Christensen arms Ridgeline 300WM ?

[Monday shooter40]

I ran into a buddy on the range this weekend and he tells me that he's been having difficulty establishing a good Zero on his Christensen Arms Ridge line in 300WM. So I covered the basics, checked all his screws (found that the rear action screw was loose) and got him dialed in. But holy sh!t did that gun not run or feed like I thought it should. I've never shot a Christensen before so I assumed that were a semi custom action based around the rem700 design. I know they are not cheap guns as far as $$$ goes.

Minor issue, is the extractor will sometimes drop the case before it reaches the ejection port. Mostly when I was cycling the rifle slowly. The bolt is equipped with dual ejectors.

My/his biggest problem is the bolt close is extremely difficult. We shot 3 different brands of factory ammo, and its not related to any one ammo. I removed the firing pin from the bolt and ran the bolt only to find that it was buttery smooth, also when cycling some rounds through, it was very smooth. so I ruled out anything with headspace or lug obstruction and put the pin and shroud back in the bolt.

I have a very good feeling that the trigger engagement is causing this. Its almost a safety concern with how much force you have to use to close the bolt. Your fingers could easily slip off and engage the trigger. Allegedly it comes with a trigger tech, though I didn't look and I don't know which model.

Aside from giving him one of my triggers to see if it cures his issues, how do I go about diagnosing what's actually at fault here? I've never tuned a ignition system but I am eager to learn what's going on here.

Any input is appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

How does the bolt close assembled on an empty chamber? How does the bolt close disassembled on a loaded round? These guns are usually great- i suspect bad ammo

 

[Monday shooter40]

How does the bolt close assembled on an empty chamber? How does the bolt close disassembled on a loaded round? These guns are usually great- i suspect bad ammo

Closing the bolt assembled on an empty chamber did not raise any red flags to me. It has a good amount of what i call "hand-off" where the trigger is taking the cocking piece. (I believe you guys call this cock on close, but im certainly no gunsmith.....yet). I wouldnt say that it was out of line with any other 700 or clone that i use.

Bolt close dis-assembled with a loaded round was nice and smooth. The only resistance that i could detect was most likely coming from the Ejectors.

If i did not mention before clearly, the hang up is at the top of the bolts downward closing motion. Once it gets past this hitch, the downward motion of closing the bolt is nice and easy.

The rifle only shoots factory ammo. My friend is not a hand loader. We shot Federal Premium 200gr Terminal Ascent. Barnes Vor-tx 180 TTSX and Nosler trophy grade 190 ABLR. All of these loadings behaved the same way when closing the bolt. There were zero problems with bolt lift and primary extraction (save for dropping the case a few times but were really not focusing on that). There were a few instances where i would run the bolt rather quickly when closing, and it didnt

Im going to get my hands on it later this week, away from the range, and re-examine all these things that we are talking about more closely.

Thanks guys.

 

[DaveTooley]

From what you said your problems are when the bolt engages the case rim. I would look at the extractor and the dual ejectors contributing to the problem.

 

[46and2]

Minor issue, is the extractor will sometimes drop the case before it reaches the ejection port. Mostly when I was cycling the rifle slowly. The bolt is equipped with dual ejectors.

Mine does that too, most of the time it would flip the case 180° back into the action. It took 200 rounds for this problem to show up. Disassembled the bolt and inspected and cleaned all parts to no avail. Called CA, they sent me new extractor and ejector parts...nothing Improved.

In frustration I removed the top ejector spring and reinstalled the plunger. Now it ejects at 100 %.
It seems that dual ejector design is too much for that tiny mini m16 extractor.

I ordered a larger bolt handle and this improved my bolt lift about 25%.
I'm not going into detail about the 50 other issues about this rifle but I can assure you this is the last penny I give CA.