Christensen Arms, any good these days?

[Petro712]

Im in the market for a light weight hunting rifle. Carrying my boat anchor around the woods makes no sense.

The Christensen Arms Ridgeline caught my eye. I like the weight for starters. I also like that it has a heavy barrel profile. This will allow me to use my Ultra 7 suppressor and CB Brake. I purchased my first suppressor a year and a half ago. Im not sure Ill ever shoot without one again.

I have been doing some online research. Not much out there regarding their current production rifles. Seems like they had a few bad years long ago. Are things looking better for this company?

Thanks

 

[Supersubes]

Seems like they've been largley overshadowed by proof research these days. I personally wouldnt touch a christensen barrel. So inconsistent over the years.

Before id spend christensen money on a rifle, id look into having your smith of choice build whatever you like using a proof barrel.

 

[Spock]

Super is right on the money. Christensen is not worth the money. Good action with a proof barrel would be way better. I see a lot of one box a year guys buy the Christensen expecting it to be awesome then wonder why they can't group as well as their "ol ought six". I wasn't sold on proof barrels until the last two years and a couple of the guys I shoot with rebarreled with proofs and the results don't lie. A good smith can put together exactly what you want with a quality barrel

 

[AndyC]

Before you write Christensen Arms off. Check out Cal Zants barrel test he did (PRS blog) for Brian Litz's book. The CA bbls out performed PROOF bbls hands down. Besides that the Ridgline carries a 1 MOA guarantee so the risk can't be too high

 

[Forward543]

I have been shooting a lr with a 6.5 creed barrel from ca. It is suprisingly accurate with factory hornady 120 amax's. (1/2 - 3/4 moa at 100 yards) thats the best large frame ar accuracy i can shoot. It does not seem to have the heat stringing issue that the internet claims. I think you would probably be fine. I cant say anything to any of the rest of their products. They are also pretty forthcoming with information if you call them.

 

[jlow]

Really depends on what caliber you are looking for and whether you really looking for a lightweight shooter vs. a more expensive shooter. If you are looking for the former and care less about the price/bragability, I would suggest you take a look at the Tikka T3x rifles. I normally shoot an AI AT with either a .308 and .260 Rem barrel and loves the rifle.

Recently I wanted a trainer in .223 and ended up buying a Tikka T3x .223 Varmint. Honestly this is like the cheapest gun I own as it is even cheaper than my pistols. What I found is that this Tikka is a real shooter with Berger 80.5 grain Full Bore bullet. Was out at the 600 yards range today for practice and found that this thing was shooting almost as well as my AT. The stock is of course polymer but I made sure it was torque in and free float the barrel but man it is light weight. With a NF 8-32x on it (which cost around 3x the price of the rifle), the whole thing weights in at around 12 lb. I am going to buy a chassis for it but I am keeping the polymer stock as well it is light and it shoots. BTW… It also comes in many different calibers.

I got it at EuroOptics and they initially tried to sell me a CA but I am really glad I went this way instead.

 

[WeiserBucks]

A friend of mine bought a CA rifle about 18 months ago , about 50 rounds and zero abuse later, the carbon wrap is coming undone at the muzzle end . I wouldn't consider owning one .

 

[Ledzep]

A family member has one in .300 win mag. It's Okay. The chamber is tight, however, and even with small-base dies I can't get the area just in front of the headspacing belt to resize consistently enough to reload for it. Factory ammo shoots fine, reloaded ammo with regular dies sticks every time, reloaded ammo with small base die sticks about 30%. It's a compound issue of the brass not having room to expand and primary extraction being weak. The dinky factory bolt knob sucks outright.

Accuracy is nothing to write home about, but it doesn't shift zero or string when it gets hot. ~1 MOA give or take with upper end factory hunting ammo. Consistently sub-MOA, maybe 5/8-3/4 with handloads.

I don't think you could build the same rifle with a Proof barrel for the same price, but you'd be in the ball park to take a M700, properly time/tig the handle, install a Proof, and throw it in a HS stock.

My Proof 6.5 SAUM Mausingfield shoots much better than my family member's CA rifle-- More like 1/3-1/2 MOA.

 

[sgtsmmiii]

I have one in .223 with a 20" barrel. I did put it in a McMillan Edge stock and bedded it. No complaints about the accuracy - honest 1/2" to 3/4" gun ( with my handloads ). Does have the occasional 1/4" to 3/8" 5 shot group to entice me. I like it for coyote hunting. Buddy has a 16" .300 BO and it shoots well, also. I like mine and would buy another in the right configuration. But, as Ledzep said, you could probably build one with a Proof barrel if you shopped around for some of the components and 'smith work.

 

[Petro712]

Thanks for the replies.

Ive seen everyone bragging about the Proof barrels. The problem is that their rifles are crazy expensive. Even building a 6.5lb rifle using a Proof barrel would be tough at $2k.

The CA Ridgeline is under 2k, weights 6.5lb, has heavy barrel profile, and has a 1 moa guarantee.

This will be a large game hunting rifle. 300wsm. I would be happy with a 1 moa rifle.

I checked out the Tikkas. The barrels dont appear to have a muzzle diameter large enough to support a suppressor. I need atleast .725 to support the TBAC brake.

Maybe another question to ask is, how's there customer service? With all these problems out there, does anyone have a report on what CA did to correct the issues?

 

[meathead]

If you want the lightest, compact rifle for hunting, drop the can and get a tikka t3 superlite in 300WSM. Its less than 6 pounds, shoots subMOA and you can pick them up for 550-650. You dont need the extra weight, hassle and length of a can while covering miles of open ground. At that price, you could build your target rifle of choice with left over funds. A hunting rifle doesn't need a bull/varmint profile barrel. You wont be shooting strings of rounds at big game animals ( or at least you shouldnt ethically). One shot, maybe 2 if you suck. I went through the same dilemma you did but had a come-to-Jesus moment. When it comes to large DIY hunt, keep it simple is the key. You dont want to be 30 miles out and your carbon unravels or your can gets messed up and now your POI changes significantly that you either cant shoot, miss or worse, wound a big elk. Good luck

 

[Petro712]

For those of you that know people who have had issues, did CA work with customer to fix the problem?

 

[TireMan]

I bought a Christensen AR15 around 2010-2012. I sent it back once. I spent hundreds of dollars in load testing and premium ammunition. It was never reliable, and rarely shot better than any off the shelf AR15.

One of the best series of events in my shooting career was when I sold that for a profit during the ban panic, and took a chance on a JP. It freaking hammers and never fails.

I think Christensen Arms is for those that don't shoot much, or well.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Spock]

Unless they have found some magic barrel juice in the last year I would not spend that kind of money on one. $2000 is a lot of money for a 1moa rifle. Check the px lots of good rifles come along or build what you want off a new stripped Rem receiver and a proof. You should be able to be close to the same price. I also agree if this is a true back country rifle skip the can. If you are packing it with the can on you are asking for trouble or do you stop and thread it on before the shot. If just a few shot a year true hunting rifle you will be fine shooting unsuppressed. If you want the cool hunting camp rifle than go ahead a trick it out.

 

[AndyC]

WeiserBucks, Here is the link for CA warranty https://christensenarms.com/support/#warranty. They will stand 100% behind their carbon bbl. It will be repaired or replaced if there is a manufacturing defect. So tell your buddy to contact them and it will get taken care of. Let us know how it goes.

 

[lennyo3034]

I bought an MPR earlier this year and am very happy with it 1/2 MOA with Hornady 140 ELD and handloads. Held an 8" plate at 1000 a few weeks ago. Shot a 10 round string and don't think I missed (no wind).

Other people have not been so lucky. Here is a recent well documented example but the issue was resolved to the owners satisfaction:

https://www.snipershide.com/shooting/threads/christensen-arms-mpr-follow-up-review-problems.6881986/

ETA: just realized this thread was over a year old.

 

[Stoweit]

I have a new CA15 with carbon barrel and it shoots lights out. Most accurate AR I've ever shot. No heat stringing in mine. YMMV