Christensen Arms 16” 308 load data

I'm looking for information from those who may have a CA 16" 308 carbon fiber barrel.

In my attempt to assemble the perfect lightweight short barreled bolt rifle for suppressor use and ease of handling, I picked up a. Wry lightly used CA 308 barrel and put it on a Remington 700 SA and in Proof Elevate stock.
The balance and feel with the suppressor is absolutely perfect!

The problem:
I can't get this barrel to shoot under 1 1/2-2".
I have tried several 165-168's as well as 150's with a couple of different powders some of these loads tried shoot lights out in my other 20" Waypoint and Remington factory barrels.

I was getting 2650fps with 165 and CFE223 and 2750 with 150's and Tac. Varget and IMR 4064 were slow but shot a small fraction better.
To me… this barrel should shoot smaller or at least 1moa being short and stiff.
I don't want to slow it down even more to find a node but I may have to.

Hoping maybe someone can chime in who had a similar problem with the same barrel and found a good hunting load.

Or… I got a bad barrel!

Thanks.

I'd try two bullets lighter weight...
Nosler ballistic tip 125's and Hammer hunter 124's
If those won't shoot plant some tomatoes with it next Spring.

I have 125 NBT.
My other 20"-24" 308's handle any weight range of bullet and they are all 10 twist with a couple 11.25 in the 24's.
I'm surprised… but it may become a tomato stake if it doesn't improve!
Maybe that's why I made a good deal. The smith said the customer only changed to go to another caliber.

Honestly. Bad barrel. I shoot a 17" MRAD and it's a tack driver with 175's .
CA isn't doing so hot when it comes to performance these days. Rebarrel it, you'd save time trying to make the current barrel work.

Well just shot another two loads.
Same 2" spread.
I've been running this Razor LH that was on my old trusty 3/4 MOA 30-06…I'll swap scopes now and try again.
I doubt this is the problem, but never know unless I try.
This is a pic of the assembly. It's going to get the benefit of full out tweaking and tuning before tossing it. It's just too F'ing sweet !

Roughrice said:

Well just shot another two loads.
Same 2" spread.
I've been running this Razor LH that was on my old trusty 3/4 MOA 30-06…I'll swap scopes now and try again.
I doubt this is the problem, but never know unless I try.
This is a pic of the assembly. It's going to get the benefit of full out tweaking and tuning before tossing it. It's just too F'ing sweet !

Click to expand...

Good looking rig, my buddy just replaced his barrel. He had the same issue, it got worse when he was running his can. So now, he switched barrels and is enjoying his new little toy!

Uh Oh... not looking good then.
I've read more bad than good about CA rifles and barrels.
I was just hoping they got this one right...Heck, it's a short 308... I've never seen one not shoot well enough for hunting.
I even borescoped it before screwing it up...Looked great all the way thru.

Scope is changed.
Will repeat last load data (which is money in everything else) and shoot again tomorrow.

I had the same problem with my 308's.
If a rifle don't shoot, find it a new home. I went through two Sig cross in 308 and now I have been struggling with finding the sweet spot with my 16" CA 308. It will be my last range visit if these reloads fail to prove exceptional.

I regret selling my 700 R inn 308 with the results of putting 5 rds of 168 smk into a bottle cap at 100 yards but it was heavy to hunt with. Wishing you the luck I've been looking for..

I had a hard time with a 16" barrel. Have you tried any factory 168/175 GMM? Mine shot those well. May be a starting point. My 20" Carbon six shot well with and without the can. Not much help for your 16" barrel, but maybe back off and shoot the lower nodes. Maybe something with not burning all the powder effeciently. That helped mine.

Knight said:

I had the same problem with my 308's.
If a rifle don't shoot, find it a new home. I went through two Sig cross in 308 and now I have been struggling with finding the sweet spot with my 16" CA 308. It will be my last range visit if these reloads fail to prove exceptional.

I regret selling my 700 R inn 308 with the results of putting 5 rds of 168 smk into a bottle cap at 100 yards but it was heavy to hunt with. Wishing you the luck I've been looking for..

Click to expand...

Yeah... sounding more like a common issue now.
My XCR 20", LTR 20", Savage 20" and Waypoint Carbon 20" all shoot great.
This CA 16" is aggravating the heck out of me.
Makes me wonder... how hard is it to make a 16" 308 barrel that can shoot 1 MOA?
This rifle is so light and handy with a suppressor. I assembled it for a song and dance... too good to be true I guess!

Shane Lindsey said:

I had a hard time with a 16" barrel. Have you tried any factory 168/175 GMM? Mine shot those well. May be a starting point. My 20" Carbon six shot well with and without the can. Not much help for your 16" barrel, but maybe back off and shoot the lower nodes. Maybe something with not burning all the powder effeciently. That helped mine.

Click to expand...

Yes. 168 FGMM.
That was the first ammo I ran thru the rifle.
1.5 MOA @ 2440 fps.
I'll load up some Varget and IMR 4064 again but I may have to settle for slow if it gets down to 1moa.
I also changed the scope last night... but I doubt that was the poblem.

Roughrice said:

Yes. 168 FGMM.
That was the ammo I ran thru the rifle.
1.5 MOA @ 2440 fps.

Click to expand...

Maybe JBTHEHELL out of the bore and see if it cleans it up??? Worth a shot

Maybe even try some of the Absulute Hammer type bullets that don't tough much of the rifling...???

It is truly disappointing what is going on with "Industry" in general in America these days. These outfits charge a Fortune for products and the silly items do NOT at all perform properly, no matter what you are talking about. Be it an expensive rifle or a car or whatever. Prices go up and up and quality and performance are in the toilet. I would be done with that barrel and stop wasting money on components that are expensive and difficult to come by especially LRP for example for most people. Good luck my friend.