Christensen Arms Ridgeline: quality and consistency?

[War Paint]

Just received my mesa long range and not happy with the bolt. It’s very stiff when pulling up on the bolt knob, draw back is fine, but when pushing the bolt back in it gets caught somewhere on the extractor plate and has to be wiggled up to get it past that point.


I know this thread is old but letting others know the QC issues seem like they’re still a thing.

 

[Packmansion]

I can now join the people saying DO NOT BUY Christensen. I ordered a gun from them wow! so sloppy. I could see all the imperfections from across the room. The barrel was torqued on an extra quarter turn so the engravings were off center. The stock inletting was shallow so the bottom metal was poking out. LOL WOW! Luckily I returned it before doing the paperwork. I really can't believe how bad the rifle was. They are blind over there at Christensen. I'm sure you can get lucky but at that price point there are just much better manufacturers. I'm just going to save up and build a custom rifle. IF they let junk like that out the door you better believe there is all sorts of other nonsense going on with their assembly. GOOD LUCK!

 

[War Paint]

I can now join the people saying DO NOT BUY Christensen. I ordered a gun from them wow! so sloppy. I could see all the imperfections from across the room. The barrel was torqued on an extra quarter turn so the engravings were off center. The stock inletting was shallow so the bottom metal was poking out. LOL WOW! Luckily I returned it before doing the paperwork. I really can't believe how bad the rifle was. They are blind over there at Christensen. I'm sure you can get lucky but at that price point there are just much better manufacturers. I'm just going to save up and build a custom rifle. IF they let junk like that out the door you better believe there is all sorts of other nonsense going on with their assembly. GOOD LUCK!

Glad you posted to this thread. In addition to my previous post before yours, I had the same issue with the bottom plate metal not bedding correctly. When I took it to the range pretty much right after I got it, I was setting up to put my first round through and couldn’t flip the safety. Looked down the side and could see a pin blocking it. Had to take the barrel/action off to get in there and one of the trigger pins was nearly fully sticking out. Luckily a guy next to me had a few more tools to punch it through. Overall I was pretty annoyed with what I received. I’m like you in that my next LR rifle is going to be a custom job.

 

[SDHNTR]

How is this company still in business? Who buys these things? Don’t people do at least a simple Google search before buying a rifle?

 

[DaleW]

How is this company still in business? Who buys these things? Don’t people do at least a simple Google search before buying a rifle?

It seems to really just be a roll of the dice. Some of them are absolute hammers some of them need to be immediately shipped back. My brother's 6.5 prc had a very tight chamber from the factory. Factory Hornady ammo was jamming into the lands and the gun shot poorly. They rebarreled it in a few weeks and now it shoots that same ammo 5 under 1/2" consistently.

They can make a great rifle but they need to address their qc before its too late.

 

[Packmansion]

How is this company still in business? Who buys these things? Don’t people do at least a simple Google search before buying a rifle?

It's because 80% of the rifles are great. Enough are good that a lot of people are happy. If I could be a $1300 gun with their specs that shot 1/2 moa id say it's a great deal. If one thing is wrong then it's a paperweight. I thought they made improvements. I heard they brought more of the manufacturing in house. Guess it's no good still. Stay away from Christensen! I'm looking at either doing a diy custom with a Prefit or I'm considering seekins. I picked one up at Scheels and I fell in love. Super light, 3.9" magazine! It's a dream gun. They also are all about customer satisfaction. Their guns all come with lifetime warranties.

 

[bdubb78]

I know there have been threads done before on Christensen rifles, but none really covered exactly what I'm trying to figure out. I'm looking to get a new Ridgeline Titanium in 28 Nosler. I've read tons on the woes of C.A. quality control, and how some people will buy rifles that are sub-MOA with factory and reloads, and others who just cannot get consistency or Sub-MOA accuracy out of their rifle (without sending them back to C.A. for warranty work). I'm just hoping to find out if those problems have been largely resolved now, or if there is need to be wary when buying a new rifle from them. If I'm spending around 2.5k on a rifle I don't think it's right that I'd have to send it back in for warranty work almost right out of the box. For those that did have to get work done, what exactly was it that was wrong? I've heard of rifles with shoddy beddings, and correcting that fixes accuracy, among other examples. I'm not trying to drag C.A. through the mud, I just want to make sure my money is going to a product that's worth it. The only alternative rifles I've looked at are the Weatherby Backcountry Ti and maybe rebarreling a Tikka T3X in 6.5 PRC with a Proof barrel. Not interested in a custom rifle quite yet, I'm still tinkering with calibers and loads to find my favorite.

I am just reading this as I sit at the range pulling out my hair on a Ridgeline 300WM. It shoots the recommended precision hunters at >2 MOA and I have been working on a tried and true win mag recipe using H1000, 0.015" off the lands, federal.gold medal match primers, and 215 Berger hybrids and I cannot find a load under 1 MOA. I refuse to be limited to nosler trophy grade ammo at $100/box to see if this gun will shoot. I think it needs to go back as I have never struggled this bad getting a gun to shoot, let alone an expensive one.

 

[Parkerpusher]

I’m not sure where my experience is going to fit in here, but I will share. I have mostly old walnut stock rifles and my only synthetics have been model 70 EW winchesters which have always shot pretty good. A few 30-06, 25-06, and a sweet shooting 6.5prc.

Earlier this spring I bought a CA Mesa just to try something new, in 7mm-08. I was able to bore sight it and get it shooting 1/2 MOA in minutes without following the barrel break in procedure.

I’ve set it aside a few times this year in favor of my M70 rifles, never was a fan of the rem 700 safety for no reason other than what I’m most used to, but I keep coming back to the Christensen because I have the most confidence in it. I’ve had 3 different scopes on it this year just messing around with it, not planning on it being my main hunting rifle, and it’s the same experience every time…..15 minutes and dead on bullseye and back to ringing steel as far as I’m able to shoot. It’s not the most refined rifle I have, and not the prettiest, but because of the accuracy I seem to grab it every time I just need a rifle I can trust…. I’ve hunted with it the most this year for that reason. I’ve learned to really like the factory stock too. Seems like some of the best tools are the ones that take some time to grow on you.