Is Christensen REALLY That Terrible?

[karrarararararar]

Tikka. Fine rifles! Quality actions and barrels. Great triggers! I own 8 of them so I speak from experience.
Take a look at Eurooptic’s website.
Here’s a nice 308. I’ve heard good things and not so good about the new roughtech stocks. I haven’t held one.View attachment 1598702

This! The factory trigger in my T3X is great and pulls 15oz with the spring removed. The actions are fantastic quality, good enough to get a prefit barrel if ever wanted. The plastic stocks are what they are, but for what you're spending, you'll have plenty of money left over to buy a nicer one.

 

[jnyfeler]

Another option I've always liked and had good luck with below that price point is the Model 70. For under 1700 you could get up into the supergrades even the curly maple one with money to spare.

^^^This.
Jeff

 

[jpjulian]

For a factory hunting rifle I am surprised nary a soul has mentioned the Browning X-Bolt. I don't own one but as an RSO helped several get sighted. Decently accurate, certainly minute of Bambi, just about any chambering and configuration you can imagine at a fair price.

 

[jnm300ultra]

I have first hand experience with Christensen and Bergera. Here’s the backstory of how and why I ended up with 2 280 Ackley’s. In 2020 I really wanted a Bergera in 280 Ackley. I never could find the premier mountain in 280 ackley because it was being discontinued so I found a Christensen in 280 Ackley in the Ridgeline model. When I received the rifle from Euro Optics the rifle looked and shot okay . I should have never looked at the chamber when I was cleaning the rifle with a bore scope. I was amazed it shot the 1.25-1.00 moa with Nosler ammunition. I figured that I would be able it shrink it down with hand loads later. 2 weeks later I find the Bergera in 280 Ackley and I said I will sell whatever rifle shoots worse. The Bergera felt like a better rifle action, stock and chambering job, but shot even worse. After all this I had 2 rifles I really didn’t cared for and sold both and had Jon Beanland build me exactly what I wanted. My advice is you are taking a 50/50 chance with Christensen and the Bergera should be better but not in my case. The best advice I have read is get a Seekings, Tikka, or a Remington alpha. Savage is always a sleeper and usually always shoot. With the Tikka you can get a scope with the savings.
Best of luck with your new rifle,
Jason

 

[Capt. Oblivious]

Tikka

 

[FTR_Mojo]

I had one of their carbon fiber .308 AR10's. It functioned just fine, but blew out an inch of rifling from the muzzle within 50 rounds. They didn't stand by it and were horrible to deal with. I had to pay for an after market barrel and chambering myself, after which it was great.

You couldn't give me another.

 

[JMAN80]

Buy Tikka! Best thing I ever did…. Looking forward to my next one…. Lol

 

[joshb]

For a factory hunting rifle I am surprised nary a soul has mentioned the Browning X-Bolt. I don't own one but as an RSO helped several get sighted. Decently accurate, certainly minute of Bambi, just about any chambering and configuration you can imagine at a fair price.

I bought an Xbolt in 223. “Special run for Shot Show” said the salesman. Load test after load test couldn’t get it to shoot under 1 1/2” @ 100. Every bullet/powder combo I could think of, even after I bedded it. My most frustrating gun. Maybe I got a fluke but I haven’t bought another one since I bought my first Tikka.

 

[FNSafari]

Tikka. Fine rifles! Quality actions and barrels. Great triggers! I own 8 of them so I speak from experience.
Take a look at Eurooptic’s website.
Here’s a nice 308. I’ve heard good things and not so good about the new roughtech stocks. I haven’t held one.View attachment 1598702

Speaking about Tikka, has anyone put a good borescope down the barrel of a new T3 and if so what did you find quality wise? Reason I ask is I had to send back a Sako 85 because the barrel was a piece of (you fill in the blank). They ultimately refunded my purchase price. Just wondering because both are now owned by Beretta. Makes me wonder how the new owner is managing QC.

 

[USMCsilver]

Not the 1/4 MOA the comp guns will shoot but they are shooting custom developed ammo in 30+ inch 1.25 straight barrels. Most of the people I see bad mouthing the Christensen brand have never actually owned one. They are relaying stories other have told them. I want to meet these people. Do they even know how to adjust their scope let alone how to shoot small groups?

See, that's most of my gripe, too -- people regurgitating things they absolutely nothing about. Yes, I'm sure real folks have encountered real duds, but I don't think all the crap-talking is even 60% accurate.

Also -- dudes buy a $2k rifle because they have a little money. They don't know how to shoot, but they dropped the coin on a "nice" rifle. They think that since it has an accuracy guarantee, then the gun should magically shoot one ragged hole. If you cannot shoot in the first place, a $15k AI isn't going to perform any better.

Now I admit that I have heard of issues with the carbon fiber wrapped barrels from people I do respect. I would not buy a rifle with a carbon barrel if competition level accuracy was my goal even though I'm sure there are carbon wrapped barrels that can shoot at that level. I would however consider a hunting rifle with a carbon fiber barrel if I knew it would shoot at least 1 MOA.

My MPR has a CF wrap. For me, it's pretty accurate. I'm a hobbyist. I can shoot out to 500yd, but most of my time is sadly only 100yd. If I wanna put my rifle in a deer stand, I'm pretty sure it'll work just fine. The Ridgeline still kinda appeals to me due to the weight and my 100% success rate with my one Christensen. And, my kid will be shooting deer. He doesn't need a sub MOA rifle for the type of hunting we have available to us.

So far, there have been problem Bergaras & Springfields on this thread, alone, thus far. I'll chime in with my own discontent with a Sako S20 & how I wouldn't own another...

Then there's the gripe of "mass produced rifles" and how CA went to poop once they started selling in bulk. But, look at Tikka, Seekins, etc... They're in Scheels, Sportsman's Warehouse, and all sorts of other national retailers. Those manufacturers are crankin' 'em out, too; and I'm sure if I dug around, I'd find some QC issues. Granted, it seems like after sales service is superior to CA.

3-shot groups. 1st pic is about midway through a ladder load test when we were working on a recipe for my CA 6.5PRC. 2nd pic is the load that we decided on. These were 100yd suppressed with a SiCo Hybrid 36M. I'm not the best shooter in the world, but I'm more than content with how the rifle shoots. (I am ready to see what a 10-round group looks like, though.)

 

[RubiconJoey]

Lots of chatter on here about other rifles and second hand opinions on rifles they never shot. I'll give you my first hand experience.

I own/owned two Christensen rifles. A Ranger in .22 and a MPR in 6.5 Creed. The ranger shot great and was over a good rifle. I ended up getting into .22 PRS and had to make room for a more purpose built rifle so I sold it to my cousin who loves it. The only thing I can criticize is the finish on the stock isn't the most durable. The custom Vudoo I replaced it with, doesn't shoot that much better from a bench but, does perform a lot better from a barricade when there's a time limit.

The MPR is a hammer. I won a local modified (we only have a 300yd range) F class match with it. While the competition wasn't that great on that particular day, I still shot 198-5x from a lightweight hunting rifle with a cheap caldwell rest. It's currently for sale here for the same reason as the ranger (make room for a dedicated PRS gun) Christensen Arms MPR for sale In that sale post you can see the groups I get from it (.3-.4 MOA) which is well beyond the guaranteed sub-moa.

I think most people overestimate their ability to shoot sub-moa out of a lightweight hunting rifle. Light weight guns are just flat out harder to shoot accurately, especially in magnum chamberings. It's the reason competition rifles are generally as heavy as they can be. In addition to being harder to physically keep the gun on POA the barrels are usually thinner. By the time you fire a 3-5 round group the barrel is hot and just isn't going to shoot as well until it cools down again. How many times have you seen someone go to the range and blow through a box of ammo while trying to print small groups? Did they give the barrel time to cool down properly? The Tikkas, Howas and Brownings people are recommending are significantly heavier than the Ridgeline you're considering. This inherently makes them easier to shoot.

I also think most people assume the ammo they bought is good just because they paid $40+ a box for it. I shot a good amount of ammo through the MPR that wouldn't "hit the broad side of a barn" but, that same ammo didn't shoot any better out of my $7k custom 20+ lb rifle either. One particularly expensive round the MPR didn't like was Federal premium. At $55 a box you would think it should shoot lights out, but it didn't.

In summary I think most people have trouble discerning what the rifle is actually capable of. Did they feed it ammo it likes? How many different kinds of ammo did they really try? Does that person have the fundamentals of marksmanship perfected? If they don't, a lightweight rifle is going to expose it.
I have seen some legitimate problems that Christensen fixed but, you'll have that with nearly any rifle brand. Most of the chatter around Christensen being "that terrible" is hearsay, second hand accounts or from people with questionable ability to shoot a lightweight rifle.

 

[bluealtered]

This is going to be a hunting rifle, hunting rifles get dropped and put down where they shouldn't be. I have a now, old savage .243 that slid down a wet shale mountain side with me on top of it. It looks like it went to war but still does moa. At that time it was a $300 rifle.
At that same time, I had a very nice sako that almost went hunting that day instead of the savage, it cost $1000. I would still be kicking myself if I had slid down that mountain side on it.

I too until a few years ago worked in a sporting goods store and yes 90% of the Christensen rifles came back. The store quit selling them.

 

[Larryh128]

For a factory hunting rifle I am surprised nary a soul has mentioned the Browning X-Bolt. I don't own one but as an RSO helped several get sighted. Decently accurate, certainly minute of Bambi, just about any chambering and configuration you can imagine at a fair price.

There is a reason no one mentions Xbolts. I've played with a couple trying to get them to shoot for buds, both $2200 rifles. Look good but that where it ends. Crowns are a joke and wouldn't shoot anything after being re crowned either. We shot one every Sunday for a month with every load possible. Minute of barn. Switch mounts/scopes to no effect. Would shoot 1 Sierra bullet decent with one load only. Junk barrels in my estimation. Both got traded in at about a $1200 loss. Beware of like new used guns.

 

[Larryh128]

I had one Christensen Barreled action that I bought to check it out, had a spare chassis to drop it in and it shot very good. Sold it to a bud who is very happy with it as I had no reason to own a 6.5 PRC having a couple 6.5 Gaps already. Maybe I got lucky, It was cheap enough that I thought I could always use the barrel as a tomato stake and re barrel it.

 

[jackieschmidt]

I see a number of different off the shelf Rifles at my local Gun Club, and on any day, the most accurate will be a Savage, especially in 308 or 223.

Christensen’s biggest selling point is that carbon wrapped barrel. they Have a great marketing department.
A few years ago, we had a local shooter come to one of our 200 yard Varmint for Score Matches with a really nice Christensen Arms in 6.5 Creed.
Over the 25 shot match, the Rifle certainly did not live up to the 1/2 inch Moa that was touted. More like 1.5 MOA.

But that was under Match conditions and on the clock. And at Tomball, where you can easily miss a 1” 10 ring even with a 30 BR dedicated Benchrest Rifle.

If he would have had flags, and possibly a better load, he might have done better.

 

[mongo chicago]

I know there's a lot of hate in multiple circles towards Christensen. I've read lots of bad stuff (along with some of decent stuff) and I've kinda just chalked it up as people strongly dissing a company that they, for the most part, have zero first-hand knowledge.

I'll fess up. I own an MPR in 6.5 PRC. For me, it's great. It groups well, and is a "nice rifle" for my uses/purpose. Did I spend more than I should have on it? Dunno, as it was a pretty smokin' deal. But I'm not here to discuss that.

THE POINT OF THE THREAD: My kid turns 16 in December. He hunts, but doesn't care (at this age) for precision shooting. I have the opportunity to buy a new Ridgeline FFT (link to rifle) in .270 for $1,650. Is it worth that? I dunno. Could I build a "better" hunting rifle for $1,650 after tax, shipping, etc.? I kinda doubt it.

So, if you had a sub $1,700 budget, what would you suggest for a "nice" hunting rifle for a 16th birthday present? I'm not dead-set on any caliber. His present use is whitetail at 70-110yd and killed everything DRT with his youth model Mossberg .243. I'd not want to limit him too much, as this will be a rifle he'll hopefully keep for life. But I also don't think that he needs any boutique or magnum calibers, either.

The other rifle in the back of my head is a Bergara B-14 Wilderness in .308.

I looked through the classifieds, and nothing jumped out at me. What other "off the shelf" rifles should I consider?

Thanks very much!

I had one -- will never get one again, will never deal with that a company again. In competence reins there!

 

[USMCsilver]

I also think most people assume the ammo they bought is good just because they paid $40+ a box for it. I shot a good amount of ammo through the MPR that wouldn't "hit the broad side of a barn" but, that same ammo didn't shoot any better out of my $7k custom 20+ lb rifle either. One particularly expensive round the MPR didn't like was Federal premium. At $55 a box you would think it should shoot lights out, but it didn't.

Rubicon -- you naied it here: In summary I think most people have trouble discerning what the rifle is actually capable of. Did they feed it ammo it likes? How many different kinds of ammo did they really try? Does that person have the fundamentals of marksmanship perfected? If they don't, a lightweight rifle is going to expose it.

I had a guy borrow my Garmin Xero a few weeks ago. He was shooting a nice, custom built rifle. His need for the Xero was to get data for ordering custom turret inserts.

He kept calling & texting me about the chrono showing all sorts of different velocities with huge spreads. I had assumed he had already worked up a load using someone else's chrono, but he hadn't. He was shooting factory hunting ammo. Groups were decent, but velos were all over the place.

Again, I think a lot of this comes down to "I spent the $x,xxx.xx on a good rifle & expect good groups (and consistent bullet speed)." This just isn't the case if they don't know what they're doing to begin with.

 

[joshb]

Yup! I have read reports about factory guns that “shoot everything into bugholes”. I think they may actually exist but I haven’t found one yet. I have some guns that come close, but a custom load is needed to get bugholes. I own a couple Remington 5Rs and a bunch of Tikkas that will do it. I have an old Swedish Mauser that shoots into an inch with a custom load. Proper reloading is a big part of the game, along with proper shooting techniques!

 

[Idaho-Lefty]

Another Tikka fan here. I bought my first one last year for less than the cost of a custom barrel. A $10 trigger spring and I was in business. Shoots extremely well even with the plastic stock.

Yup,. ^^^,.. TIKKA'S for Me, also !
Buy a .270 Win , .270 WSM, or, a 6.5 Creed., in SS, T-3 X Lite, without the Flutes, as they Shoot, extremely Well with, "Tuned" Hand loads ! ( First Hand Knowledge with, 3 Hunting, Tikka's ).
THEN Buy, a Trigger Spring ( if, needed ), a Limb Saver recoil Pad and an Adjustable, Cheek Riser,.. DONE !
Put the Balance of your Dollars into, a GOOD Scope ( 4 x 16, Zeiss ) and, LOT'S Of Ammo to,. PRACTICE,..
Field Shooting, positions.

 

[JB10]

For a factory hunting rifle I am surprised nary a soul has mentioned the Browning X-Bolt. I don't own one but as an RSO helped several get sighted. Decently accurate, certainly minute of Bambi, just about any chambering and configuration you can imagine at a fair price.

I mentioned the browning. I have 2 and several friends have them. Always good out of the box