I have never so much as held a Dakota rifle in my hands but, on paper the cartridges look interesting to say the least. The rifles are on the expensive side, but to a handloader with a custom rifle, that should be no more difficult than owning some other 416 or 404 or 458.
What am I missing? Do I need to adjust my medication???

in a nutshell: they are boutique cartridges from a very small custom builder. Brass is only available from Dakota, and the introduction of the RUMs does the same thing. Plus, the CEO is a horse's ass and their quality control is pretty much non-existent.

Rich
DRSS
Knowledge not shared is knowledge lost...

don't know why. a bunch of the stuff today like the 375 ruger is so close to the dakota 375 that i guess its jusst a matter of ego. and rich - charlie might be a HA, but don allen is the one who brought out the rounds and he was a pretty good guy. Wife wasn't but he was. The rounds are made on 404 jeff. cases, and easily formed from 404 brass, so you really don't have to buy them from dakota, although 404 brass isn't cheap either..

The 450 Dakota is one of the chamberings worth having. Once you get beyond the initial case charges, the rest of the components are standard. It makes a great buffalo rifle.

Dak

...Kokesh may still be president of Dokota, but there's a new general manager/senior vice president: Patrick Franklin. He has a mission to get Dakota off its collective butt, and "get'r done" We'll see.

I've had some recent interactions with Dakota and their QA and attitude is improving. They sent me a mod 76 7mm Rem that wouldn't hit a bull in the ass, but they eventually rebarreled the rifle and it shoots acceptably now. I'm still in the early process of working up loads.

I am now satisfied with Dakota's new attitude. For a while there, they really pissed me off.

quote:

Originally posted by Idaho Sharpshooter:
in a nutshell: they are boutique cartridges from a very small custom builder. Brass is only available from Dakota, and the introduction of the RUMs does the same thing. Plus, the CEO is a horse's ass and their quality control is pretty much non-existent.

Rich
DRSS
Knowledge not shared is knowledge lost...

Ditto

quote:

Originally posted by dirklawyer:

quote:

Originally posted by Idaho Sharpshooter:
in a nutshell: they are boutique cartridges from a very small custom builder. Brass is only available from Dakota, and the introduction of the RUMs does the same thing. Plus, the CEO is a horse's ass and their quality control is pretty much non-existent.

Rich
DRSS
Knowledge not shared is knowledge lost...

Ditto

yup horsey covers it

Butchloc,

I admired Don Allen greatly. His choice in women was a bit suspect though...I'll not go there. I bought a CZ in 450 Dakota last month. Conversion from a 458 Lott, great cartridge. I had one thirty years ago, that John Buhmiller built. 450 Buhmiller, and my old load notebook data runs within about 3-4% of what I see in the new rifle. Who says you can't go home again? Besides, most of their cartridges can be made inexpensively from RUM brass. I met Don Allen at a SHOT Show, and he gave me one of their walnut cartridge boards at a PD shoot they organized that spring, and a personal guided tour and history lesson.

Kokesh is a jackass (pml) and will ruin the company again. Hopefully the courts will not be fooled by his shenanigans a second time. The guy could screw up a one-car funeral. He's only interested in trying to convince people to spend $6500-$8000 for a $2500 rifle. Saw a deluxe grade with a knot in the stock; knot came out, and they epoxied a plug in its place.
I hope Montana buries them by year's end.

Rich
DRSS
Knowledge not shared is knowledge lost...

And their cartridges is mostly for gun-nuts.
The belted mags will do the same in real life, and that is plenty for most folks.

Brass availability. The cartridges are a better design than the RUMs IMO. I have a Ruger #1 that Dakota rechambereed back before Mr. Allen died. The rifle shoots great, the cartridge is easy to load for & the brass lasts along time. I bought enough brass to last me & glad I did. Too bad, the carts are pretty well thought out, but they seem doomed now.

Never loaded by one of the big commercial cartridge companies.
Never commerially chambered for rifles by anyone.

Unless your cartridge is loaded and chambered for rifles on a big commercial basis - it always stays a sort of wildcat.

Just look at the .375 'Ruger'. I'm sure Hornady would have much rather called it the .375 Hornady Magnum. But they needed someone to chamber rifles for the cartridge if they were going to produce it.

Unfortunately, the Ruger name does have an air of cheapness attached to it, for better or worse.


.

I think most gun folks, know that these new companies are like the wind, they come and sell a batch of guns and them evaporate into the blue..then ammo and components are either gone or hard to come by...

wow i never knew they had quality problems but then again my bank account would keep me from owning one anyway

TBear99,

actually, seeing one or two would keep most people from owning one.

Rich
DRSS
Knowledge not shared is knowledge lost...

Mine turned out quite nice, but I bought it in 7mm Rem instead of Dakota. They're trying to house clean, but Kokesh may still ruin it. Their rifles are over priced. Wish I'd bought a custom gun from another house, but the one I have works very well and is quite pleasing to the eye.

didn't mean to imply that they aren't capable of building nice rifles, just not on a consistent basis or a good value.

Rich
DRSS
Knowledge not shared is knowledge lost...

quote:

in a nutshell: they are boutique cartridges from a very small custom builder. Brass is only available from Dakota,

Yes! And the cost is way out of proportion to any ballistic improvement they (MAY) offer.......