I just picked up a Dakota Model 10 in 257 Roberts. I've wanted one of these for a long time and when this one came along I had to have it. It's amazing how wonderfully balanced these little rifles are. It will definitely be going on my antelope hunt this year. I loaded up some shells with some 110 gr Accubonds and am gonna go test it out Saturday morning and see how she shoots.

Good looking rifle ! What is the barrel length? Tell us how it shoots!

Thanks! It's got a 23" barrel.

Wow. Beautiful!

Thanks Jeff!

Very nice.

I will take the liberty of suggesting some future modifications.

Quick release scope mounts - Purchase a pair of quick release levers from Talley. They sell them as an accessory and you simply install them by replacing the current lower scope mount screws with the included new ones.

Have a front sight installed. See the next bullet.

Purchase a Talley removable peep sight. They are not expensive and they fit into the rear scope base.

Those modifications will give you the ability to quickly switch between irons and scope.

If it shoots half as good as it looks its a winner.

.

Beautiful rifle with proper glass mounted. I have a similar rifle in 300 Win, and it is surprising to me how light the felt recoil is from such a light rifle.

Thank Grenadier. I think I will probably leave this one as is. Although I do love the looks of open sights I don't really see myself using them on this rifle. I have several other nice rifles that have sights that I can use if I want to, but I always seem to fall back to using a scope.

quote:

Originally posted by subsailor74:
Beautiful rifle with proper glass mounted. I have a similar rifle in 300 Win, and it is surprising to me how light the felt recoil is from such a light rifle.

Thanks! I would have figured that a 300 Win would be a killer on recoil in one of these little rifles.

Very nice, I like it.

Dave

I just like this rifle, period. Our Cabelas here in Chattanooga (Ft Oglethorpe) has a .375 H&H that I've been crooning over for some time. Just can't justify the price.

Interesting wood. Looks like an English vertical marblecake.

A very nice rifle with spectacular wood, well done.

Question, I am led to believe that you cannot dry fire the Mod 10 without breaking the firing pin. Fact or wives-tale ?

Thanks in advance.

Thanks guys!

As far as dry firing I'm not for sure. I have heard the same thing and just figured better safe than sorry and haven't dry fired it. I ordered some snap caps last night.

That's a beauty in all respects. I really like single shots but have had terrible accuracy experiences with four number 1 Rugers. Sure would like to know how this gun shoots.

Thanks. We'll find out how it shoots tomorrow. I'm really hoping that it likes these 110 gr Accubonds.

df06,

I currently have a 220 Swift, 338 Win Mag, 375 H&H and 450/400 Nitro Express in Ruger #1's. All shoot great! Also have a Browning 78 in 3006 that shoots good. My Dakota M10 in 375 H&H is one of the most accurate rifles that I've ever owned, bolt, single or other. I also take the time to find out what the rifle likes. Sometimes that runs into some time and money, but usually I can make one shoot pretty well.

That is a lovely little rifle!

Amazing wood too.

Congratulations.

I have a 7x57 in a model. It is my favorite rifle. I have been pondering a 6.5 creedmore in the same model.

The suspense is killing me, so how did it shoot!

It shot ok. Not as good as I was hoping, but it is showing some promise though. I just need to play with the loads some. It was dropping 1 shot out of a 3 shot groups and the other 2 would be touching.

I was also getting pressure signs, but that turned out to be because of the brass. In my dad's 257 we have always used Remington brass but I decided to try some Jamison brass since it was the only new brass we had. Turns out it is a much thicker brass, so I had to back off on the powder charge some.
The Remington brass averaged 168.6 gr and the Jamison 182.1 gr.

Have the same rifle in a 257 and mine really shoots the 100 gr. TSX well.....
tim

quote:

Originally posted by TimZ:
Have the same rifle in a 257 and mine really shoots the 100 gr. TSX well.....
tim

What powder are you using?

The Dakota's are works of art and this one is no exception... There is a local shop here in Denver that has a 6.5x55... Tempting!

Jim

quote:

Originally posted by JDA-CO:
The Dakota's are works of art and this one is no exception... There is a local shop here in Denver that has a 6.5x55... Tempting!

Jim

Thanks. Are you talking about the 6.5x55 at M.W. Reynolds?

Great looking rifle. I wouldn't bother with open sights, the 257 Roy was made for long distance.

I find the 100 Nosler Ballistic Tip seated slightly off the lands, with a load of IMR 4350 that produces 2900 fps (my cases are Remingtons and I believe the load is 44 gr.) shoots well in my light-barreled .257 Roberts. YMMV-see below-my rifle has a longer throat.

Question: How long is the throat? The standard, as you know, is for OAL something under 2.85" IIRC. My rifle is throated for 3" OAL, and likes the bullets near the rifling.

Good luck getting it to shoot. I'll be coming up that way in June and will be happy to take it off your hands.

Clarence

quote:

Originally posted by ClaMar:
I find the 100 Nosler Ballistic Tip seated slightly off the lands, with a load of IMR 4350 that produces 2900 fps (my cases are Remingtons and I believe the load is 44 gr.) shoots well in my light-barreled .257 Roberts. YMMV-see below-my rifle has a longer throat.

Question: How long is the throat? The standard, as you know, is for OAL something under 2.85" IIRC. My rifle is throated for 3" OAL, and likes the bullets near the rifling.

Good luck getting it to shoot. I'll be coming up that way in June and will be happy to take it off your hands.

Clarence

I finally got ahold of some Nosler brass and accuracy has improved a lot since. I'm not for sure how long the throat is because the Hornady OAL gage that I normally use to check for that won't work on the Model 10 action because the bore is actually below the safety and the rear of the loading tray and doesn't have enough clearance, so I've just been seating at standard overall length. I'll try seating them out a little farther soon.

Hahaha this rifle will never be going anywhere!!

Foiled again!

I wouldn't let that one go, either.

quote:

Originally posted by Grenadier:
Very nice.

I will take the liberty of suggesting some future modifications.

Quick release scope mounts - Purchase a pair of quick release levers from Talley. They sell them as an accessory and you simply install them by replacing the current lower scope mount screws with the included new ones.

Have a front sight installed. See the next bullet.

Purchase a Talley removable peep sight. They are not expensive and they fit into the rear scope base.

Those modifications will give you the ability to quickly switch between irons and scope.

If it shoots half as good as it looks its a winner.

Or not, because Talleys are fucking ugly!

Well BWW, you're certainly welcome to your opinion, but I really like the way that Talley's look more than any other rings which is why this Model 10 and my other nicest rifles wear Talley's as well.

A lot of supposed high end American rifles force you to use Talleys.

Which would be fine if they weren't ugly.

Cabelas in Maine had a British Best 375 with wonderful case colors and amazing wood. Some idiot screwed on a pair of talleys and ruined it forever. Even if you took the talleys off, it is kind of like how when a woman has gonorrhea and you know she has had it, doesn't make her less beautiful but you still knwo and you walk across the street to not make eye contact.

Tell us what you really think! Ha ha. Just curious, what scope bases and rings do you think are esthetically pleasing, or at least not reminiscent of a former sex partner with gonorrhea?

quote:

Originally posted by Big Wonderful Wyoming:
A lot of supposed high end American rifles force you to use Talleys.

Which would be fine if they weren't ugly.

Cabelas in Maine had a British Best 375 with wonderful case colors and amazing wood. Some idiot screwed on a pair of talleys and ruined it forever. Even if you took the talleys off, it is kind of like how when a woman has gonorrhea and you know she has had it, doesn't make her less beautiful but you still knwo and you walk across the street to not make eye contact.

Talley ultra-lights are fine. Their split top rings are fugly.

I like rail mounts, and I don't mind tactical ring mounts, and saddle mounts.

Swing mounts are fine via EAW or MAK.

Lots of options. Hell good old redfields are prettier than those stupid looking talley split tops.

Beyond that they are weak. A single screw in the top one in the bottom and that's it.

This is the best looking mount I know of. Made by a gunsmith named Smithson.





This is an older rifle built by Smithson, it has EAW or MAK swing mounts.

Those are beautiful rifles, no question about that. There is some subjectivity in this though. Personally, I have never liked the European style scope mount that encircles the objective end of the scope.

Another example of a nice looking mount is the one that David Miller uses on his custom guns. I don't have any problems with the looks of the Talley mounts though.

quote:

Originally posted by Big Wonderful Wyoming:
Talley ultra-lights are fine. Their split top rings are fugly.

I like rail mounts, and I don't mind tactical ring mounts, and saddle mounts.

Swing mounts are fine via EAW or MAK.

Lots of options. Hell good old redfields are prettier than those stupid looking talley split tops.

Beyond that they are weak. A single screw in the top one in the bottom and that's it.

A rail mount or some kind of tactical or saddle mount on a rifle like the model 10 would look pretty "fugly" in my opinion, but if you go buy a model 10 of your own and can find some one to make you a mount like that for it and you like it then more power to you.

I have no problem with swing mounts either, but they would be pretty pointless on a rifle that has no sights.

Redfield, Leupold, and Burris rings and mounts are good to and look good as well and I have them on plenty of rifles as well, but to my eye I like the look of Talley's on nice rifles more.

Weak has never been my experience with the Talley rings. Have you ever had one fail on you or know of someone who has? If they are so weak and ugly I wonder why so many people use them on their rifles, and so many custom builders make custom bases that use Talley rings to fit the rifles that they build? Also there is more than one screw in the top and one in the bottom. While there is just one in the top there are actually 3 holding the bottom together.

I will completely agree with you that Smithson mounts are definitely some of the best looking mounts out there as are the David Miller's, but comparing either of them to Talley's is ridiculous. Sure the Smithsons and Miller's look better, but they are custom built specifically to each rifle, and the Talley's are production products. The Smithsons will cost you an arm and a leg and David Miller will only build his mounts for his rifles, and you can set up a rifle with Talley rings and bases for usually just over $100 and to my eye they look pretty darn good. Not as good as the Smithsons or Miller's but still pretty darn good for a production product that costs a small fraction of the price.

Ok, why would you spend 5000 plus on a rifle and use a 100 mount? $1200 for a pair of Smithson's kind of seems like a cheap investment when you consider rifles and scopes that are creeping past $10,000 pretty quickly.

Yes, I know a of cases where the split ring Talleys fail in recoil on big guns.

Talleys have a recoil lug that shears off. They aren't the only scopes mounts to fail. The majority of them have the same failure problems as 99% of the mounts that don't use an integral feature of the rifle (Ruger, Sako, Smithson, CZ, Tikka), in that the receiver screws shear off.

I also like David Millers mount, the Blaser saddle mount on my K95s has some of the same properties.

I don't have near $5000 in it. The Model 10s come already set up with the Talley's which is great with me, because I like them. If you don't like them then don't get them, it's really that simple. Even if I were to have Smithson build me some rings and bases it could still have the same problem you mentioned in sheering off the screws because there is nothing for him to be able to build the integral bases on so he would have to end up screwing them on in the end unless he wanted to solder them on.

The lug on Talley's is on the front of the bases and if the rings are pushed against the lugs like they are supposed to be and the rings are tightened correctly I highly doubt it will stand a chance of sheering off the lugs. It could sheer off screws under extremely hard recoil, but like you said that can happen with any bases that aren't built integrally to the rifle, and being this is a 257 Roberts I highly doubt it will happen on this rifle.

Talley's have a very large following of people that trust them and like the way they look. You are the only person that I've actually heard of that despises them. So I will keep on using them and you can use whatever you like, and if you can't buy a rifle because you have seen it wearing Talley's in the past the that just leaves more for the rest of us. Hahahaha!