Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Dakota 97

I have a Dakota Arms model 97 , Lightweight Hunter, and have owned a couple others. I rarely see anyone mention the Dakota rifles and wondered why.

Is there a quality issue? Weight? Cost?

Mine have always shot and functioned very well, just curious what others thought of them.

I have never seen one in person so I can't speak to the quality, but I would think it probably has something to do with the price tag. If you've got $4k+ to spend it opens up a lot of options.

I have a Dakota 76 in 416 Remington. There is just nothing wrong with it and nothing about it that I want to change. If other Dakota's are like mine, there is little to question, wonder about or complain about.

I owned a M97 in 30-06 once.

Quality was outstanding, but the rifle was a little heavy for my liking.

I just decided it was worth more to someone else than it was to me, and let it go.

If the weight doesn't bother you, you can't do better in a CRF rifle (except a M76).

Bought two of em back when they were much cheaper. The synthetic stocks could be better but overall the rifles have been very reliable and inexpensive to own. Take em out of the box, scope em and sight em in.....no tuning or adjusting, very accurate and both are probably worth more than I paid for em.

Both my 97s have been used and I bought them for what I thought were reasonable prices. I had a 76 in 280 Ackley that I should have kept and a Model 10 in. 280 that was really nice, but I spent my time worrying about scratching it.

The lightweight hunter '06 that I have is reasonably comfortable to carry at 7 pounds, bare.

Have a 97 stainless in .270. Fit and finish are excellent. Probably wod be the last rifle I would depart with. A M70 on a diet. Also one of the 2nd generation with the Winchester trigger. A deciding factor at the time was left hand stainless.

Probably one of the best hunting bolt actions made. The 76 incorporates all of the features sought in the model 70 and Mauser with better metallurgy and machining. Forged, heat treated then machined to avoid any dimensional changes.

Not sure about the 97.

The company has had it's ups and downs so don't know if the quality is as consistent as when Don Allen was there.

Have had one for many years. Wonderful gun. I stopped by their shop the other day and, well, the only thing akin to it would be a kid getting turned loose in Santa's workshop. Guns are like women; their beauty and "worth" are in the eye of the beholder.

Traded for a Model 97 around 8-9 years ago. Fiberglass adl style stock was an anchor at 40oz's. Installed a High Tech stock and after market bottom metal. Pretty nice rifle if you can pick one up at a reasonable price.