CA Mesa Not grouping

[satchamo]

I bought a CA Mesa 6.5 here a few years ago to have for a deer/antelope rifle when I finally got a tag. Well I finally have antelope tags in WY so I went out to check it finally last night (don’t hate - I’ve got 3 young kids and my life is a circus)

Anyways- I shot 143 eldm, 143 eldx, and another sierra (I’ll have to double check). It has a swaro z3 4-12 on tally rings. I already checked and retorqued my action screws before I shot. I was on bags on a steel bench so stability was great. I also shot both from the internal mag and single feeding and nothing changed.

At 100, the best I could get is like 1.5 moa and that was once. This was was the best I could muster at 200.

The thing that was most concerning was how often I’d get random fliers. I’d shoot 2 rounds and they’d be decently together then it would throw the 3rd shot left like 4-5 inches. This happened 4x in 3 shot groups.

I’m definitely feeling like I got a lemon (which maybe why it was sold the first time) So my question is…With 2 months to go, do I ditch the rifle, to grab a tikka (or something else you may recommend) or do I chase my tail trying to fix this gun? I haven’t checked bedding yet, I haven’t done anything with the rings, etc. I don’t have hardly any good smiths in the area so not many options in that regard.

 

[Bomberodevil]

I’ve got the same rifle in the same cartridge, and it’s the most accurate rifle I have. Although I hand load, the ELDM and ELDX factory loads have been very accurate to many. Before I dumped the rifle, I would take the scope system apart, clean, and re-torque the base and rings to spec. If you know the scope to be good, install it and re-check. If not sure about the scope, I’d install a known good scope and check groups. That model of CA, in that cartridge, has a reputation of being very reliable and accurate. I would be surprised if the issue is the rifle.

Also, how many rounds have you shot through the rifle? Mine was fairly loose during the break in stage, and the groups tightened up past 50 rounds or so. I don’t know why break in process is so unimportant with some rifles, and so important with others. But they seem to be very important with the CA rifles.
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[Tullis94]

I would first try a new scope, or put that scope on a rifle that you know shoots well. If it isn't the scope, and given your timeline I would go pick up a different rifle if you can afford it. Deal with that rifle when you aren't in a time crunch. Christensen seems to have these issues fairly often.

 

[t_carlson]

I would try a lighter bullet and a different scope, in that order.

 

[jpmulk]

I recently went through this circus with CA. The bedding on mine was terrible and needed to be redone. It was crumbling and jagged. I ultimately had it rebedded and rebarreled and then sold. Got in my head and I just couldn’t keep it.

 

[hereinaz]

I start with taking off scope and rings. Clean it all really well to get oil off and torque to specs. I put blue loctite inside the rings and on the bolts, nothing moves on me.

Is the barrel touching the forearm?
Does the recoil lug seat well?
Are the pillars/bedding set up correctly?
Is the muzzle brake loose?
Something on the crown?
Is the throat cut cleanly?

After that buy a couple different match ammo and a couple boxes of junk ammo. Shoot it all to see if the same problem exists. Shoot all the junk ammo, maybe the barrel settles. Then try a couple groups with the different match ammo.

That’s where I would put attention, if you wanted to mess with it.

If not, move on for now.

 

[TaperPin]

The flier is what is most concerning - I’ve sold a perfectly good rifle with a scope that had a loose internal lens for exactly the kind of performance you’re getting, so don’t make that mistake. My friend who bought it shot a box of ammo and that lens fell over sideways in the scope. Leupold replaced the scope so he had a brand new scope and great shooting rifle for dirt cheap.

If a different scope doesn’t fix the problem I’d not spend anymore time on it. Most rifles that didn’t shoot (6ish) were sold to friends who think I don’t spend enough time developing loads - none of those six ever shot well except the one with the bad scope.

 

[JakeSCH]

I would also check action screws, take it apart and put it back together with recommended torque values.

 

[hereinaz]

The flier is what is most concerning - I’ve sold a perfectly good rifle with a scope that had a loose internal lens for exactly the kind of performance you’re getting, so don’t make that mistake. My friend who bought it shot a box of ammo and that lens fell over sideways in the scope. Leupold replaced the scope so he had a brand new scope and great shooting rifle for dirt cheap.

If a different scope doesn’t fix the problem I’d not spend anymore time on it. Most rifles that didn’t shoot (6ish) were sold to friends who think I don’t spend enough time developing loads - none of those six ever shot well except the one with the bad scope.

Yes. Trying a new scope is something I will try as well. I will put a known scope on a just shoot a group and see what happens. I am not afraid of pulling scopes and zeroing any more. I find it usually saves me time and ammo if I just get back to basics.

Troubleshoot early and everything is what I have learned.

The most frustration I ever had was a scope that was on its way out and then crapped out on a hunt. I troubleshot everything and usually find something I didn’t expect.

 

[Wetwork]

Ditch it immediately....Fought with my GF's in the same caliber same make for over a year. Not worth the effort or time or money. Got her a Roughtech Tikka for less than she paid for her CA and right out of the box hits on a 8inch gong at 500 yards. Did nothing but slap on a scope.-WW

ps. I'm not baggin on the CA too much, I have friends who love theirs. But they all have them carbon barrels.

 

[matthewmt]

I would go down all the Aves to rule anything out like the stock etc.
The local Smith that threaded my tikka said he almost exclusively works on CA rifles. The owner lives up here as well. He said they're just production rifles like anything else.
I almost bought a mesa in 300prc recently so I'm not trying to bash them but I have heard a mixed bag of experiences. Good friend of mine bought the CF barrel model and had trouble with it as well as his brother inlaw who bought them same rifle for a goat hunt. They both spent a ton of money on new rings etc and ended up having to lap the snot out of their rings because the receiver wasn't drilled correctly if I'm not mistaken.

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

 

[FOS373]

I had a similar issue with a CA. I chased finding the “issue” - scope, mounts bedding etc. Shot a lot of ammo and spent a lot of time at the range.

Finally sent it back. New barrel and some other fixes and it came back in less than 3 weeks and shot fine.

 

[Boarmaster]

Go buy the tikka and get practiced up. Work on the problem child later.
My favorite rifle of a sudden started shooting all over the place. A normal group was an inch or under.
I grabbed a different rifle went hunting. I wasnt happy about not using my favorite rifle but I didn't have time to deal with it. As a matter of fact I didnt mess with it until after the season. I had time to get it straightened out. Best I can tell it had some fouling in barrel. Cleaned it with Montana Extreme and it was its old self.

 

[satchamo]

Go buy the tikka and get practiced up. Work on the problem child later.
My favorite rifle of a sudden started shooting all over the place. A normal group was an inch or under.
I grabbed a different rifle went hunting. I wasnt happy about not using my favorite rifle but I didn't have time to deal with it. As a matter of fact I didnt mess with it until after the season. I had time to get it straightened out. Best I can tell it had some fouling in barrel. Cleaned it with Montana Extreme and it was its old self.

That’s what I’m leaning towards right now. I just don’t have the time to do all this troubleshooting. It’s my fault for procrastinating but god forbid the rifle meet reasonable accuracy expectations

 

[Boarmaster]

That’s what I’m leaning towards right now. I just don’t have the time to do all this troubleshooting. It’s my fault for procrastinating but god forbid the rifle meet reasonable accuracy expectations

You know everyone needs two rifles anyway , right? I thought that was a rule….

 

[bradgrace]

Reach out to Christensen and explain the issue. I bet they make it right in a hurry.

 

[redneckbmxer24]

This is why it’s not worth it to roll the dice with CA. You might get a good one but most likely you’re going to get a POS.

Buy something else, send that turd back to CA to be rebarreled or replaced and then sell it with full disclosure. That’s about your best course of action. If someone on here sold you that rifle and it was fired I’d call them out personally as that’s a ****** up move.

 

[Motown]

My son and I both have 6.5 CM Mesa rifles and they are accurate as hell. As it was preciously mentioned, it seems like they both started shooting really good groups after 50 or 60 rounds through them.

My kids mesa shoots Nosler factory 120gr BT’s at less than 1” at 200 yards, but not as well with 140’s. My mesa on the other hand doesn’t like the 120’s, and will shoot Nosler 140 BT’s pretty well along with Eldx, but it shoots insanely good with Winchester 140gr Ballistic Silvertips.

Maybe try to get some more rounds down the barrel and see what happens. If that don’t work I would try some lighter bullets as someone else also mentioned.

If you go to the CA website under the FAQ’s they also recommend to torque the stock to 65 in/lb so I would check that as well.

 

[satchamo]

This is why it’s not worth it to roll the dice with CA. You might get a good one but most likely you’re going to get a POS.

Buy something else, send that turd back to CA to be rebarreled or replaced and then sell it with full disclosure. That’s about your best course of action. If someone on here sold you that rifle and it was fired I’d call them out personally as that’s a ****** up move.

That’s the plan right now. I got a tikka this afternoon. Already got the RMA form from CA to send it in.

 

[Lawnboi]

I’d trade it in for a tikka… at least that’s what I did with mine.