Funny you mention the Hornady issue. I experienced my first hiccup with a Ridgeline & it was with Hornady ammo. I currently have a 7 prc ridgeline 24” & I won’t be buying anymore Hornady for it. I grabbed one of the boxes of Barnes & no issues. My 6.5 prc ridgeline however loved the Hornady ammo.I've had experience with a few CA Ridgelines.
1. Sam's .308, lights out from the beginning, shoots anything well. You can let a box of Wolf ammo roll around on the floor of a pick up for a year and shoot 1/2 moa groups. This rifle is why we bought the others.
2. James' .308, shot OK maybe 1.5 moa, swapped scopes, changed ammo, seemed to get worse (4 inch groups). Contacted CA they said send it back, six weeks later it came back with a new barrel and shot a 1/8 moa group with match ammo.
3. Robs' .30-06, shot ok to start, after about 100 shots it seemed to settle in and can regularly drop a sub moa group. it took a while, and after the #2 rifle we were a little worried.
4. Mark's Ridgeline FFT 7mm PRC, started so bad it nearly went back. Fixed a suppressor issue and swapped ammo, it recently went on an Alaska Moose hunt. Didn't get used but it's easily a sub moa rifle.
5. Chris' FFT .308 I've got to do the break in on this one, maybe I'll have time this weekend, It's a gift and he doesn't know about it yet. Pretty confident it'll shoot well.
My experiences with them so far:
The ridgelines don't like Hornady, something about the tolerances Hornady uses versus the tolerances CA uses does not jive. My personal theory is the COAL doesn't fit the tight chambers but I have not measured or tested this yet. We've had great luck with Norma Whitetail, Federal (Berger Hybrid Hunter & Terminal Ascent), Remington Core Lokt Green Tips and Barnes Vor-tx.
They seem to like lighter, faster bullets, The worst shooting round in the .308 is Precision Hunter 175 ELDX, the best was 150 Federal. The 150 Norma Whitetails shoot better than their price point ($25/box).
The carbon barrels seem to like a brake or something at the end. Not the radial brake they come with but a well made side baffle. I can't help to wonder if there's a harmonic factor in the carbon barrel that needs a little tuning. I haven't tested it but all of our rifles now have side baffle brakes and the FFT comes with one installed from CA.
CA customer service is top notch. When the #2 rifle went back they were more than helpful, no push back or problems. I've dealt with them on a few other issues and I would not hesitate to use them again.
If you're having issues with a CA, I'd try a different ammo, if it still doesn't perform, send it back. That's part of what you're paying for, customer service and from my experience, a company that backs up their product.