Christensen Arms Mesa

I turn 65 in a couple of weeks and my sweet wife wants to get me something special. (Usually we keep birthdays fairly inexpensive.). I mentioned a new hunting rifle and said I already had $700 from selling one rifle and that I had a couple of others that I was thinking of selling to cover the cost. She was thrilled with the idea (she loves venison).

My current go-to deer rifle is a Marlin 336 in 30-30. Heck, it is my only real hunting rifle. ( I have an old bubba’d Swede that is a project gun to make a hunting rifle.). I am not recoil sensitive but want something my boys or her could shoot. I also have a retirement dream of doing some elk, antelope and black bear hunting. The longest shot I ever see myself taking is 350 yards and really I like seeing how close I can get but an elk is too much meat to let walk so once I am within 250 yards I will probably take the shot if I get a clean broadside.

I initially thought Kimber Hunter or a Ruger American but I want something a little nicer. I was thinking a Tikka lite Hunter, a Weatherby Vanguard, preferably a Meateater model, or a Browning Hunter. Caliber I am thinking 6.5 Creedmoor. If I am reading the Hornady charts right, that would get my max 350 yards for an elk. In my mind, I wanted to keep the rifle cost no more than a $1,000.

So, tonight we went to a local dealer. I liked the Tikka and the Browning. The Tikka was available in 6.5 CM. The Browning was 270. They have Weatherby but not the model I wanted; the extra weight was noticeable.

A young salesman suggested a Christensen Mesa. Ouch, $1,300 before tax. BUT, at 6.5 lbs it is light, is obviously better machined and assembled, looks great in black and tungsten, has a better butt pad and trigger and comes with a muzzle break. It is also the only one made in the USA. I really like it. My wife likes it. I am seriously thinking about it.

The total cost will be about $400 more than I had planned. I am going to sell my old Swede and a PMR 30 so there is another $500 leaving $1;200 for the regular budget or selling another gun or two.

But I am not familiar with Christensen at all. What I found tonight on the internet was positive.

Any thoughts on the Christensen and my caliber choice filling the goal of a good light, low recoil rifle with the ability to take an elk at 250 yards, maybe 350. ( My thought is if it will take the elk then the deer, black bear and antelope are very easily doable.).

Thank you for helping me celebrate my 65th birthday and reposition my gun inventory.

Thank you all. Researching more has yielded about what I expected and Steve and others said. Some love them, some hate them (although I do wonder how the hater didn't notice his claimed problem before he left the store.). The lover was a couple of long distance shooters from longrangeonly. com. It was fun wathing the video of the guy pull the trigger and hearing the bullet hit metal at ranges varying from 500 to 1000 yards. (I will most likely never shoot that far but he is thrilled with his.)

I will most likely go with the Mesa.

The Kimber is nice and if I was young and/or very dollar conscious, I would probably go with it. Still that green composite stock with the composite trigger guard just doesn't say is is special to me.

The TIka felt good but there was something that had me questioning it. I don't know what, it is probably me. Something just didn't feel right. Nice gun, though.

I love the looks of the X bolt Hunter, hard to beat a nice walnut stock and good bluing but the finish was just a little off. The barrel wasn't touching the stock but it was noticeably closer on the right side. And it was in 270 and the salesman wasn't sure when they could get a 6.5 Creedmoor.

The Mesa felt good to hold. I walked around a bit holding it looking at scopes. Didn't notice the weight at all and did notice how comfortable it was to my right hand, very easy to carry one-handed with the barrel up. Slipped easily and naturally into a shooting position.

Think I will clean up and go look at it again. Maybe I will come home with it.

Thanks again for the feedback.

Well, it is mine and home now. It is raining outside so this picture will have to do for now.

Optic is a Leupold VX3i 3.5 - 10 x 40 with Leupold low rings and mount. Here’s hoping that to whitetail, elk, antelope and black bear it is an EBR.

LoonWulf said:

That's a really nice rig!

Is your gun raw stainless, or is there Cerakote over the top? My Ridgelines actions a bit brighter, and I like yours better.

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The barrel is Cerakote. I believe they call the color tungsten.

Thanks for the compliment. I am liking more each time I look at it.

Steve S. said:

Good for you sir! Nothing like a new rifle to spice the next range visit and the next hunt and simply just waking up in the morning. We old guys just have to live faster in less time - make sure you savor that first sight picture and first trigger squeeze - make that moment last in your mind.

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That is good advice. Maybe I can run a GoPro to record it some. It will only mean something to me, but what the heck.

35 Whelen said:

I've only killed four bull elk, so I'm by no means an expert.

My concern(s) would be first and foremost you're choice of cartridge. I've owned a .26 caliber rifle most of my life and of the dozen or so elk hunts I've been on, it never entered my mind to use this caliber, especially after I had actually killed a couple of bulls. If you stick with the 6.5 make absolutely certain of two things- That you use a good controlled expansion bullet of 140 gr., and that you learned to shoot your rifle and become extremely proficient with it at the ranges you're thinking you're going to shoot a bull. 350 yds. rolls off the tongue quite easily, but actually shooting game at that range under field conditions takes a lot of dedication and practice. Which brings me to my second concern. I notice the rifle you chose has a muzzle brake. The few rifles I've been around that had muzzle brakes had a deafening muzzle blast; not a good thing when one needs to do a lot of practicing.

What I can tell you in all certainty is that bull elk on public land are difficult to hunt, in fact I just thought I had hunted, until I hunted elk. So if and when the opportunity arises a fella wants to make sure he has a good rifle, chambered in a cartridge with sufficient power, and most of all that he can put a bullet exactly where it needs to go.

35W

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Youi are right on the practice. Shot placement is most important. And I will also be practicing on a quick follow up shot. 350 yards is my mental max with this round. Unless I find a better cartridge I will be firing a Hornady 143 gr ELX Precision Hunter. Practice will be expense at a $1.60 a round, but I already have a 100 rounds to start with.

I have felt the blast of a 7 mag with a break, Definitely not pleasant. thinking of the shooters next to me, I am thinking of building a couple of sound absorbing panels to give them some protection. Me, I double up hearing protection with plugs and a muff. I do have the thread protector I can put on. Or , this could be a great excuse to get a can.

Back to the 350, that is a mental max limit. I prefer to get as close as possible. The one bull I have taken we first saw at 200 yards. I am very capable of a 200 yard shot with a 7 mag. I looked at my nephew who asked if I wanted to get closer. And we were off, we got to a 120 yards when the cows spotted, but not winded, us. At that point, two rounds from the mag and the bull was down. A great time. Even if I don't get another one, I really look forward to the hunt.

I put 14 rounds down range today. Overall, I really like this rifle. It is so new and I haven’t shot much in the last year (so my skills are rusty) that I did not get extreme accuracy out of it but I am convinced it is there. With a little trigger tweaking, more practice and more breakin, I expect this one will be scary accurate.

I really like this Mesa. It feels good in my hands. I can easily hold it upright with one hand. To me, the balance and light weight make carrying and shouldering easy and comfortable. It has low recoil. My guess is the caliber, the muzzle break and the limb saver butt pad combine to make it a soft shooter. I am not recoil sensitive. I like the thump of my 30-30, the 30.06 I borrowed a few years ago and my nephews’ 7 mags. But I wanted a soft shooter so my wife, sons and a new shooter or two would not be intimidated by a rifle capable of deer or elk. This thing is soft. IMO, it is softer than my AR in 5.56 and softer than my Swede.

Interestingly, it is also quiet. I expected a blast from the muzzle break but I never heard or noticed a loud bark. I definitely heard the AR’s several stalls away. The guy to my left had two muzzle brakes guns. They were loud and I could feel the blast from one. The quiet is a nice surprise. That will also be better for my wife.

I am carefully following the breakin procedure of the maker. Clean and oil before shot and between each of the first ten rounds. I was surprised by how much came out of it. I put ten oiled patches through it before the first shot. Each was followed by a dry past. Each pulled some gray material that I expect was metal shavings. It was not a lot but it was more than I expected. Patches with solvent after the first two rounds pulled a surprising amount of dark stuff out of the barrel. The first patch after those two rounds was dark gray. The second was medium gray and the third light gray. I ran dry patches in between each solvent patch. The last dry patch was what I would call clean, almost no colored residue. Of course these were followed by an oils patch and then a dry patch.

After the first two rounds, cleaning required only two solvent patches followed by dry patches and then an oiled and dry patches.

I am glad to be in the clean after five rounds portion of the breakin. All that cleaning was time consuming.

She needs one tweak. The trigger pull is too heavy for my taste. There is no creep or overtravel. It breaks cleanly and unexpectedly. It is just too heavy for my taste. Supposedly it is set at three pounds but it feels heavier to me.

there is an adjustment screw but the manual says to call the maker first. So I will call Monday morning. I think I can adjust my technique to adapt but I would prefer not to. I will let you know what the maker says.

please remember that the pics are for the first 14 rounds and are at 100 yards. One target got the first ten rounds. The second got a group of four. The first ten were 3 shots, 2 shots , 3 shots and two shots. I was playing with point of aim and scope settings by group so it is hard to tell much looking at it as a one target. The second three shot group has two bullets making one hold with the round close by.

I am happy with the 4 shot target. The one hole to the right is definitely my bad. I snatched the trigger a little on that one. I knew it as soon as I did it.

The scope obviously needs adjusting but the gun is showing great promise. A little more breakin and some trigger adjustment or technique change and I will be moving to the two hundred yard ramge.

more to come after the next range trip.