christensen arms ridgeline, I need help.

[BPollard]

I have a ridgeline in 300wm, I can not for the life of me get it to group consistently better than 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 inch groups at 100 yards. I have shot it off a bench with bipods, sandbags, and a rest, . Prone off of bipods.
I am about ready to throw in the towel and send it back, My fear is they will just bounce it back and say no its normal.
I shoot other rifles and they all can hold better than one inch at 100 yards. So I am pretty confident I should be able to shoot this rifle under an inch off the bench at 100yards.
Any one have any experience with Christensen arms warranty?
Not trying to bash any manufacturer. I was just curious how they handle things like this

Christiansen arms are notorious for the pic rails coming loose double check that. sometimes you need to build up one side with a JB weld start there check to see if it is seated perfectly. Relap your rings and set your stope try again.

 

[HockeyDad]

I spent a good chunk of money .... to get a good hunting ... More than a little disappointed

Sounds like me and my Sig P320.
Right out of the box it was super, duper terrible about failing to extract.
Now after sending back to Sig to work on, and about 500 rounds of break in, it is only terrible about failing to extract.

 

[Shane Lindsey]

What specific factory ammo does CA "test/guarantee" 1/2 MOA with? May see if you can obtain/test with that.

I have heard it said they will not warranty with handloaded ammo.

 

[lyle2231]

I sent a request in by email today. Have not heard back yet. I was hoping to get feed back from some one that's already been through a repair process with them and hopefully have the issue resolved.
I am more worried I will get a response of, it meets the standard for us have a nice day.

If you hand load go to your manual and start at the low end of the ladder and perhaps 3 tenths under. If the Barrel is that tight these low end loads should give some indication.
HTH

 

[DocGlenn]

I have 2 CA rifles in 6.5 PRC, a Ridgeline and a MPR. I was having some significant pressure issues with both rifles. After quite a bit of trial and error, I found that both rifles, but especially the MPR, have short throats and I was not seating the bullets deep enough. I was getting blown primers and heavy bolt lift with mild handloads. Both rifles shoot very well, and now that I'm seating the bullets to the proper depth, the pressure signs have gone away. I realize this is not your exact problem, but it might be worth the time to look at your seating depth. Good luck getting it figured out I know it can be frustrating.

 

[PP guns]

It's the barrel..I think Christensen had a bad batch of .30 cal barrels. I've already rebarreled 4 brand new rifles for customers and all were.300 win mags. I used to work at a custom barrel shot so I did some investigating and 2 of the take off barrels were measured. Problems were the following -

-tight bore (.3000) is the ideal measurement for 30 cals plus or minus a couple tenths. The ones I measured were .2994-.2995". Which isn't terrible but when paired with the next problem it causes problems.

-large groove diameter. Again ideal is .3080". The one I inspected was .3095". When I worked at the barrel shop we literally threw away anything over .3085".

-crap steel... They are either using really cheap steel or not heat treating to relieve stress properly. I know this because when I gauge pinned the barrels at the muzzle the bore grew a couple tenths (.0002) where the thread tenon on the muzzle was. So basically the bullet is going through the barrel and then hits a loose spot in the muzzle. Exactly the opposite of what you want.

There it is. It's not ammo, stocks, bases or rings. These 4 guns shot between 1.5-8moa on the bench. After rebarreling they were sub 1/2" moa. All I changed was the barrel and improved the bedding.

 

[skipglo]

I was not able to get a load developed easily at all with my Mesa in .300WM. I needed the rifle so ended up ordering some Barnes 180gr factory ammo and it seems to shoot these much better. A buddy of mine also has a Christensen in .300WM that will shoot decent at 100, but opens right up at 200 yards.

I was having issues with my Bergara until I bedded the stock - so maybe consider bedding it. I think the Christensen's might prefer lighter 180gr bullets in a .300WM. The best groups I see from these guns online tend to be with the lighter bullets.

It shouldn't matter if a factory gun, or custom gun doesn't perform adequately....it should be up to the builder to rectify the situation at NO ADDITIONAL cost to the buyer! If it needs bedding...let CA bed it! Call them at least and ask THEM how they rectify these situations and in what time frame!

 

[Hunt11]

I have a ridgeline in 300wm, I can not for the life of me get it to group consistently better than 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 inch groups at 100 yards. I have shot it off a bench with bipods, sandbags, and a rest, . Prone off of bipods.
I am about ready to throw in the towel and send it back, My fear is they will just bounce it back and say no its normal.
I shoot other rifles and they all can hold better than one inch at 100 yards. So I am pretty confident I should be able to shoot this rifle under an inch off the bench at 100yards.
Any one have any experience with Christensen arms warranty?
Not trying to bash any manufacturer. I was just curious how they handle things like this

Have you tried different brands of ammo? If you're reloading different bullet, powder etc. I personally have found that Christiansen arms isn't the most consistent out-of-the-box rifle on the market. Don't get me wrong they're good rifles, but I found that some shoot under half inch with no problem and others struggle to make the MOA guarantee.

 

[62flint]

Sounds to me like it wasn't broken in properly. Christianson is known for extremely tight tolerances. If the gun is not broken in properly, most have trouble with them. Had a buddy that did it and we ended up scuffing the brass so it would eject easier till we got some proper rounds down range.

I followed their instructions to the letter on break in

 

[floyd kittrell]

Send it back to Christianson , they have had issues according to what some of my friends have told me, what I have heard is they will make it right.

 

[SSG Graybush]

I have a ridgeline in 300wm, I can not for the life of me get it to group consistently better than 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 inch groups at 100 yards. I have shot it off a bench with bipods, sandbags, and a rest, . Prone off of bipods.
I am about ready to throw in the towel and send it back, My fear is they will just bounce it back and say no its normal.
I shoot other rifles and they all can hold better than one inch at 100 yards. So I am pretty confident I should be able to shoot this rifle under an inch off the bench at 100yards.
Any one have any experience with Christensen arms warranty?
Not trying to bash any manufacturer. I was just curious how they handle things like this

Shoot it with a known good scope. I saw a guy struggle with that exact rifle with a brand new Razor gen 2 on it, it was 1.75 to 2 moa at best, he was going to send it back that day. He was going to Colorado for a guided elk hunt in 2 weeks. I said shoot it with a known good scope first, he put on his buddy's Leupold, and bam .6 moa. Not bashing Vortex, I like their stuff. Ive seen it happen a few times. Ive gotten bad cheaper scopes- 3 Athlons(a Argos btr, a Midas btr and a Ares ETR), and 2 SWFA's. So it happens.

 

[emp1953]

I have a ridgeline in 300wm, I can not for the life of me get it to group consistently better than 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 inch groups at 100 yards. I have shot it off a bench with bipods, sandbags, and a rest, . Prone off of bipods.
I am about ready to throw in the towel and send it back, My fear is they will just bounce it back and say no its normal.
I shoot other rifles and they all can hold better than one inch at 100 yards. So I am pretty confident I should be able to shoot this rifle under an inch off the bench at 100yards.
Any one have any experience with Christensen arms warranty?
Not trying to bash any manufacturer. I was just curious how they handle things like this

I'd contact the manufacturer explain your problem and find out which ammo they proofed the rifle with. Hopefully its some easily attainable factory loading. Try to get the same ammo and give that a go. If that improves accuracy then your chamber and your sizing die probably do not play well together.
Also try not using the magazine. Manually load one round at each shot. If this improves accuracy then recoil is causing bullets to jump forward out of the case changing your "off the lands" distance.
If you have another trusted scope I'd put that on and see if accuracy improves. Try only one thing at a time.
Are the holes in the target perfectly round?

 

[Jarvis]

Yes, send it back. I had a Mesa that didn't shoot MOA or better as advertised. I sent it back, they re-barrelled it, and it then shot 3/4 to 1 MOA.

 

[Jeffrey Van Zandt]

Night force NXS 3.5-15 I trust it. Night force base, Bedded, Night force rings,
I am handloading, But all my other rifles with handloads shoot well enough to suit me.
I can shoot my 7 pound 30-06 with 160-180 grain bullets under half inch. Hand loads and they are hot.
I can shoot my 6 pound 308win under half inch
My rem 5r 300wm will cut one ragged hole and I can hold better that MOA out to 750 yards.
I am going to shoot some factory loaded stuff when I get a chance, before I send it back. But I would be very surprised if they out shoot my handloads. But I will try them. I am also going to get a friend to shoot it with factory loads.
I am concerned if Ca will give me a song and dance or not. I spent a good chunk of money {for me} to get a good hunting rifle. More than a little disappointed

rip it down look at the bedding torqued back down but if you have a rem that you shoot under 1/2 inch why buy another one just restock new trigger and shot that sell the ridge line