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Old 06-25-2017, 08:42 PM
South Pender South Pender is offline
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Default Dakota Varminter

This is my first post on this forum, so hope it's OK to solicit an opinion on a commercial product.

I'm wondering about the late-model Dakota Varminters. Evidently they have ss Douglas barrels, which, if I'm reading the forums correctly, are not quite at the pinnacle of quality (at least when compared with Lilja, Krieger, Shilen etc.). Also, I don't know what trigger they use and haven't been able to determine this from the Dakota website. It is described in the Dakota catalog as "box style match trigger" (not sure what that means).

They appear to have a sort of light contour varmint barrel, so I'm interested in accuracy potential.

Anyone here have some experience with these rifles? The action appears to be a reworked Nesika Bay action and has Dakota stamped on it. I'd be interested in hearing all the pros and cons!

Thanks in advance.

Last edited by South Pender; 06-25-2017 at 10:00 PM.
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Old 06-25-2017, 09:19 PM
df06 df06 is offline
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Default Dakota varminters

I have not owned on of those guns or a Douglas barrel. I have and do own a number of Shilen, Lilja and one Kreiger. Can't say a Douglas is better or worse, but the three that I mentioned are excellent in my experience
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Old 06-26-2017, 01:36 AM
SmokinJoe SmokinJoe is offline
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SP, I have 14 Dakota Predator/Varminter HB model rifles mostly in 20 Cal with a few 22 cal. The factory barrels from Douglas are good, but probably not quite as good as the true custom barrels. The rifles I have with factory barrels shoot in the .3 range whereas most of the custom barrels will usually get into the .2 range. Either one is very acceptable for what it is intended. IIRC, the current production standard trigger is a Remington with older rifles frequently having Rifle Basix. Jewell is a factory option, so occasionally you will run into a used rifle with one of those. Hope this helps. Joe
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Old 06-26-2017, 02:13 AM
South Pender South Pender is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SmokinJoe View Post
SP, I have 14 Dakota Predator/Varminter HB model rifles mostly in 20 Cal with a few 22 cal. The factory barrels from Douglas are good, but probably not quite as good as the true custom barrels. The rifles I have with factory barrels shoot in the .3 range whereas most of the custom barrels will usually get into the .2 range. Either one is very acceptable for what it is intended. IIRC, the current production standard trigger is a Remington with older rifles frequently having Rifle Basix. Jewell is a factory option, so occasionally you will run into a used rifle with one of those. Hope this helps. Joe
That's very helpful, Joe. I assume that a Jewell can be easily installed on the action if you don't like the trigger that came with the rifle. I'm assuming this since they offer a Jewell as a factory option.
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Old 06-26-2017, 01:44 PM
SmokinJoe SmokinJoe is offline
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I have installed Jewell triggers in several of mine, but had one that would not take the Jewell. That one ended up with a Rifle Basix I had taken out of another rifle. Probably could send action & trigger to Dakota & they would fix it but didn't want the hassle & expense - I'm happy with the result anyway.
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Old 06-26-2017, 01:59 PM
Gary in Illinois Gary in Illinois is offline
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Default Dakota

My early production Varminter came with a Rifle Basix trigger but it is so good that I never installed the Jewel trigger I bought for it. If I were buying a new one with a Rifle Basix trigger, I would try it before replacing it. Of course, you can never go wrong ordering it with a Jewel.
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