Rebarreled Dakota 76

[JHT]

Gentlemen, I have recently come across a Dakota 76 that I believe may have been rebarreled (there are two clues that I’m sure you will notice from photo). Is there a way to trace date of manufacture and original caliber by serial number? Thank you.

 

[BeeMaa]

The rear sight is not what Dakota normally would use and the font for "416 Rem" is wrong.

Is this the GI add for this particular rifle? The sight, font and wood grain in picture 6 look identical.
https://www.gunsinternational.com/g...ari-416-remington-magnum.cfm?gun_id=101565064

 

[JHT]

Yes, it is the same gun. Good eye. The rear sight base is installed backwards and the caliber stamp isn’t what Dakota uses. I’m trying to trace what it was when it left the factory. The serial number is 2023.
As far as accuracy, at 50 yards with irons it can hit a golf ball sized target so I am hesitant to turn the rear sight base back around. I suppose it might possibly be a .404 or .416 Dakota conversation?

 

[rookhawk]

@JHT you have little hope of uncovering the data of manufacture since Dakota was shuttered. You could guess if you had enough known serials and their dates of manufacture.

To be blunt and tell you what I think happened in very high confidence is as follows. They couldn't give away the Dakota proprietary caliber guns whatsoever. Guns like this one in Dakota caliber could be had at one point for less than two grand. Astounding, considering that the same gun's MSRP was around $8000 and would sell for that in a "conventional caliber". Somebody got it cheap and swapped barrels to make it marketable or useful.

The alternative to that was it was a smallbore and they wanted to make it an Africa gun, because nobody intentionally makes a 416 Remington in an action that would hold the 416 Rigby, you pick the Remington so you can squeeze it into a shorter action with less work.

Any way you look at it, its a pretty dodgy gun now. To unravel the mess you'd be into it for another $2500+ to put the correct barrel, chamber, bolt face, barrel sling swivel, and express sights on the gun to make it "normal" again. At that point, it would be an altered, non-original Dakota and probably worth $2800.

 

[Aaron N]

Well someone bought it! What was the list price?

 

[JHT]

To be blunt and tell you what I think happened in very high confidence is as follows. They couldn't give away the Dakota proprietary caliber guns whatsoever. Guns like this one in Dakota caliber could be had at one point for less than two grand. Astounding, considering that the same gun's MSRP was around $8000 and would sell for that in a "conventional caliber". Somebody got it cheap and swapped barrels to make it marketable or useful.

I tend to agree with this assessment. Certainly this is what I would have done. I am; however, curious of the original chambering. Is there no keeper of the Dakota records since they are out of business? I would find this hard to believe.

 

[JHT]

Mystery solved: thanks to the good folks at Parkwest Arms, I now know the rifle was originally a 375 H&H that was rebarreled 416 Remington. Parkwest, as we knew, reports that the rebarrel was not performed by Dakota.

 

[rookhawk]

If you can buy it right, you could have parkwest debarred it.

Amazing that Dakota charged ~$2300 to the dealer in 1996 for that gun, isn’t it? Times have changed!