Issue with Christensen arms

[PredatorSlayer]

I have not checked my scope yet. I will check the scope after rifle closes in mid-December - I only have two rifles, so I don't want to start swapping scopes all over right before rifle opens.

I'm taking the Mesa to my FFL/gun smith tomorrow for him to check everything out. If he doesn't find anything crazy, it will be on to CA. My guess is that CA will want to have me throw some different rounds down the barrel before I send it back, but maybe not. They'll probably want me to check the scope as well.

CAs customer service is awesome. They’ll take good care of you. They’ll pay to ship it back, shoot it and send you a target with the ammo used. Outside of the precision hunter, none of the ammo you tried is considered premium. My buddy shoots a 7mm and has had great luck with federal
Premium ammo.

 

[jpmulk]

I am having an issue with my Christensen Mesa FFT 7mm rem mag. I have had this rifle for about 9 months now. I broke the barrel in following the instructions that Christensen has on their website. After breaking the barrel in I started shooting the Hornady ELD-X 162g to sight my gun in. I have not been able to get a group at 200 yds. Ive heard that Christensen may be on the downhill and that their quality isnt what it used to be.

Has anyone else had this issue or have any ideas on what is going on?

I went through the same thing last year with a 7-08. Tried three types of ammo, different scopes,, had it rebedded and barreled. Could never get that thing to shoot well. And I knew it wasn’t me cuz my two other rifles were at or under moa right next to it. The Christensens groups were 3-5 inches at 100 yards. I finally got rid of it.

 

[PredatorSlayer]

I went through the same thing last year with a 7-08. Tried three types of ammo, different scopes,, had it rebedded and barreled. Could never get that thing to shoot well. And I knew it wasn’t me cuz my two other rifles were at or under moa right next to it. The Christensens groups were 3-5 inches at 100 yards. I finally got rid of it.

Christensen Rebedded and Rebarreled it for you?

 

[jpmulk]

Christensen Rebedded and Rebarreled it for you?

Yes. I sent it back to be rebedded. After I couldn’t get it to group I took it apart and observed a sloppy bedding job. They rebarreled it for me too. They sent pictures of good groups they got with same ammo as me: eldx and ttsx. But for the life of me, I still couldn’t get it to shoot. Maybe it was just in my head at the end. But not a good fit. Went back to tikka 7mag that stacks holes for me.

 

[greyghostnw]

Have u tried groups at 100 yards? U stated 200. Have to make a list of things to check from scope base, rings, stock to action etc first. Like others said there great at helping resolve any issues.

 

[S-3 ranch]

I went through the same thing last year with a 7-08. Tried three types of ammo, different scopes,, had it rebedded and barreled. Could never get that thing to shoot well. And I knew it wasn’t me cuz my two other rifles were at or under moa right next to it. The Christensens groups were 3-5 inches at 100 yards. I finally got rid of it.

This is what scares me off from a CA , rolling the dice on new and never buy
One used ( buying another man’s problem)

 

[jpmulk]

This is what scares me off from a CA , rolling the dice on new and never buy
One used ( buying another man’s problem)

I knew I was rolling the dice but they were the only company offering what I wanted as a lefty in that price range. Not worth the gamble.

 

[bigbahksdude]

CAs customer service is awesome. They’ll take good care of you. They’ll pay to ship it back, shoot it and send you a target with the ammo used. Outside of the precision hunter, none of the ammo you tried is considered premium. My buddy shoots a 7mm and has had great luck with federal
Premium ammo.

Thanks, I appreciate the optimistic outlook - the whole thing gives me heartburn.

I will point out that the Federal ELD-X I mentioned in the first post is Federal Premium. I looked to RS for ammo recommendations as soon as I received the rifle... it sounded to me like ELD-X and SST were mentioned time and time again as quality rounds. Though after reading through this thread it seems like there are other rounds I should try, like Nosler Trophy Grade and Barnes VOR-TX TTSX BT.

I do think there is something to be said about a rifle that isn't this picky. I'd like to know that if I'm in a pinch I can run and grab a box of something readily available and the rifle will perform the way it's needed.

 

[Raghornklr]

Send CA an email from their website contact form. Tell them exactly what rifle you have and ask them what ammunition they designed it for. They respond really quick with that information. And saves a good bit of guessing on ammo.

 

[bigbahksdude]

Update - brought the rifle to my gun smith/FFL. Discussed the issues for about an hour and got nowhere helpful.

Finally I brought up how tight the action is on the rifle. For whatever reason I had never brought this up previously. The action on the rifle was extremely tight out of the box. Having never had a high quality rifle previously, I thought that the action was tight by design. By tight, I mean the bolt almost didn't close. During the barrel break in and zeroing there were times where the bolt wouldn't close on a round. If I really horsed on it, the bolt would close, but I didn't feel comfortable firing that round. Extracting the round was then difficult, and when the round finally came out, there was a half-moon of brass that had shaved off with it. This happened multiple times across several factory loads. Almost all the casings I put through the rifle were being filed and brass filings were commonly found as I cleaned the rifle after range visits.

When I brought this up my gun smith told me that is in fact not normal (I guess I'm always learning something). He informed me to call CA. Spoke with customer service and relayed the message. Guy I spoke to was more than helpful and apologetic. I filled out their warranty form documenting the issues and conversations with my gun smith and their customer service rep. They approved the warranty request in two business days and sent a prepaid packing slip. The rifle was shipped out by my FFL on Monday, and the turn around time is 4-6 weeks.

I'll continue to keep updating on this thread.

 

[Craig907]

I have always found the basic Federal blue box ammo to give the most consistent accuracy across many different rifles. Not necessarily saying it’s a great choice for hunting, but it’s definitely a great choice for establishing baseline accuracy. It’s really wonderful for the industry's profits that they can continue churning out inaccurate rifles and tell the customers to try every possible combination of premium factory ammunition until finding “the one” their new gun actually likes. Or they can claim user error. This is all complete and utter nonsense. A truly accurate rifle should shoot acceptably with almost any factory load, and exceptionally with the favorites. Shooting an inch group at 100 yards is not a feat of strength either. An inexperienced person can do this if the rifle is capable. Sub half well that’s another thing. If your rifle only shoots one load accurately and is outside 1.5 or 2 moa with everything else, then you must sadly accept that you have an inaccurate rifle. Realize it’s not your fault. The firearms industry as a whole has gone horribly wrong.

 

[nubraskan]

Adding my CA experience to the pile

I bought a 300 WM Mesa, thought it was a great price for a premium rifle with a sub MOA guarantee. Bought a couple different boxes of ammo with it and a new scope, then got it home and started sighting it in. Couldn't get it grouping with either box of ammo at all so I thought it might've been a scope issue. Swapped it with 2 different scopes and no luck. I wasn't a stranger to shooting sub MOA groups with my other rifles so I had a hunch it wasn't an issue with me or my setup. I bought a couple more different boxes of ammo just to confirm and almost all groups I shot were around 3", with some bordering on 1" (rarely). I emailed CA, and to their credit they were very responsive and asked me to send the rifle back to them. After a few weeks they sent an email back saying they found no issue getting it to group sub MOA (they said it grouped at 0.86" ...) and they were shipping it back. I was done with it at that point and sold it to a friend (with a full disclosure) for a stupid good deal.

It wasn't until later that I found out that their definition of "sub MOA" is vastly different from what most people consider the definition to mean. From what I understand, their definition is any 3 shot group that they can put together that hits sub MOA they call it good. Doesn't matter how many rounds it takes, as long as they roll the dice enough and one of the groups is sub MOA. Their website quotes "Any firearm that falls under our Sub-MOA Guarantee is guaranteed to be capable of shooting 3 shots within 1 MOA (roughly 1 inch at 100 yards)."

 

[KHNC]

I have owned a CA Carbon Classic 300WSM for 11 years now. I use Barnes Vortx TTSX 165gr. It will shoot .5 MOA at 100. I have shot same hole groups (mostly) at 100 with a vise. However, two years ago it opened up to 2-3" groups with the same ammo. Tried different ammo, same deal. Now since I dont shoot a ton, it had not been cleaned in Approx 70 rounds. Cleaned it thoroughly and instantly back to sub 1" groups at 100. Definitely have to keep the copper cleaned out of my barrel. Otherwise, It has always been perfect. As for the bolt, thats a different story. It randomly sticks tightly.

 

[bigbahksdude]

Adding my CA experience to the pile

That's disappointing to hear as someone who is waiting to hear back from CA. I've heard recently that their build quality has diminished over the last decade - that could explain @KHNC 's experience, and the performance I saw out of the CA I shot in Alaska.

@nubraskan what rifle did you end up purchasing after dumping your Mesa? Trying to stay optimistic that my Mesa will come back as a tack driver, but starting to make a contingency plan.

 

[S-3 ranch]

I am very curious why anyone would buy any rifle from a Utah based manufacturer, CA & fierce are basically next door neighbors ( like 5 miles apart) and both are
Dubious on quality control and reliability accuracy , I would even think they are using the same companies for components and have inter connecting employees , probably the same UPS / FedEx delivery drivers
I personally wouldn’t want to roll those dice ! When @ that price I have Rifle Inc & APR in a Hr drive from home and about five other people who are military armorers in the area all provide a sub MOA guarantee and sub 8lbs system
Maybe it’s just a Texas thing?

 

[nubraskan]

That's disappointing to hear as someone who is waiting to hear back from CA. I've heard recently that their build quality has diminished over the last decade - that could explain @KHNC 's experience, and the performance I saw out of the CA I shot in Alaska.

@nubraskan what rifle did you end up purchasing after dumping your Mesa? Trying to stay optimistic that my Mesa will come back as a tack driver, but starting to make a contingency plan.

I ended up getting a Bergara B14 Ridge Carbon in 6.5 PRC and upgraded the stock to a HNT 26. Overall I ended up spending a good bit more money, but I wanted to try going with a sub 9lb build all in. You'd probably get just as good/better results with a Tikka T3 build.

FWIW I have another Christensen rifle, a CA-10 G2 in 6.5 creed and it shoots well. It did come with the flash hider loose though, so not sure I trust their QC very much...