Today I'm in the Black Hills, South Dakota area. We are in the process of moving from Minot to Cheyenne, and the Black Hills are pretty close to half way.

One of the reasons I wanted to stop here was to tour Dakota Rifles facility. They are located in Sturgis, and they are making me a Remington Model 547 in 22lr. Originally I thought it would be cool to pick it up today, but I came up with the idea too late and it's not ready. No worries, I am comfortable with their timeline and there's no reason to hurry a rifle that I hope to keep for another 40 years.

I took some pictures:



They have quite a selection of barrels on hand. The gentleman who gave us the tour mentioned they have Douglas, Shilen, and some other makers barrels, and they are happy to use any barrel maker one prefers. They will chamber barrels in any chambering, including wildcats. They will not let a rifle go out without proving it, so if someone wants a wildcat they need dies to make the brass.

They are also happy to use any barrel specs desired, such as twist rate, contour, etc.



Aa you would expect every tool and machine is top quality. Here is a picture of the machine used to chamber barrels.



Of particular interest to my wife was their engraver. It produces some really cool work. This is the machine engraver, not the hand engraver.



Here's a poor cell phone picture of a rifle barrel being worked on for Kuiu. Dakota is making them several rifles right now.



They have quite a selection of wood blanks on hand. Wow, some really pretty pieces of wood in here.



They also use McMillan, Echols, Brown Precision, etc. stocks. If you desire any stock they are happy to use it. Everything is hand fitted and the inletting is perfect.

The Dakota 76 actions are based on Model 70 actions, so if desired a McMillan intended for a Model 70 would closely match. The Dakota 97 is based on a Remington 700 type round body receiver.

Here's a picture of the Dakota rep showing my boy inletting and hand fitting details. I can't express how impressive it is that Dakota took the time to show us their shop.

[img]http://i.imgur.com/98luy8e.jpg[/img]

And here is a picture of my boy holding my Remington 547 wood stock. My wife picked the blank from pictures Dakota sent me, and they are still working on it. After holding other Remington 547 samples I'm really glad I picked one over a Cooper. The balance and weight are really superb!

[img]http://i.imgur.com/405CsqJ.jpg[/img]

I'm a sucker for straight lines and contrast on rifle stocks!

In addition to the pictures we asked a bunch of questions and learned a ton. I thought a Dakota 76 would be heavier than a Dakota 97, because the 76 is based on the Model 70, but that is not the case. The wood stocked, "hunting grade" Model 76 was nimble in the hand. I may have to get one in a couple years.

I also learned Dakota can get you a Remington 700 in titanium. Those haven't been commercially available for several years, but I saw one today with a Proof Research carbon fiber barrel on it.

In the end I will only carry 100% American made rifles until I have no other choice. There aren't many options left, and for a Dakota made rifle one has to pay a bit more than for another maker. But you get a top quality rifle!

Again, much thanks to Dakota Rifles for showing us around today!

Awesome pictures and details Joel. That was pretty danged cool!

I have several Dakotas. They are spectacular....and American !!!!

Interesting, thanks.

Be careful when buying your first Dakota rifle. One can turn into several pretty quickly! In the last year my dad and I have acquired a Model 76 270, a Model 10 257 Roberts and a Model 22. They truly are some of the finest rifles IMO.

I have a Remington 547 22lr. It has a Shilen barrel and is very accurate. Do you know what trigger do they use in them? Mine was adjusted super light and feels great.

My only complaint is the cheap plasticy bottom metal and magazines. The latch stopped working properly to pop the magazine out and I'm always worried I'll lose it hunting. I would ask what bottom metal system they are using. If metal I would be interested in upgrading. I was not aware that Dakota was making these. Thanks for the pics

I didn't take the time to look at the bottom metal on the 547. I can let you know when I get mine.

Thanks Joel, I think you'll be happy.

Ive taken that tour also and it is a great place to visit. Almost ordered one of the dakota varminters but first stop in rapid city had an unadvertised used Dakota 76 Varmint that i left with!

Did you get to "fondle" a Model 10? (it's been a fantasy of mine)

the cabelas here in Richfield Wisconsin had a Dakota 10 in 270 for several years. the asking price was $5600 which was steep for a plain jane stick of walnut. however it was a joy to hold and the trigger was amazing. If that model 10 had a shadowline cheekpiece it would have followed me home for a deer rifle with visions of stalking in Europe.

thanks for the photo trip ...

Looks nice and I know that you will be proud of it.
They're actually several American made receivers. John Pierce and Stu Satterlie currently make Titanium receivers as well as a couple others.
I think your Wife picked out a nice stick.

I did--I hadn't realized how "small" they were. It's a full sized rifle, but it sure doesn't feel full sized.

I think it would be a near perfect "backpacking" rifle!

Thanks Butch!

In fairness, I asked Butch and Utah708 both their opinion of the blanks that Dakota presented as options. Butch and Utah both thought the one I ultimately picked was a good looking blank. When my wife also thought so, I stopped thinking about it! I liked near all of them.

Dakota will re-stock and closely match the fore end for you. They are comparable to most custom smiths in price. Don Allen and his staff refined the duplicating machines and Dakota would already have the CAD program to run it so save some set up charges there.

Thanks for the tour. I have had a fantasy to go during the biker rally so I could enjoy biker chicks and fine rifles on the same trip. But the rifles are the main draw. I think sometimes all of the Dakato staff get the hell out of dodge during the rally.

Glad you got a tour of the place Joel.

I only own one Dakota and since I had this one built , I'm always on the lookout. It feels as good as it looks. Great fit and finish, etc.and I got to choose my wood. Thanks for the pictures.

Where are the workers at building rifles? No one in the photos working.

They were in a monthly safety meeting.

A fellow on the range had a 97 in 280Rem in a synthetic stock. I did not ask him what type that was?

Do they use McMillan or some other type of synthetic stock?

The m97 was their attempt at a lower priced "hunter" grade rifle.

It was basically a round actioned m70 to cut cost and weight.

Their fiberglass stocks were made by MPI, I believe.

Thank you for sharing. A model 10 is definitely on my wishlist...

IIRC Satterlee Arms does not make Ti actions...he simply purchased a supply of surplus action parts from a defunct
Co. called Taconics. Taconics is out of business likely because they ran a terrible show by making the foolish decision
to employ Satterlee. Satterlee Arms over the last decade at least has earned a terrible reputation.

Butch is right. Satterlee does currently make TI actions. Different sizes. When I worked with him at Taconic, we only made Mex length actions out of TI. He did buy out some left over inventory from Taconic back in 1998-9? I've known Stu since Dec '92 when I started working with him at Dakota Arms. 4 1/2 years later we, along with another smith left Dakota and moved to upstate NY to build TI Mexes. The machine shop that Taconic was a small part of is still in business. Taconic went away due mostly to digital cameras replacing film. And the massive purchase orders that got cancelled because of that.

Just think. Not everything you read on the internet about Satterlee is correct.

Imagine that.