Christensen Arms, love 'em or hate 'em?

Foreman4x4 · Mar 25, 2009

For those of you that own or have owned a rifle from Christensen Arms, what was your experience? Good, bad, or indifferent, and why?

antlerrick · Mar 25, 2009

Just got mine last fall, but so far I love it. I can't wait to dump a big stinky this year with it.
I had it built in the Rem 300 Ultra and it is a sweet shooting rifle....
a*r

gb22 · Mar 25, 2009

With my brother, it was a different experience. He got the gun more than 4 months later than had been "guaranteed". It didn't eject the cartridges. He sent it back....another 8 months. It was delivered again.....still not right. They've still got it.

He still doesn't have it. He actually ordered it almost 2 years ago. For a long time, he told me how nice they were and how it was best to "get what he wanted", even if it took longer than expected. His perspective has now changed.

Within the shadows, go quietly.

MuddyBoots · Mar 25, 2009

I too was on the fence on getting my 338RUM "pimped". I would love to lighten it, brake it, and combat the rapid heating issue. After reading some past posts I got kinda leary. It seems people either love their Christensen or report bad experiences, hardly anyone just says "eh, its a gun". And I wonder if those that say they love feel like they should have to because they spent so much coin on it. I'd like to see some more opinions.

Outdoors · Mar 25, 2009

Looked at their rifles at Western Expo in 2007 and 2008. Great looking rifles.

What are you looking for in your next rifle? Weight savings? Accuracy of first shot to be sub-MOA? Improved accuracy of follow-up shot with the quick-cooling carbon barrel? How many rounds will you shoot through the rifle over the next few years?

I passed on the Christensen and had a rifle built off an old Model 70 action I had that ended up being less than half the overall cost of a Christensen.

I do not backpack hunt much which is the only time a rifle might seem heavy to me at the end of the day. I do okay if keep my shots in a 6" ring at 300 yards so sub-MOA was not keeping me awake at night but then I tend to be choosy on the shots I take.

Another thing I did not nail down was the life of the barrel vs. regular barrel material. Might be the same or might differ. Ask around.

Good luck.

rutman · Mar 25, 2009

I HAVE HAD MINE FOR 3 YEARS AND IT IS A SHOOTER. I HAVE THE CUSTOM IN 30-378 WBY TOPPED WITH A SWARO 4X16 TDS AND IT IS MY FAVORITE GUN I OWN. IT WAS DELIVERED ON TIME AND SHOT WHAT THEY SAID IT WOULD. I HAD A GOOD EXPERIENCE WITH THEM AND AM GOING TO HAVE A KIDS GUN MADE FOR MY SON BY CHRISTENSEN.

one_dryboot · Mar 25, 2009

I won a Christensen Arms custom 325 wsm a few years back. It shot great, looked great, and was my favorite gun. I sold it when I got married. (dumb dumb dumb)

Before I won the custome I had a 300 win hunter. It shot alot better then the custom and once again I was dumb.

Big_DD · Mar 26, 2009

I had one chambered in the 300 RUM and hated the thing. It wouldn't shoot any better than a 3" group at 100 yds. I owned it for a couple months, dumped lots more money into it trying to get it to shoot and still never got any good results. I got rid of it and swore I would never own another one again. Maybe I just got a bad apple though, but I didn't care for it one bit.

huntinco · Mar 26, 2009

Their guns are the most practical lightweight hunting rifles currently available. Big_DD.. I'm betting Ammo was the most likely cause of your 3? group. My 300RUM and the other 20+ 300RUMs that I have worked on all shoot sub MOA. I would not hesitate to suggest one of the custom rifles to anyone.

Justin Richins
R&K Hunting Company Inc.
www.thehuntingcompany.com

woodruffhunter · Mar 26, 2009

Great guns and excellent service.

Founder · Mar 26, 2009

I have a Christensen Arms .300 Win Mag. I bought it several years ago at a banquet for $1100.00, just couldn't pass it up. I REALLY love how lightweight the gun is. That is the BIG benefit for me.

It did take a while to get it built though. The banquet was in April or May and I got the gun one week before my deer hunt that year that opened on the 15th of Sept. I would guess at the time maybe they were just swamped???? I was irritated, but???

As for accuracy, it's just a gun to me. I don't load my own bullets or anything, nor am I a real gun nut, I just buy a box of bullets and go shoot.

I have had trouble since I owned it with bullets not going into the barrel from the magazine when I cycle them. John Mogle has told me to bring it down and they would look at it, but I just haven't done it yet. That issue has been a pain!!!! But not Christensen Arms fault.

Overall, I really like my gun. The WEIGHT is just AWESOME!!! I don't know what a gun like mine retails for. I heard at the time, that the gun I got for $1100.00, was retailing at $2500.00. I couldn't and wouldn't ever spend that much on one. The gun I have is great, but probably not $2500.00 great for ME.

I would say if a guy can afford one, it's real nice to have that lighter weight gun. Sorry I can't share much on the accuracy. It shoots my 150 gr. Remington Core-Lokt's pretty good out to 400 yards.

Brian Latturner
MonsterMuleys.com

littlejoe · Mar 26, 2009

I have a 300RUM as well. The sad part is that every other gun now sits in the safe collecting dust. I only take the 300. I am comfortable, it shoots great groups, and it is light weight. I love the gun but was not overly impressed with the customer service portion but maybe the guy was having a bad day. I highly recommend but also know there are several other great gun makers out there. But no matter which you choose, it will be pricey.

Bulzeye · Mar 26, 2009

I own a C-Arms and it's a great gun. It shoots sub MOA. However, I don't believe it lives up to all the hype and I would probably not purchase another one. When I first recieved the rifle it was extremely difficult to load for and took months and months of range work before I finally got it dialed in sub MOA. I've never owned such a picky rifle when it comes to load development. Any other rifle I would have probably given up on, but I spent so much money on this one that I had to keep trying.

Being that I do like the benefits of carbon wrapped barrels, I looked into another carbon barrel company called Advanced Barrel Systems. I found there barrels to be the real deal. I recently had a custom 300 RUM with an ABS carbon wrapped Shilen cut rifle barrel. This rifle will out shoot my C-Arms all day long!!! It will pretty much shoot anything I put down the barrel. I've yet to shoot a load that won't group sub MOA, and my best loads so far are in the .2's at 100. I'll be starting my long range testing with it pretty soon.

I own both, and I'd take the ABS over the C-Arms any day!!!

camuleycrazy · Mar 26, 2009

I have christensen 30-378 and have spent alot of time and money trying all kinds of loads and it just shoots ok. I can get some groups under 1" but not consistently. I also own a custom 300 RUM that is much more accurate with a multitude of loads. It has a Hart barrel.

downsouth · Mar 26, 2009

I don't own and have never shot a Christensen rifle. But I can say that if you're looking to go the custom rifle route, you can save a lot of money by avoiding one of the "prepackaged" deals like Christensen or any of the other big name rifle builders. Find a good gunsmith and do a little research on actions, barrels, and stocks and you can build exactly what you want for less that one of the "prepackaged" deals. And if built right it will be a tack driver. Just my $ 0.02.

Wes · Mar 26, 2009

LAST EDITED ON Mar-26-09 AT 11:06AM (MST)[p]http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f17/christensen-arms-rifles-16646/

huntinco · Mar 26, 2009

Good luck handloading a 30-378 no matter who made the gun..

Justin Richins
R&K Hunting Company Inc.
www.thehuntingcompany.com

huntinco · Mar 26, 2009

We have a 6.5-284 in the Christensen Arms and last week smacked the 1400 yrd gong 3 for 3 SUB MOA at that distance!!!. The bottom line is no matter what gun you are using you will always find guys that don't like them. Two weeks ago I went down the C.A shop and spent two days learning the entire process that goes into the C.A guns and I can honestly say they have more time into one of there guns then 90% of all custom guns.
They are great, buy a custom you will love it!!!

Justin Richins
R&K Hunting Company Inc.
www.thehuntingcompany.com

BIGOLMULEY · Mar 26, 2009

Got my .300 RULM back from them about a month ago. I also had bought one of their hunter models at a banquet about 7 years ago. I sent it back a few months ago for a new stock, sako extractor, Timney trigger, Mag box extension. I kept the barrel, though at some point I will put a new shillen as well. Added a new LR Huskamaw and excited to see what it can do.
before I did all this I was shooting just factory TBBC Noslers 180. I was able to get 1" groups at 100.
I do a lot of backpack hunting and the weight is what led me here.

Another View, Titanium Remington action

Good luck in your decision

Jason "The Big Ol' Muley"

REDDOG · Mar 26, 2009

huntinco, whats so hard about loading the 30-378?

I have been gonna re-barrel my 30-378 for a few years now, and was thinkin about a carbon barrel to cut a few pounds off. i think i will go with Wasatch Arms, with a 1/2 inch gurentee, i should be able to get what i want.

325wsm · Mar 26, 2009

I've seen both good and bad, my 300 rum custom was a $5000 piece of crap, wouldn't shoot under and inch at 100 yards, even after sending it back three times, doing my own load development and paying another person to try to find a load that would work. I finally got rid of it and built a another custom which is nearly as light shoots under 1/2 inch and was about $1500 dollars less. That being said I did just shoot a 300 win christensen last week and it shot fairly well.

widowmaker · Mar 26, 2009

I have a 300 Ultra from CA and have loved it! I have shot a ton of factory loads through this gun and found that the Remington 180 GR Scirocco Bonded will shoot 1" groups at 100 yards. I am getting ready to load some Accubond loads to see how it does with them. I have never missed with that gun and have only taken one shot at what ever I was hunting and it was done. It kicks less than my 270 so that is a plus but I use a muzzle break.

I just got a 270 Cooper Rifle this past year from Cabelas and love that custom gun also. I have broke them both in and they both shoot 1" groups. The cooper will not be my packing gun because it is so much heavier and I enjoy shooting it. I still have to say that my CA is still my favorite gun to shoot.

cbeard · Mar 26, 2009

Justin-

Are you saying you shot a 3 shot group under an inch at 1400 YARDS?

huntinco · Mar 26, 2009

LAST EDITED ON Mar-26-09 AT 08:47PM (MST)[p]cbeard.
1 MOA at 1400yrds is 14.662" 1 MOA at 100yrds is 1.0473 inches. I hope that helps.

REDDOG.
As I'm sure you know it's just very hard to get those hand-loads to shoot much better then the factory wtby stuff. +1 on Wasatch Arms that Brad sure does build some nice stuff. I'm going to have him build my 338gun. There really are a lot of guys that build some great rifles I'm just of big fan of that light weight CA gun..

Justin Richins
R&K Hunting Company Inc.
www.thehuntingcompany.com

Foreman4x4 · Mar 26, 2009

Thanks for all the input and please keep it coming.

JSTWIG22 · Mar 27, 2009

I love my Christensen Arms rifle. The carbon barrel with muzzle break is awesome. Mine is a 300 WSM and I killed my largest muledeer ever this past fall in Colorado, scoring around 193 to 194. Nice gun!

bobby7321 · Mar 27, 2009

seem to pricey. thought about getting one a couple years ago. went with an HS precision SPL (sporter lightweight) in 300 WSM. light as hell, and shoots very well. for about half the cost...

gdog · Mar 29, 2009

I've got a 300 ultra that I thought about sending them. As earlier posted...either your singing their praises or the opposite. Too many negative reports to risk it.

treedagain · Mar 29, 2009

I also bought a banquet gun and had nothing but trouble from the beginning. 1st the gun I bid on was a composite and the gun they sent me was a laminite wood that was scratched up and looked like s*** before I bid on the rifle they promised that it would be ready in 3 months well it was more like 6. every time I called I got a different answer...blah...blah. if you DO order one double or triple the build time and you might be in the ball park.....I feel the rifle shoots no better than any of my off the shelf rifles and maybe less....

MsDestiny · Mar 29, 2009

Why not just save 4K and buy an off the shelf Ruger or Remington 30-06 and buy a $70.00 Simmons variable scope... a few boxes of shells... go to the range and hit the paper at 100 yards and become a better hunter and just simply get close to the critter.

If I can do it being disabled... I'm sure anyone in good health can do it too. If you have more money than you know what to do with... buy the pretty gun. If you still got $ left over I know a little old lady with medical bills that can use it

I don't love the Christensen Rifles nor do I hate them... played with a few at Impact Guns over the years... didn't care much for the wildcat rounds because I believe in the KISS principle... Keep It Stupid Simple.

Its more about your desire to hunt than your equipment.

Destiny

Foreman4x4 · Mar 31, 2009

Thanks for all the input. Going in a different direction than CA.

4000fps · Mar 31, 2009

Cannot see spending $3900 on a fluffed up Rem M700.

From their website:

- Receiver trued and faced
- Bolt faced and lugs lapped
- Lightened & Tefloned Bolt
- Laser Engraved Christensen Arms Logo on the Action
- Custom Timney trigger adjusted to customer specs

Any real custom rifle has the action trued, and the lugs lapped. Does Christensen actually recut the threads, or simply chase it with a tap, and call it "trued"?

Lightened bolt...that should cost about $50.

Laser engraved action, what is that worth???

Timney trigger, that can be bought for $100 and installed yourself.

A guy could buy a Tikka T3, probably be close in weight, and save $3300. Or, if you want a real custom, send your components to a real smith like Karl Feldkamp, and really have something special.

Wes · Mar 31, 2009

LAST EDITED ON Mar-31-09 AT 10:56PM (MST)[p]When I decided to have my first custom rifle built I did tons of research. I even talked to Christensen Arms. I couldn't get a lot of my questions answered by them as to what they actually do to the Remington actions and associated parts that they build their rifles on. So after talking to other gunsmiths and getting ALL of my questions answered I decided to have Allen Precision Shooting in Montana build a rifle in 300 RUM for me. These are the components that we used;
Borden Timberline action $925
Jewel trigger $250
Rock Creek SS #4 fluted barrel $405
McMillan stock $488
Holland competition recoil lug $35
PT&G aluminum bottom metal $89
Wyatts extended mag $42
Mag spring & follower $40
Seekins 20 min rail and rings $200
Gunsmith services $650
------
Total price $3134
It will be here by Friday.
Kirby test fired it Monday and reported it was shooting an a 3/4 MOA group at 980 yards. Before you buy I'd suggest you talk to a few guy's that actually build CUSTOM rifles first.
Wes

nickman · Mar 31, 2009

It's just me.....my opinion, my personal choice, but I would far rather have 3, $1000 rifles than 1, $3000 rifle.

That being said, there are about 4, $3000 trap guns stuffed around here somewhere.

Foreman4x4 · Apr 18, 2009

LAST EDITED ON Apr-18-09 AT 08:29PM (MST)[p]With the input I received here and from doing a bit more research on my own, I decided to bag the whole Christensen Arms idea and ended up with both of these for less money, glass included.

#1: Kimber Montana .300 WSM, Leupold VXIII 2.5-8x36mm, Kimber bases and Leupold DD's.

#2: Remington 700 .270 Win. (Ti take-off stock and barrel, bolt fluting by Kampfeld Customs), Leupold VXI 3-9x40mm, Talley LW's.