Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Dakota Arms M76 - Opinions

Yup.

In my modest collection are several custom rifles picked up used for a fraction of the new cost. One even has comb that works fine with both the iron sights and detachable scope. That used to be pretty common in the days of Griffin & Howe side-mounts, when scopes could be mounted much lower due to no bases on the top of the action.

Yup,it just takes patience to find one.

Bought a re-barreled and re-stocked FN Mauser .270 and a military action .25-06 with nice wood,cheap. The .270 was $500 and the .25-06 was $275 and it came with a Nikon 3x-9x scope.

The 2 LGS I visit the most,I swear their eyes turn to dollar signs whenever I walk in. They know what I like and will buy.

Mike,

Barsness once described himself as a semi-competent custom stockmaker. Maybe he can help you out! (Sorry, John)

I wish this one was right handed:



actually scratch that, I almost decided to learn to shoot it left handed. PO Ackley action, assembled & stocked by Jaeger, in 7x57.

The new owner was quite delighted to acquire it

Isn't there some saying about foxes and henhouses?

My issue with Africa is more an issue with time than about anything else. But then again, maybe that'd be the best way to escape the cellphone...at least for a couple of weeks.

Actually I do check occasionally. I'm patient. Something will come along, I'm sure. Maybe Ingwe will decide he's too old to hunt anymore and leave me his Ingwe Special. I'd even light a candle for his soul. Of course, to hear him speak I'd have to set fire to the bell tower!

John, care to share the stock dimensions? Most people seem to hate the old G&H side mounts.

That a nice looking rifle. I could learn to shoot left handed if it was in my safe.

I think the issue with the current stock is that it has the high MC, which raises just about everything in the back, and there might not be enough wood left for it to be styled in a traditional British pattern. I expect the most logical option is to get a blank, as was suggested, and go from there. Or just have a Dakota built to my specs. We'll see. As I said, I'm patient.

He suggested Karnis as well.

Hey, that rifle at the start of this thread is not a Dakota, it's a Waffenfabrik Hein chambered in 450 Dakota. I bought it several years ago in its synthetic stock, and sent it to Jim Kobe in Minnesota with a nice blank I bought from Luxus walnut. He created what you see there. Fort those that don't remember, Waffenfabrik Hein was a start-up maker of Magnum Mauser actions and rifles, that went belly up after a short run. If anyone buys this rifle, I still have the weighted synthetic stock it originally came in. It was up for $8,900 for some time, just dropped the price.

Hmm...GI has it listed as a Dakota M76 in .358 Winchester, being sold by Steve Barnett Fine Guns.

Ok, it looks like mine, also at Barnett.

http://www.gunsinternational.com/WA...NE-RIFLE-450-DAKOTA.cfm?gun_id=100515054

Done well the G&H mounts are great. As good or better than any QD on the market today...

Or enablers...

DF

Make the time and go for a week.

Mike,

I'll check the stock dimensions later, but they don;t really matter. What matters is that the Lyman Alaskan on my old custom 1903 Springfield by Frank Pachmayr is only 1.30" above the center of the bore, less than .2" above the top of the front sight, so either the scope or irons can be used with essentially the same cheek weld. This was a common set-up back in the days when scopes weren't sealed against moisture, and otherwise less reliable than they are today.

Some people don't like G&H mounts because of the holes drilled into the side of "classic" actions, which offend them because they prefer holes drilled in the top of the actions, which is apparently the only place scope-mounting holes should have been drilled by civilized people. But I have even seen people throw hissy-fits when they find scope-mounting holes drilled in the top of old actions. Look at what they do to the perceived value of old Savage 99's. (Back when I started shooting centerfires, correctly drilled scope-mounting holes actually increased the value of most older rifles, because then the rifles could be shot more easily and accurately. My how times change.)

The obvious and historically correct solution to holes drilled in the side of older hunting rifles for a G&H mount is to stick a G&H mount over 'em. But apparently that's not acceptable to some people.

John:

Thanks for the response. The reason I asked about the dimensions (really drop at comb and heel) is because my current Zastava that I'm thinking about toying with has a MC stock and unless I remove a considerable amount of wood or cheekbone, there's no way to use the current iron sights. A bit more drop would help. The scope is currently mounted in a set of low Warne QD rings, and even though it's comfortable, I don't think a bit more drop would really make any difference. It would, however, allow for the use of the irons. The addition of a quarter rib might raise things up a bit, but never having used one, I'm only guessing. What are your thoughts?

And thanks for the insight about side mounts. WR still offers side mounts on their custom Mausers. As a matter of fact, the rifle they show on their website is designed for iron use, but the scope is sitting in a side mount. I assume that's to either not interfere with engraving, allow the scope to be mounted low, or both.

Thanks again.