The following data was developed in a Dakota 76 rifle straight from the factory. It was stocked in a great looking dark wooden stock, and sported a 24-inch barrel. The rifle weighed 7 ¼ pounds without a scope. We installed a Leupold 2.5 –8 X scope in Leupold rings and Dakota bases. We would have preferred a larger scope on this rifle, but we were unable to do that because of the rear sight.

We used Dakota 330 brass and the Federal 215 primers throughout all our tests. All groups are 3 shots at 100 yards, and all bullets were molly coated except the Winchester Fail safes which were coated from the factory.