarantee it has more than .7" of freebore.

Dakotas appear to be nice rifles, but I would be a bit upset if I had payed that much for a rifle that shot 2 moa.

John

Sounds the scope or loose mounts and rings. FInd out what load they were shooting and try with that. I have seen a lot of scope problems, especially with Leuopold. WHat rings and bases are you using? Who installed them? I have seen lots of ring and base problems too, but with the rings and bases and the installation of them.

I am not aware of any sporting gun manufacturers just clamping a barrelled action down and shooting it. If someone does it, I am not aware of it (but there are a lot of things I am not awre of!). I would be very interested to hear about maufacturers who do this. How a secured barreled action shoots only has some info of how a rifle would shoot, and is not telling the sporting gun maker much.

I know the "lead sled" is the rage these days now that so many people have rifles with high recoil and velocity. The sled is a bad idea for both rifle stock and scope and mounting system. Tremendous stresses are put on themdue to the high resistance to movement. But even with the sled, you have to shoot the rifle in it and not just secure the barrelled action.

Well, I couldn't wait until Tuesday. Just returned from the range, and the new scope made a substantial difference.

The rings were installed by Dakota. They are Leupold rings, and I have them on all my rifles.

I shot MOA with factory Federal 160 TSX, which wanders all over the paper in my other 7mm mag. I forgot to take the A Frames with me, which have been the most accurate load in the Dakota and the Browning, so far.

I also shot just a hair over MOA with Remington yellow box, the cheap stuff, 150 grains. Shot three groups with the TSX and one with the cheapo.

Initially, I lined it up on the 25 yd. range with some old Hornady 139 moly stuff that won't print well in the Browning. Didn't try them at 100 on the Dakota.

Next week, I'll take it out again, after I've UPS'd the removed scope to Oregon. I've had very good luck with the LPS scopes both on whitetail and in Africa, so maybe something's come loose.

I won't use a lead sled because of the problems you mentioned. I'm using a medium priced Caldwell rest with a rear bag that seems to work well with my other rifles.

Thanks for the information. I yet may send the rifle back to Dakota to have them test fire it with my scope on it and see what they come up with. Tom Adams, their head test guy, told me they fire their rifles off of sand bags.