Thoughts on Christensen arms rifles

[Bacon buster]

What say you to Christensen arms rifles? Pros cons

 

[LoonWulf]

I have a Ridgeline and really like it, and ive used one of their barrels to build another gun up on a 700p action.

They are basically custom 700s at their core. The actions offer enlarged ports, m16 ejectors, side bolt release, and trigger tech primary triggers.
The carbon barrels, and high end carbon/kevlar/fiberglass stocks used to be fairly unique, but nearly everyone has them as a turnkey option now.
For the cost I think the basic Mesa is actually the best option for your average hunter. 1200ish and you get everything thwt comes on a Ridgline sans the Carbon barrel wrap. The weight difference between is even minimal.

Personally I think they offer good values for what you get, and if there is a problem it sounds like they have been happy to make it right, at least in recent history.

If i had to pick one manufacturer to buy from exclusively, Id be hard pressed to choose anyone else (since Browning discontinued the A-bolt 2s).

On the flip side ive heard complaints about poor accuracy, loose screws, poor customer service etc. So take my excellent experience as simply one data point.

 

[DocRock]

Were I in the market for an accurate lightweight rifle of comparable accuracy and qualities, I would also want to look at Bergara's Premier Mountain rifle 2.0 A little more then the Christensen Mesa, but a lot of rifle for the money. At 6.2 lbs, it's not micro-light, but it's a very solid rifle.

 

[LoonWulf]

Were I in the market for an accurate lightweight rifle of comparable accuracy and qualities, I would also want to look at Bergara's Premier Mountain rifle 2.0 A little more then the Christensen Mesa, but a lot of rifle for the money. At 6.2 lbs, it's not micro-light, but it's a very solid rifle.

Ive had a Bergara also and really liked that rifle. Mine was a b-14 series not the Premiers, but it was accurate, smooth and well built.

 

[dranrab]

What say you to Christensen arms rifles? Pros cons

Which Christensen Arms rifle are you referring to? That's like saying "what say you to Ruger Rifles? Pros con."

Rimfire, semi-auto or one of the many bolt actions offered? Why do you ask?

 

[Bacon buster]

It would be a short action to peak my interest. Loon wolf hit pretty much spot on. I wanted feedback about experience with the company, what rifles are sought after in their line up, best bang for the buck and as doc rock pointed out other rifles that are comparable. Hoping guys that have one of their rifles or more will chime in with their opinions and experience. Any feed back about their rifles or company or comparable options appreciated. Another thread got my interest up about possibly building a light solid packing rifle

 

[dranrab]

I have a Mesa in 6.5 PRC. It's very accurate, and easily beats their MOA guarantee. It had ejection issues, so I had to send it back right after I bought it. They turned it around quickly and were a pleasure to deal with. The 6.5 PRC has a magnum profile barrel and is not a lightweight.

I have dabbled in going to higher end rifles lately. A Remington 5R HS Precision 223, a Nosler Liberty and the Mesa all had to go back to the factory. Nosler sucked big time. My Savage LW Hunters (now LW Storm) have been an absolute pleasure. Two of them cost what one of the others cost. Both are sub MOA. My recommendation to anyone wanting a LW packing rifle, would be to give Savage a try. Mine is right about 6.5 pounds with rings and scope. You won't wow anyone with its perceived quality, but they flat out get the job done.

 

[Bacon buster]

Thanks for the feedback dranrab. I hear a lot of mixed reviews on savage. I personally don’t care for them. I have experience with a couple of the savage rifles not sure of the model but both had weird random issues with the trigger locking up and accuracy was ok, not really up to my requirements. Remington used to be the tried and true but anymore I guess they are about played out. Sure you can get them to work good but there are options out there that come that way out of the gate.

 

[dranrab]

Thanks for the feedback dranrab. I hear a lot of mixed reviews on savage. I personally don’t care for them. I have experience with a couple of the savage rifles not sure of the model but both had weird random issues with the trigger locking up and accuracy was ok, not really up to my requirements. Remington used to be the tried and true but anymore I guess they are about played out. Sure you can get them to work good but there are options out there that come that way out of the gate.

Man, it's funny the way all of our experiences differ. I didn't mention Ruger in the previous post, but I have had a laundry list of issues with them. Savage is the only company that has never let me down. When you pick them up and give them the once over, the certainly don't give the impression of a quality piece. Looks are subjective, but Savage is likely the least attractive to most shooters. But by golly, the 10/110 series tend to shoot great, work as designed and are comparatively inexpensive.

 

[Bacon buster]

I’ve seen issues with just about every make of rifle out there but I also noticed some are more likely to disappoint than others. Every ruger I’ve messed with worked great but I know some folks like yourself that had issues. Accuracy from ruger never really impressed me a lot but was good enough to get the job done. I’d probably be interested in Christensen tikka kimber Bergara, stuff along that line maybe in 6.5 creedmor. Idk anymore with the current ammo dilemma ideal packing rifle would be 7-8 pounds rigged out with lower recoil and good ballistics that I can find ammo for

 

[Bacon buster]

Case in point. My full custom 300 win mag built by Alamo precision rifles in Dallas tx came to me with what turned out to be a bad barrel. I also had extraction problems due to bad bolt timing. Alamo precision responded quickly and appropriately. I even went to their shop with the rifle after phone troubleshooting had failed and Robert and I took the gun to the range and he couldn’t get it to shoot either. They went above and beyond to correct it. Upgraded to a competition barrel retimed the bolt throw and even though they were only obligated to fix what was wrong they used step up parts threw in another gun case and an extra 5 round AI mag and a 10 round AI mag. I was highly impressed by their commitment to customer satisfaction and the no hassle or excuse treatment. Stand up company stand up guys and my gun gives me 1/4 moa. Possibly better than that but I can’t shoot any better than that

 

[Bacon buster]

How would Christensen compare to the kimber or tikka or bergara in terms of overall quality reliability and accuracy

 

[dranrab]

I consume a good bit of info on the WWW. I don't watch TV, so forums and such occupy a good bit of my idle time. It is very rare to hear of a reliability or accuracy issue with Tikka. I have read of very few Bergara accuracy and reliability problems. I have read of a number of CA reliability issues, but I can't recall any accuracy issues. Tikka CS is said to be woefully lacking in the rare event you need it. Haven't heard about Bergara's. CA is solid.

 

[LoonWulf]

How would Christensen compare to the kimber or tikka or bergara in terms of overall quality reliability and accuracy

In my experience they all pretty close. The Christensen and Bergara premier rifles come with nicer stocks but you do pay extra for it. I've had no issue with metal work or function on The three Bergara and the two Christenson arms rifles I've got reasonable amounts of experience with.

The barrel I used for my 700 build was purchased as a closeout on sale and appears to likely have been a return after someone screwed up the chamber job because it dropped right in and headspaced tight on my factory sized aftermarket recoil lug (which the Christensen aftermarket barrels are shanked for). There's what appears to be a gouge from the reamer being shoved in with a burr on it. If it wasn't returned then that's the only real issue I've seen on a Christenson part from the factory.
The barrel still shoots well and it only took me a little while to polish the burr out of the chamber enough that nothing sticks. It did make renting the reamer and headspace gauge is a bit of a waste though.

My Bergara was about a .75 to 1.25 MOA rifle which has been about my experience of the 30-06 cartridge. My shilen barreled 30-06ai, on a savage 110, would hold a pretty consistent 0.75 with factory or hand loads but I never got it much better than that.

All the tikkas I've shot have been At worst .75 to 1 MOA rifles.
I'd like to say my ridgeline is a 0.5 MOA rifle but the best I can consistently usually do with anything is 0.75 to 1.
That said I have fired multiple half minute of angle or better groups out to 300 yards which is about where wind becomes a real issue for me in terms of shooting groups.