I was pretty sure they were the same guy but wasn't sure of any and or all of the differences. Like I said, I think the Nesika is one of the sweetest looking actions I've ever seen. To bad they got mixed up with that Dakota arms mess.
Don and Norma Allen founded Dakota Arms in the early/mid 1980's. In 2003 Mr. Allen lost to his battle with cancer and passed. Norma was approached by a venture (vulture?) capitalist named Charles Kokesh. He bought the company through Technology Funding, A corporation he sat on.
Mr. Kokesh also approached Glen Harris and Mike Allen. They were partners of sorts owning Nesika up in Washington. Charlie laid out the groundwork to purchase the company with the intention of merging it with Dakota Arms to blend the key components of both companies together; Hand craftsmanship with modern technology.
The erosion, bankruptcy, ugliness, and loss of reputation is well documented, has been the subject of many threads/posts on forums all over the webz. That horse has been beaten enough and is now very dead. It's often said a person will reap what they sow. With Mr. Kokesh now the subject of Federal charges from the Federal Trade Commission to the tune of 40+ million dollars of investor fraud, an ensuing legal battle with the city of Santa Fe, NM over his Polo field, and recently being arrested for some sort of obstruction charge, it all points to him having a full plate at the moment. I don't think it's likely he'll be returning to the firearms industry anytime soon.
Regarding the actions. There was a time period when the Nesika actions were suffering terribly. A material change was made and the receivers warped like bananas as a result. These were ALL recalled and the problem was corrected. Be that as it may it really caused a ruckus in the shooting community and the actions have been by and large treated like lepers ever since. Back in the "dark times" drastic measures were taken to reduce costs. It was a mistake and Nesika's reputation suffered tremendously as a result.
Present day:
Remington now owns Dakota Arms and Nesika. They've had it a bit over a year. A very, very ,very talented machinist has reviewed archived prints and proofed all the code for the actions. (a daunting task) He has picked it apart piece by piece and revamped the bulk of the programming. Considering that Nesika actions were produced on a relic Okuma machining center in Washington and they are now made on much more robust/modern Kitamura machines I have to think the ability to hold the tolerances that made the company famous is just as possible today.
I've talked with the machinist there at length, looked at an early production run last spring, and they look good. Really good. That being said I personally would have no reservation with buying one for a customer build. As a former production manager for the company (Nesika hired me to manage the gunmaking effort in 2003. I left in 2006 to go to Iraq) I am fortunate to have better knowledge than most regarding the materials, manufacturing, and final assembly work. To emphasize, I'd have no reservation with building guns on these receivers. It's a good product and the guys making the components care about what they are doing. Remington is fortunate to have both companies as the employees truly care about what they do.
Hope this helped.
Chad
Chad Dixon
LongRifles, Inc.