Christensen Arms 7 PRC issues

Mountainman

Mountainman

Hammer Time Executive member
So a friend of mine brought by his new Christensen Arms 7 PRC with chambering issues. Apparently it shot factory (Federals I think) ammo and it shot his reloads but he frequently had extraction issues. Then he bought a box of factory Hornady ammo and they won't even chamber. After meticulously cleaning and checking with my 7 PRC loads which also failed to chamber I checked it with the borescope. The chamber looks like it was finished with a chainsaw and was obviously the result of a reamer being used well past it's useful life. To add insult to injury when I took it apart the recoil lug wasn't even bedded. I suggested returning it but he doesn't want to mess with it again (I think it's been back once already).

So this "long range precision rifle" with "undeniable accuracy" will need the chamber cleaned up and the barrel set back, then have the action properly bedded. To be fair I have no doubt at this point it will become a reasonably accurate and reliable rifle as the sum of it's parts seems quite adequate, however QC seems to have missed this one before it went out the door.
 
I have been getting an uptick in calls from customers with CA rifles and accuracy issues again. I had heard they got their chamber issues fixed. Tight throat and early pressure issues. @Mountainman is this rifle recently built?
 
Steve Davis said:
I have been getting an uptick in calls from customers with CA rifles and accuracy issues again. I had heard they got their chamber issues fixed. Tight throat and early pressure issues. @Mountainman is this rifle recently built?
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Good morning Steve. I'll check with Leo and get you an answer. I know he's had it a little while but not exactly how long. I got the impression it had been sent back once but I could be wrong about that. I got the chamber cleaned up last night and will bed the action this morning before I head out for the day. Hope to have an update on how it shoots by the end of the week.
 
When I was looking at buying a Creedmoor, I looked long and hard at the Christiansen Arms. I heard about their quality issues and bought a Tikka instead. It has been a wonderful gun so far. Looking forward to hearing about Mountainman's clean-up.
 
If you gave me a brand new Christensen rifle today, I would put if up for sale tomorrow. I have owned one and will never own another. I know some folks get them and love them.....they must have gotten a good one?? Way to much money to gamble with..... And way to much of a hassle to send it back to get it fixed. Christensen needs to fix their their QC issues and start rebuilding their brand if they ever want to see my business again.
I have Savages that were half the price and shot better. Take that for what it's worth.
 
UPDATE, I got ahold of the customer and he's had the rifle about a year, unfortunately it has spent much of that time in the safe due to issues. The chamber was undersize and rough but cleaned up easily after setting the barrel back one turn. Hopefully it gets to the range this week and I get a report back to share.

Regards
Pappy
 
Mountainman said:
UPDATE, I got ahold of the customer and he's had the rifle about a year, unfortunately it has spent much of that time in the safe due to issues. The chamber was undersize and rough but cleaned up easily after setting the barrel back one turn. Hopefully it gets to the range this week and I get a report back to share.

Regards
Pappy
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So did he have it done by a local competent or did he have to mail it back to Utah? If C.A. did the work, how was the experience? Just curious. I don't know a ton of people, but the few times they've come up in conversation it was essentially "yup, not rolling the dice with that amount of money." As in, the company is a known crap shoot. This is 2 hours away from their doors. There's so much more competition in their segment now from every manuffacturer, you'd think they'd be in a fever to stand out instead of trying to coast.
 
This is disturbing news. I own three of them, only one now, gave one to my niece. Sold the other to friends son in law. All three were, and still are solid rigs. Very accurate, good bedding. Fit and finish. Not sure I'd buy another one at the moment. Sad news.
 
What make its it even more difficult.... Budget rifles with factory ammo, will outshoot these 2500-3500 semi customs all day long. I've been looking for a budget rifle for my nephew who is getting into hunting and the reviews on a few of them are superb. Savage 110 trail hunter, CVA Cascade, Ruger American Gen2, Mauser m18, and many more..... have multiple reviews on youtube that are shooting sub MOA out of the box. I have to believe they shoot even better with handloads.

It would be different if their customer service was AMAZING and they had quick turn around times on repairs / remedies......but they don't. Not to mention, you shouldn't have to send a 3K rifle back because it doesn't shoot.

Lastly....a guy can build his own rifle at his dinner table for 4K that will shoot circles around CA and Fierce. With the quick change option, you can change barrels in less than 5 minutes and be shooting different calibers too. My buddy has built two of these rifles and even after barrel changes, POI is almost exactly the same (assuming same chambering).
 
les said:
Budget rifles are using CNC machines too! I'm more than happy with my Savage 110 Utralight that was about half the price of the semi-customs. It also came with a Proof Research Carbon barrel.
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Our family has two ultralites and I wouldn't hesitate to buy another. AMAZING shooters and super lite......those two qualities usually don't go together. In my opinion, Savage really hit the nail on the head with that rifle (for the price).
 
I custom load for about a dozen or so people. They come back when they are about out of whatever I loaded for them or if they get a new rifle. In that way I've shot some really nice,expensive rigs. One that has really stood out was a Kimber long range model. This one in particular was a long fluted barrel model in 6.5 CM that shot bug holes right from the box. I pulled a bore snake through it on inspection, then began to load the bullets he asked for. Sometimes it takes me all day or even the next day to get some rifles to shoot up to their potential. The kimber was a dream to load for. I can't say all kimbers are as well made as this one. But i wish all of them were as easy to load for. Its the only rifle I tried to buy from one of these guys.
 
Kimbers are nice. I almost bought one even though the bolt was on the wrong side for me. When I worked for a gunsmith part-time, I got to shoot some nice custom rifles. In my opinion, the most important department now days for the manufacture is the quality control department. My two CVA Scouts, Tikka, and Savage are very accurate right out of the box. It was obvious that all of them had been test fired at the factory. My custom made model 700 LH Remington in 30/06 that has a Douglas Supreme Barrel and was full massaged by a gunsmith used to be light years ahead of factory rifles. Not so much anymore. My 300RUM had been trued by a gunsmith by the former owner.

Back to the topic. It only takes a few bad rifles to ruin the reputation of a gun. Two of the guys at work have Christensen Arms rifles and they love them. If you buy one, make sure you can take it back. I'd say that about any firearm. One of my friends at work works part-time at a gun dealer. They don't do warranty work. If a gun comes back it gets exchanged for a new one. I like that policy. Jason said when they went to that policy, they don't get very many poor shooters from the manufacturers anymore. One of my hunting partners had a huge run around with Browning, and all of his issues are still not sorted.
 
les said:
One of my hunting partners had a huge run around with Browning, and all of his issues are still not sorted.
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Now that is interesting, I believe it but had not heard it locally. That is the unsullied brand ofnthe Utah homers for sure.

It’s a good point, every maker can throw bad units, it’s what you do to rectify it and how you balance your humility and your dignity. A premium maker can afford zero bad example in the wild. From where work I think only about a third of defective products ever get reported to the manufacturer. One third live with it, one third repeat their negativity forever and never give a chance to rectify.
 
So,user error? I was starting to feel like I'd won the lottery because I got three perfect rifles from them. You never hear from the owners who have great guns. Only the PO,ed ones who are very loud and like to go on social media.
 
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