Dakota calibres

What became of the various Dakota offerings? Especially the 7mm and 300 ? Don’t see or hear much of them these days with plenty of new entrants to the big 7 & big 30 cal offerings.
Assume there’s still a few rifles around? Brass ?
Does the slightly larger base/head ( 0.545 vs 0.532-535) still work with normal magnum bolt face?
Like many of the non-belted magnums around the design seems to harm back to the original 404 Jeffery case.
Might be an interesting case for wild cat development if it fits a standard magnum bolt face

I reload for a 300 Dakota

There’s three that I know of in NZ

Do they fit a standard magnum bolt face?

Didn't they have some quirk like very short necks?

I thought that was more of an issue with wsm’s ?

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Originally Posted by chainsaw

Do they fit a standard magnum bolt face?

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If Dakota brass is based on 404 Jeffery dimensions they probably fit a Tikka magnum bolt face. What makes ms think so is I have a 300 Blaser and the case is suppisedly based on 404 Jeffery dimensions. The Blaser case fits an unmodified Tikka magnum bolt face. I used the Tikka magnum actio for my rifle.

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Originally Posted by 7mmsaum

I reload for a 300 Dakota

There’s three that I know of in NZ

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Pretty sure there's more than three but I don't know how many more. Not heaps by any means as I assume Dakota cost was always a factor but a few examples reached NZ over the years.

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Originally Posted by 30.06king

If Dakota brass is based on 404 Jeffery dimensions they probably fit a Tikka magnum bolt face. What makes ms think so is I have a 300 Blaser and the case is suppisedly based on 404 Jeffery dimensions. The Blaser case fits an unmodified Tikka magnum bolt face. I used the Tikka magnum actio for my rifle.

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Both 7mm & 30 Blaser Mag are 0.535. Dakota are 0.545

There are a few 7mm Dakota around. I think the bolt face of most magnums need to be opened slightly up to accept the case.
The 28 nosler is pretty much the same but with a normal magnum head.

I went to visit the Dakota factory in Sturgis twice in the early 2000’s , as a friend of mine over there knew one of their foreman.
It changed hands I believe and has been renamed something else in the recent years.

Is brass available here ?

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Originally Posted by chainsaw

Both 7mm & 30 Blaser Mag are 0.535. Dakota are 0.545

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You are correct. I checked.
404 Jeffery is 0.543

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Originally Posted by chainsaw

Is brass available here ?

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If you're looking, which calibre ? I may know of some but would have to check calibre / availability.

Deadeye dicks may have some brass. They supported those cartridges for a time.

Yes Tracy has a Dakota

Dakota calibers are a bit like Lazzeroni and JDJ Wildcats.
They will get some small market share briefly and then be orphans that are hard to feed once the marketing machine moves on to the next big thing.

They do bring innovation and clearly catch people's attention.
But they also seem excessively expensive to own and feed.

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Originally Posted by 30.06king

If you're looking, which calibre ? I may know of some but would have to check calibre / availability.

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Probably 7mm but more of a general question as to availability and cost. Sounds like not great on either score.

I have a 330 Dakota built on a Ruger M77 ex 338 Win Mag. Back in the day I sent the whole rifle to a Gunsmith in the USA. He rebarreled it with a Lilja barrel and sent it back to me. No paperwork or permits required. Ah those were the days. It realistically doesn't do anything the good old 338 Win Mag couldn't. I have a mix of Dakota brass and reformed RWS .404 brass.

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Originally Posted by chainsaw

Probably 7mm but more of a general question as to availability and cost. Sounds like not great on either score.

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@chainsaw I asked about the brass. It was 300 Dakota. But, already spoken for sorry.

Thanks, no worries.

I had a 300 Dakota built on a. Weatherby action. With rl33 and 250gr atips in an 8t shilen I was at 2930fps. Was a super accurate rifle. Very cool cartridge in my opinion. Would have been a lot more popular if it ran a standard magnum bolt face.


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Originally Posted by 30.06king

If Dakota brass is based on 404 Jeffery dimensions they probably fit a Tikka magnum bolt face. What makes ms think so is I have a 300 Blaser and the case is suppisedly based on 404 Jeffery dimensions. The Blaser case fits an unmodified Tikka magnum bolt face. I used the Tikka magnum actio for my rifle.

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I looked up the Blaser 300 Magnum to find that it has a 0.535 inch case head diameter. The 30R Blaser cartridge has a case head diameter of 0.531 inches (per Wikipedia diagram: 13.5mm, divide by 25.4 mm.in to get 0.531 inch).

The 404 Jeffrey has a case head diameter of 0.543 inch (Wikipedia), which is close to the 0.545 inch case head diameter of the main Dakota series cartridges (Terminal Ballistics).

I have a 330 Dakota. A .340 Weatherby case (with standard magnum case head diameter of 0.532 inch [Terminal Ballistics]) is retained loosely by the bolt-face/extractor claw of my 330 Dakota. I can't state that the overlap of the extractor claw is enough to provide reliable extraction of case made for the Dakota from standard magnum brass. It looks like it might.

So far as I can find, only Dakota cases or .404 Jeffrey cases have an appropriate Dakota rim diameter. I've just fallen into 240 once fired 300 Dakota cases, which I plan to expand up to 0.338, so with my current supply of 127 330 Dakota cases (mostly new brass) my case supply problem is solved.

I have seen a custom case maker offering new Dakota brass for $6 each. These would presumably have the advantage of being properly headstamped. Also, Redding sells a $200 die set made to convert .404 Jeffrey cases into the 330 Dakota (instructions included), probably available for all the Dakota line. Of course these days, the 404 Jeffrey cases are also rare and expensive, though not nearly so bad as the Dakota.

The Parkwest Co. which now provides Dakota rifles has no cases or ammo available. They aren't optimistic about getting any, as makers require a prohibitive number in an order to cover tooling up. Hendershots offers some Dakota ammo, but it will be made from 300 Dakota cases, and so headstamped.

The Dakota rifles are fine examples of craftsmanship and aesthetic, worth having, keeping. I think a good gunsmith can alter the bolt face/extractor claw to properly fit a standard magnum case head. If that is done, then Dakota cases might be made from 338 Rem Ultra Mag cases, or possibly 375 Ruger (not sure about the Ruger, the case body is slightly larger that the Dakota's).

Rebate the brass rim a few thou to fit the std magnum boltface

Shooters been doing it for years

Doesn’t increase bolt thrust as the chamfer makes the brass face smaller than the total dia anyway

Saw a 7mm Dakota take out a trophy Fallow once, made my ears ring, shook the closer trees, created a minor earthquake and scared the f#%k out of every game animal between Cheviot and Kaikoura. The buck ran 80 yards and died, a 6.5 creedless would have done it better.

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Originally Posted by 199p

Didn't they have some quirk like very short necks?

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Hey nothing wrong with a short neck...

There is a few 7mm that were built in chch by a mate but the extreme price of the
Brass has put any new builds off last list price it was more then lapua factory 338 LM brass
When 338 was $5 each Dakota was $6-7 per case

I worked on a 7mm Dakota 6 months ago had to solder a bush into the bolt face and recut to suit
Standard magnum bolt face and ended up changing to 28 nosler

With bringing new line ups into precision hunter ammunition or
Bringing back old rounds like the weatherby it has made it harder to justify
$7 brass when of the shelf stuff does the same thing in a more universal way
If you get bored with the caliber

I've had a 7mm Dakota built off of a Remington 700 for years. Nice caliber - spits out 180gr pills at 3000fps plus no worries but brass is not available these days really. Fortunately, I stocked up at the time and am still working with 75 cases (10 plus firings) plus I have a 100 brand new, never fired Dakota cases. Enough in theory to last another 20 years at the rate I shoot things. Am thinking of trying something else though. If anyone is interested in either rifle or brass, send me a PM.

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Originally Posted by 7mmsaum

I reload for a 300 Dakota

There’s three that I know of in NZ

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A friend of mine has had one for many years here in Wanganui.

I visited the Dakota factory twice around the years 2000, a friend of mine in Sturgis knew the foreman over there.

Bruce Bertram in Aussie can make any amount of brass you want