Dakota Arms filed chapter 11 on July 9th. New owner was supposed to have big $.
Ed

Wow... thats surprising!


-DallanC

It is not unusual for corporations to declare Chapter 11 as a strategy to maximize capital short term. In and of itself, this could either be a precursor of worse things to come or better things to come. Without disclosure or full information speculation is wasted.

That said, I would have no problem sending a deposit to Dakota based solely on the Chapter 11.

A business that relies upon its reputation to deal in high end firearms (toys) that they sell to a high end customer base, needs a publically disclosed financial problem like they need a dose of the clap. A chapter 11 filing would be the last thing you would want, unless you absolutely had to do so, were you Dakota.
Ed

SwampFox,

I couldn't have put it any better. This is not good for Dakota.

I just had to post this as an end to my portion of the story:

Would you believe? Went to the clays range on Saturday. My clays shooting buddy was telling me about Gulf Breeze offering this great deal on brand new Dakota shotguns. After 12 stations and after shooting the "on approval gun" my interest was up, so I called Duke on the cel phone. Duke McCaa owns Gulf Breeze Firearms, a premier Dakota dealer. They are the bunch with a half page ad in every Dakota catalog. Four of us drove over to Duke's place, where Duke met us. I and two other guys each left with brand new Dakota Grade III guns. Now how bad is that?

Explination; My 4 great grandfather was Andrew Jones, of Scotland. No true Scott can ever allow a good deal to escape.

Ed

Swampfox: congratulations on the Dakota. What an heirloom! Have you shot it? And . . . ?

I am a fan of Ruger No1s but several years ago was offered a Dakota 10 on trade and a trade was made. Oh my, what a rifle. The Dakota has now taken a few mulies and Mexican Coues. It is lighter than the No 1A and is ideal for lugging up desert mountains. But, mostly, it is a pleasure to handle and a feast for the eyes.

No, not shot yet. But I did shoot the same model gun, before the purchase. The gun is virtually identical to a Perazzi with minor changes to save a patent fight. Same deminsions, design, etc. The guns were built by Zoli for Dakota, with a Dakota prepriotory engraving pattern. The gun looks like an anniversary model Zoli with an adjustable comb and full engraving on the reciever. The guns were imported with a temp finish, just one coat of oil on the wood, to allow Dakota to do their own finish, as I understand the story. The model is the Dakota Sport.

So after an acetone wash, the wood is getting an "in the wood" Pro Custom Oil finish. The third fill coat is drying. I suspect it will take about 6 coats to get the pores filled. This afternoon, I will mark the Limbsaver pad for grinding and put the 4th coat of Pro Custom Oil mixed with Japan Dryer on, with 400 grit paper. I would think next week or the week after I will be finished up. It has been very dry here so the oil is setting up pretty quick. I will post a photo when I get her done.

I to like #1s and SS rifles. I thought that if I ever owned a Dakota it would be the SS rifle.
Ed

If I were in the market for a Dakota I would try to get one from one of their stocking dealers, otherwise would not take the chance on ordering one.
Sure hope they make it out ok-they make some gorgeous firearms; with the good publicity they get from the gun writers I am a little surprised-maybe someone there is putting too much into his own pockets and not enough back in the business.

I agree with Arizona and SwampFox. I have some experience, unfortunately, with BR's over the last 23 years of being a banker. If they are truly serious about restructuring, that is OK. The only problem is that 11's are sometimes used to buy time, and if the judge sees any problems with the plan, he/she can convert it to a Chap. 7 liquidation.

That makes everyone that has sent a deposit in an 'unsecured creditor'. That is the lowest on the payment chain when it comes to actually getting your money back.

I definately agree that I would buy Dakota that was in stock someplace rather than waiting for one that might not get built.

Tim

Found out two things about this that are of interest. I was told the guy that bought Dakota actually did so with a group of investors. I was also told that he took over and immediately started giving away custom engraved guns as prizes to the point that the shop ran out of finished guns to ship to customers. I was also told that this fellow spent the ready cash on fairly lavish hunting trips all over the world. Who knows what is true..... I do know that he is now the head of Zoli USA.

Now here is the good part, I was told that they have more orders, than they can fill for the next 6 months or so, and that the chapter 11 is more about changing the head honcho than anything else. Apparently the banks holding the notes woke up one morning and relized that the good business sende went with the old guys.

I understand that the new owner has been gone for some time now and Dakota has just about finished the reorginization of the leadership.
Ed

PS, If you click on my gallery, the first gun that comes up is the Dakota with an in the wood oil finish. Pretty gun. I did shoot it on 3 stations of clays, missed one bird of 26. So it shoots too.

Swampfox: great gallery!! Too, I benefited from your list of stock refinishing supplies and stuff. Permalyn is something I have been using lately after sealing. I use it in place of TruOil, a product I've used for many years, and it dries faster and harder.

Thanks for showing the photos.