Christensen Titanium

[WashedUp1775]

So I bought a Christensen Arms Ridgeline with Ti action in 6.5 PRC. I want to love it because it shoots great, lightweight and good fit for my hunts. The problem is the bolt lift is extra heavy after firing each round. So much so that it takes 2 hands to cycle the bolt. I called Christensen, they told me that’s just how Ti actions are. I have shot several different loads, cleaned & lubed everything and no real improvements. Any ideas??

 

[ResearchinStuff]

Lots of guys have had that problem with CA prc cartridges in the past year. They are doing something wrong with the chamber cut. Complain enough and they might fix it.

 

[amassi]

So I bought a Christensen Arms Ridgeline with Ti action in 6.5 PRC. I want to love it because it shoots great, lightweight and good fit for my hunts. The problem is the bolt lift is extra heavy after firing each round. So much so that it takes 2 hands to cycle the bolt. I called Christensen, they told me that’s just how Ti actions are. I have shot several different loads, cleaned & lubed everything and no real improvements. Any ideas??

Find someone to re ream the chamber with the Alex wheeler aw2 reamer.


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[WashedUp1775]

Thank you. Spoke with CA today. They’re rushing my repair to make it back in time for next hunt.

 

[mchrist]

Thank you. Spoke with CA today. They’re rushing my repair to make it back in time for next hunt.

What is the turn around for that?

 

[WashedUp1775]

They’re saying 2-3 weeks including shipping. Pretty good in my opinion.

 

[amassi]

They’re saying 2-3 weeks including shipping. Pretty good in my opinion.

Respectfully
Take an hour to disassemble the rifle and ream the barrel and reassemble
5 min walk to range
Load and fire 4 rounds
Hour to fill out RMA paperwork and return packing slip.

2-3 weeks seems like a low priority estimate


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[WashedUp1775]

I get it. I’m hoping this is a setup to under promise & over deliver. Also recognize they likely have other rifles in the queue.

I will report back with actual turn around time & repair summary.

 

[WashedUp1775]

Quick update...
I shipped the rifle back to CA by UPS 2nd Day Air (pre-paid by CA) on Saturday.
CA received the rifle Tuesday
CA contacted me this am (Thursday) to say work is complete, rifle is boxed up and will ship back to me today.
I asked what they did, response as follows

"They completed the following: Adjusted Headspace, Polished Bolt Face, Polished Chamber, Test Fired for Accuracy' Installed New Recoil Lug, Installed New Scope Base Rail 0Moa

Recoil Lug was .092 when it should have been a .088
Head spacing was off by four thousandths."

Not sure how they installed the wrong recoil lug in production, nor how the headspacing passed initial inspection. I assume the headspace was causing the chambering issue so hope it's perfect now.

Generally very happy with the support from CA. Maybe that's enough to offset, at least a little, my disappointment that a relatively high end production gun could make it to the market with 2 big quality escapes.

 

[ResearchinStuff]

i'm not a gunsmith, but a too thick recoil lug on a remington 700 style action should have caused the headspacing to be too long, in which case the symptom would be case head separation. Inability to extract fired ammo sounds much more like chamber too small/headspace too short, in which case a thinner recoil lug will make the problem worse.

 

[Wrench]

It just pushes the shoulder forward....not separate the head. The body taper is barely measurable in. 004".

Hard lift was likely chamber cut issue vs headspace, and they probably kissed the thing with a reamer and it's easier to grind a lug to index the barrel than a setback.

 

[Laelkhunter]

To the OP, you said the bolt was hard to lift on the fired round. Did you dry fire it on an empty chamber, then try to lift the bolt?? Was the bolt lift (recocking the striker) easier or the same on an empty chamber as it was when you had a spent cartridge in the chamber?

 

[WashedUp1775]

To the OP, you said the bolt was hard to lift on the fired round. Did you dry fire it on an empty chamber, then try to lift the bolt?? Was the bolt lift (recocking the striker) easier or the same on an empty chamber as it was when you had a spent cartridge in the chamber?

I did dry fire and also used snap caps& spent cases. No heavy lift without firing a live round.
Why do you ask that?

 

[Laelkhunter]

Just thinking that the spring might have been causing a heavy lift to recock it.? Don't really know, just something that entered my mind. I hope they were able to correct the problem.

 

[WashedUp1775]

Just thinking that the spring might have been causing a heavy lift to recock it.? Don't really know, just something that entered my mind. I hope they were able to correct the problem.

good thought, but I don't think that was the issue. I hope the .004" of headspace was the culprit. I will report back once I get it back to the range.

 

[WashedUp1775]

So I finally got to the range to test it out. Zero was easy and back to shooting under 1/2MOA. All good except… muzzle velocity dropped 90 fps.

Confused by this so I called CA. The tech said it’s likely because it was over pressure before and back to normal now. Sounds believable, I think??

I’m leaving on a big hunt in 3 days. No time to test new loads. Thinking I will adjust my ballistics and hold what I got. Alternatively, I could bring my back up rifle that’s absolutely dialed in.

Love to hear thoughts…

 

[jreyna]

I'm certainly not an expert, but the incorrect head spacing from earlier would make sense in spiking case pressure. I have a CA Ridgeline Ti that would have a sticky bolt but only on cheaper ammo (sellier and bellot) so I stopped using it and the other ammos work well. Ik it's a different issue than you had and I hope you were successful on your hunt. Thanks for the post.

 

[WashedUp1775]

I ended up taking a different rifle because I just didn’t feel confident with it. I need to get a few more rounds to rebuild confidence.

Worked out ok. See my profile pic

 

[jreyna]

Congratulations on the hunt! That's also a nice rifle setup as well. Good on your for taking a rifle you felt most comfortable with vs forcing anything.

 

[chizelhead]

I didn't see it posted, but which rifle did you use?