Hello!
Sorry to make a new post, but I could not find a suitable information to my question.
I' m in consideration to buy a new bolt action rifle and since the exchange rates for Europeans are excellent, I toke a closer look to the Dakota website and rifles. As far as I understood Dakota builts semi-custom rifles for right and left hand shooters. My question to all who own a Dakota rifle or have any expierence with one is, how are you satisfied with quality refering a) precision, b) making and c) customer service during and after purchasing. If I forgot to ask a relvant question to that issue, please add the information in your answer!

Thanks for your comments.

Ok Allen, you recomend me to choose a custom gunmaker! Thats a good idea, the problem is a) to find an left hand bolt action with a reasonable price. In Germnay you can buy a Prechtl, Johannson or Ritterbusch 98 Mauser new built bolt action, but the price is: 2600-2700 Euro. For that money I can buy in the US a rifle for abut 3100 US-$. Do you know a true and worth alternative to the Dakota action for a left hand shooter, if you not want to take a molted action like montanarifleman or Rem 700, which are available without problems. Even the Winchester 70 bolt action is hardly to find only as a bolt action, and I don' t know if it is molted. What is your idea or solution to my problem???

I have several and all of the mentioned qualities are excellent+. There are a few members here who frequently post "sour grapes" BS about Dakota, but use wisdom and ignore those.
Once you try one, you will wish you had much sooner.

I have a Dakota Model 97 in 9.3x62 in an english walnut stock. It is very smooth operating and extremely accurate. - One of my favorite rifles.
I also bought a Model 10 in 7 Dakota. It fits me the best of any rifle I own. It is also very accurate although it appears to have a very tight bore. I acheive top velocities with 4-5grains less powder than the listed maximums. When I bought it, it had a broken firing pin and needed a new block due to excessive dry firing. I sent it back after speaking directly with the gunsmith who would repair it. It came back in about a week. It still had a small issue and was again turned around quickly and I got to keep about 10rds of once fired brass ($15-$20) worth.
I love the actions on both rifles, they are smooth and extremely well made. I think they charge way too much for their wood upgrades. Both mine are superb shooters. I highly recommend them save the one caveat of the overpriced wood upgrades - I think you could buy a complete blank of equal quality for 1/2 what they charge for an upgrade price. My Model 10 has a $1500 wood upgrade and I've seen 2pc blanks in the $600-$850 range I would rather have on the rifle.......DJ

I recently purchased a Dakota 76 action thru my gunsmith. He did some hardness checks on the receiver and bolt, he stated it was "well within specs." He stated it was nowhere near "soft" like some have reported on this forum. Perhaps the former actions were soft but its no longer an issue with recent production runs.

HtgAtty