Christensen Ridgeline TI... 3 strikes and out!!

[Hunt30]

I’ve got a handful of Christensen rifles and they all shoot well and a couple of them are scary accurate. Not trying to dismiss anything that’s been said, just giving a different perspective. I also have Browning, Sako and Fierce rifles that are also good shooters.

 

[wind gypsy]

What a bummer man, unfortunately I've heard plenty of similar stories about CA.
One thing that comes to mind with your stiff bolt is that Ti stretches 3x more than SS and heavy bolt lift is pretty common.
I had a Mesa Ti action that did the same thing, I'll only use SS actions from now on.

Check out Fierce or Seekins for your replacement

The Ti was the first thing that came to mind for me as well. I wonder how headspace was before shooting..

No thanks, I'll pass on those few ounces saved.

 

[Brent]

I have a few Christensens and they all perform well above the MOA guarantee with no problems. I have also seen the stiff bolt lift when cocking. It has nothing to do with how the chamber was cut. The problem is that Christensen uses ultra stiff firing pin springs. This is intentional, It turns out they install the stronger spring so their rifles go bang every time you want them to. That said, the springs are far stiffer than they need to be.

The stiff bolt lift is easily remedied it by changing out the firing pin spring with a lighter spring. I used the Tubb springs with a PTG fluted firing pin on a couple of rifles and the cocking bolt lift is silky smooth now.

 

[elkinAb]

After experiencing issues with my year old Mesa 7RM I decided to Google search to see if my rifle was more of an exception vs what's regularly coming our of CA's manufacturing facility. Surprise surprise.

Issue 1. Serious scratching and gouging of new brass at shoulder on load and eject of new empty brass while sizing . When the scratches appeared to be occurring in the same area of every casing loaded it was off to my reputable smith for a borescoping, or as I now refer to it, a Christensen Colonoscopy. While my smith observed the proceedings on his monitor I was not pleased to see his winces and head shakes and hear his mutterings. When I had the misfortune to view the monitor myself and observe the chamber I thought "so this is how Neil Armstrong must have felt observing the lunar landscape for the first time." Pretty sure my 8 yr old granddaughter could have carved a better chamber with a Dewalt.

Asked for his professional opinion my Smith's exact words were "I'd kind of understand the burring, ruts, overall roughness if the rifle was an Axis, not an $1800.00 Canadian CA.

Cue a chamber polishing for $100.00 and the Smith telling me the chamber had been blacker than the inside of a cow even though I'd scrubbed it well prior. Thanks CA.

Issue 2. Off to the range with my fresh polish and scrub job fully confident that I possessed a rifle worthy of the now $1900.00, with factory Federal Premium PT's, AB's, Hornady eld-x, and Barnes TTSX in tow, just to play with a few varieties prior to handloading for this fall's elk, moose, mule and wt seasons and get the freshly mounted Zeiss on reasonable paper. Things went swimmingly for the first few rounds with very reasonable groupings from all until....I couldn't chamber a round. Federal Premium 160 AB fully pushed into the chamber but No Go closing the bolt handle, after no issues with 3 prior, and 4 eld-x prior to that. A couple more tries, remove bolt, turn rifle upside down, and out slides cartridge, easy peasy. Set that unit off to the side thinking "abnormality like many factory loads" and proceeded to fire off 3 more of same with no issues then, boom, Lockup again.

At this point I've pretty much had it with this rifle. Into the case it goes and I have a dilemma. Unload it on some poor sap thinking CA makes genuine higher end rifles, or try to find some sort of solution via an American manufacturer while communicating from Western Canada? I have a strong feeling factory ammunition will be blamed even though I wasn't using the el cheapo varieties.

So, should I assume I've bought myself a rifle that "has" to be custom loaded for, and if so why isn't CA advising potential buyers of this while regaling us with fantasies of what wonderful rifles they build? I own Kimbers. I'm aware of tight tolerances but maybe CA takes this to the extreme.

For the record the rifle produced acceptable results when it DID function properly.

Also for the record the 9 rounds of all same factories run through my Sako and the 6 through my Rem 7mm's went flawlessly. Should have stuck with the tried and true.

I don't need to be toting around a rifle with loading issues in grizz country this Sept thru Nov so any suggestions would be sincerely appreciated.

 

[Wags]

The Happy Gilmore reference was the true hero in this post.

 

[Sandstrom]

Well, I finally figured out what to get for a replacement! I ended up with a Tikka T3X roughtech in 308 and a Browning x-bolt stainless stalker in 300 win mag. I ended up getting both guns and an additional $600.00 in my pocket
The 300 win mag was more of an impulse buy as it was used for $750.00.
Ryan

 

[JeffRaines]

Well, I finally figured out what to get for a replacement! I ended up with a Tikka T3X roughtech in 308 and a Browning x-bolt stainless stalker in 300 win mag. I ended up getting both guns and an additional $600.00 in my pocket
The 300 win mag was more of an impulse buy as it was used for $750.00.
Ryan

Similar story for my departure from CA. Ended up buying a Tikka SL in 300wsm and dropping it in a AG stock, getting the HC magazine and new bottom metal - had money left and a much better put together rifle. Imagine that!

After experiencing issues with my year old Mesa 7RM I decided to Google search to see if my rifle was more of an exception vs what's regularly coming our of CA's manufacturing facility. Surprise surprise.

Issue 1. Serious scratching and gouging of new brass at shoulder on load and eject of new empty brass while sizing . When the scratches appeared to be occurring in the same area of every casing loaded it was off to my reputable smith for a borescoping, or as I now refer to it, a Christensen Colonoscopy. While my smith observed the proceedings on his monitor I was not pleased to see his winces and head shakes and hear his mutterings. When I had the misfortune to view the monitor myself and observe the chamber I thought "so this is how Neil Armstrong must have felt observing the lunar landscape for the first time." Pretty sure my 8 yr old granddaughter could have carved a better chamber with a Dewalt.

Asked for his professional opinion my Smith's exact words were "I'd kind of understand the burring, ruts, overall roughness if the rifle was an Axis, not an $1800.00 Canadian CA.

Cue a chamber polishing for $100.00 and the Smith telling me the chamber had been blacker than the inside of a cow even though I'd scrubbed it well prior. Thanks CA.

Issue 2. Off to the range with my fresh polish and scrub job fully confident that I possessed a rifle worthy of the now $1900.00, with factory Federal Premium PT's, AB's, Hornady eld-x, and Barnes TTSX in tow, just to play with a few varieties prior to handloading for this fall's elk, moose, mule and wt seasons and get the freshly mounted Zeiss on reasonable paper. Things went swimmingly for the first few rounds with very reasonable groupings from all until....I couldn't chamber a round. Federal Premium 160 AB fully pushed into the chamber but No Go closing the bolt handle, after no issues with 3 prior, and 4 eld-x prior to that. A couple more tries, remove bolt, turn rifle upside down, and out slides cartridge, easy peasy. Set that unit off to the side thinking "abnormality like many factory loads" and proceeded to fire off 3 more of same with no issues then, boom, Lockup again.

At this point I've pretty much had it with this rifle. Into the case it goes and I have a dilemma. Unload it on some poor sap thinking CA makes genuine higher end rifles, or try to find some sort of solution via an American manufacturer while communicating from Western Canada? I have a strong feeling factory ammunition will be blamed even though I wasn't using the el cheapo varieties.

So, should I assume I've bought myself a rifle that "has" to be custom loaded for, and if so why isn't CA advising potential buyers of this while regaling us with fantasies of what wonderful rifles they build? I own Kimbers. I'm aware of tight tolerances but maybe CA takes this to the extreme.

For the record the rifle produced acceptable results when it DID function properly.

Also for the record the 9 rounds of all same factories run through my Sako and the 6 through my Rem 7mm's went flawlessly. Should have stuck with the tried and true.

I don't need to be toting around a rifle with loading issues in grizz country this Sept thru Nov so any suggestions would be sincerely appreciated.

This is my take - if Tikka, Savage, Ruger and others can produce a functional rifle for a fraction of the price, I'm sorry but CA needs to be damn near perfect for what they're asking. If I seen a rough chamber, bad bedding, bad machining or whatever on a $400 Savage its acceptable because... well, its a $400 rifle... but $1800... no thanks, I'll pass. Even if it shoots, I'm still not interested - those Rugers, Savages and Tikkas shoot too.

 

[Lawnboi]

I agree with a lot that’s been said. I can’t ever see spending the money to gamble on another CA. Too much money for a gamble.

On top of that, your not even getting a decent action, atleast I wouldn’t consider it one.

 

[AkRyan]

I was just looking at there folding 6.5cm and when I cycled the action it felt like a savage...I looked at the salesman and his look on his face confirmed my feeling. They are pretty guns but not worth the coin imo.

 

[Big_a_231]

How did they manage to get 13 Oz off?

 

[BD1965]

What a bummer man, unfortunately I've heard plenty of similar stories about CA.
One thing that comes to mind with your stiff bolt is that Ti stretches 3x more than SS and heavy bolt lift is pretty common.
I had a Mesa Ti action that did the same thing, I'll only use SS actions from now on.

Check out Fierce or Seekins for your replacement

I can attest to a seekins Havak ph2 being awesome gun at same price point. Have one in 300 wm that shoots .45” with 212gr ELDX

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

Sold my 28 Nosler ridgeline because of issues as well. Not a great platform at all in my opinion.

 

[JonNBama]

I had every intention of buying a CA Traverse, but after way too many stories of inconsistencies I decided to go with a Bergara Premier HMR Pro in 308 instead. First ammo I ran, Hornady ELD-X 178gr Precision Hunter grouped very well, .5 MOA 3 shot, at 100. I still may give CA a try though. My LGS assured me that if it doesn't shoot SUB MOA out of the box with Match ammo they will buy it back no questions asked. So we shall see.