Anybody ever build on a Christensen action?

7mm-08 Freak

7mm-08 Freak

Medic
Full Member
Minuteman
Jul 11, 2010
339
117
San Angelo TX
#1
I believe I finally shot out my 243 Win. It is a Ridge line with the factory carbon barrel. I found a proof research .284 barrel locally cheap ($699) and thought about swapping barrels. After 3000+ hot rounds down the pipe on the 243. groups have gone from 1/2" to 3" of late. I really hate to buy another action. Can this one not be worked over and re barreled with good results in a hunting rifle?
 
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#4
I would recommend rebarreling your action. You already have it, it's just a semi-custom r700 clone. People rarely if ever complain about the CA actions, it's usually the barrels that people have issues with.

If you were starting from scratch then there are probably options that offer more for the same money. But I wouldn't think buying another action will gain much if anything over what you already have at this point. Especially since you have already have broken in the action.
 
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#7
7mm-08 Freak said:
I never heard of anyone doing barrel swaps on CA actions. I know its not a high end action but I already own it. Not being cheap but frugal if people have had good luck with them.
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It's no different than rebarreling a Remington 700. Almost the same damn action. I think Christensen uses different barrel threads than Remington, but other than that, same steps, same basic design, same everything. So any gunsmith worth his salt, should be able to rebarrel it for you. Also, I don't see why it wouldn't be able to shoot just as good as a blueprinted 700 after having a good gunsmith perform the work, so I say go for it.

One thing I would suggest, would be to have the smith cut the feed ramp back so you can get maximum COAL out of feeding from an AICS or the internal magazine.

Also, I've been shooting 7mm-08 for almost 25 years, but I would also recommend taking a look at the 7mm SAW Type-II. It's producing almost 100 FPS more than my 7mm-08 Rem in the same length barrel.

My suggestion would be to contact Chad Dixon up @LRI in Sturgis, SD. Amazing gunsmith, good dude, and he's a forum member on here. Or another good dude would be Josh @bohem at PVA.
 
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#8
There's nothing wrong with Christensen anything. The actions work well. They aren't as slick as some custom prs style actions, but they work great for a hunting rifle. There is a company that used to be very active over on LRH that sold them for builds. They sold quite a few I think, and there seemed to be plenty of guys over there that bought them for builders and had great success with their builds. I think the advice about the gunsmithing in this thread so far has been great. I would think basically anyone with enough balls to call themselves a gunsmith could handle that pretty easily. The feed ramp advice is solid.
 
#9
FuhQ said:
It's no different than rebarreling a Remington 700. Almost the same damn action. I think Christensen uses different barrel threads than Remington, but other than that, same steps, same basic design, same everything. So any gunsmith worth his salt, should be able to rebarrel it for you. Also, I don't see why it wouldn't be able to shoot just as good as a blueprinted 700 after having a good gunsmith perform the work, so I say go for it.

One thing I would suggest, would be to have the smith cut the feed ramp back so you can get maximum COAL out of feeding from an AICS or the internal magazine.

Also, I've been shooting 7mm-08 for almost 25 years, but I would also recommend taking a look at the 7mm SAW Type-II. It's producing almost 100 FPS more than my 7mm-08 Rem in the same length barrel.

My suggestion would be to contact Chad Dixon up @LRI in Sturgis, SD. Amazing gunsmith, good dude, and he's a forum member on here. Or another good dude would be Josh @bohem at PVA.
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It’s funny you mention the 7 mm saw that dude that came up with that design is sorta close to me in the Texas panhandle not too far from West Texas where I live. I could just drive up there and drop it off and I seriously consider that but I’ve not 100% sold on it. I do want a 20 inch barrel that’s what my last five or 6 7-08s have been. I’ve even got a couple of 7 mm 08 handguns that are 14 inch and they do pretty good. I’ve only had one long one and I didn’t really like it. I shoot everything suppressed and 20 is pretty nice out of a truck or out of a blind. If I wanna shoot a big seven, I’ve got a seven PRC with a 26 inch tube on it.
 
#10
7mm-08 Freak said:
It’s funny you mention the 7 mm saw that dude that came up with that design is sorta close to me in the Texas panhandle not too far from West Texas where I live. I could just drive up there and drop it off and I seriously consider that but I’ve not 100% sold on it. I do want a 20 inch barrel that’s what my last five or 6 7-08s have been. I’ve even got a couple of 7 mm 08 handguns that are 14 inch and they do pretty good. I’ve only had one long one and I didn’t really like it. I shoot everything suppressed and 20 is pretty nice out of a truck or out of a blind. If I wanna shoot a big seven, I’ve got a seven PRC with a 26 inch tube on it.
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My 20" 8-twist 7 SAW barrel was pushing Berger 175 Elites with StaBall 6.5 at around 2,760 FPS MV. With the same load, but substitute in H4350 (different powder charge, of course), I was only getting 2,670 FPS MV. StaBall 6.5 was giving me almost 100 FPS MV more than the H4350 load.
 
#11
7-08 162 A-Max - 2640 - 39.8g Varget

AI 166 A-Tip- 2784 - 42.85g Varget

Exact same barrel and action, just rechambered and 1/8th in shorter.

I don’t know if that’s good or bad in your eyes, but it’s real data.
 
#12
Chris1972 said:
7-08 162 A-Max - 2640 - 39.8g Varget

AI 166 A-Tip- 2784 - 42.85g Varget

Exact same barrel and action, just rechambered and 1/8th in shorter.

I don’t know if that’s good or bad in your eyes, but it’s real data.
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I probably wouldn’t shoot 162s I really like that 140 grain Sierra boattail Hollow point game King that bullet shoots lights out and kills deer and hogs like a lightning bolt with RL- 16 or H4350 in every and I stress every 7/08 I’ve had and I’ve had a bunch of them in the last 10 years. Probably close at 10 different guns in 7/08.
 
#16
I have done two on the CA action, both 28 Noslers. They get the same treatment as a 700, and are of similar quality. On one of the two, I removed one of the ejectors and filled the hole at the request of the owner. I used Benchmark barrels blanks for both, and went ahead and bedded the actions properly as the factory fit was an abomination. Both shot fantastic when done.
 
#17
TCK73 said:
I have done two on the CA action, both 28 Noslers. They get the same treatment as a 700, and are of similar quality. On one of the two, I removed one of the ejectors and filled the hole at the request of the owner. I used Benchmark barrels blanks for both, and went ahead and bedded the actions properly as the factory fit was an abomination. Both shot fantastic when done.
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I’d really like to do a 7mm-08 variant with a Carbon wrapped barrel @ 20”. I’m a Reloader exclusively and know what bullet and powder I want to shoot. I expect .25 MOA accuracy. This will be a 500yd hunting gun.
 
#18
7mm-08 Freak said:
I’d really like to do a 7mm-08 variant with a Carbon wrapped barrel @ 20”. I’m a Reloader exclusively and know what bullet and powder I want to shoot. I expect .25 MOA accuracy. This will be a 500yd hunting gun.
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That will be a nice rifle, 7MM-08 is a long time favorite of mince since my first one around 1990. It is one of the chamberings I will never be without
 
#19
As others have already mentioned, its not typically the actions in CA rifles that are problematic, it's their barrels.

To build on one should be fine. Likely wont need to blueprint or true it unless you want it cleaned up if you've got a high round count on it.
 
#20
GlockBlock said:
As others have already mentioned, its not typically the actions in CA rifles that are problematic, it's their barrels.

To build on one should be fine. Likely wont need to blueprint or true it unless you want it cleaned up if you've got a high round count on it.
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It does have several thousand run through it. I figure If im going to go with a new barrel might as well go all the way. Wished I could find some good within driving Distance. I have Speedy in San Antonio do a 280AI few years back but cant get him to answer the phone lately. He would be my first choice for a local guy. im still hunting somebody to do it. Ill find somebody after the first of the year hopefully
 
#21
7mm-08 Freak said:
It does have several thousand run through it. I figure If im going to go with a new barrel might as well go all the way. Wished I could find some good within driving Distance. I have Speedy in San Antonio do a 280AI few years back but cant get him to answer the phone lately. He would be my first choice for a local guy. im still hunting somebody to do it. Ill find somebody after the first of the year hopefully
Click to expand...
Permian precision rifles is in midland, I’ve shot with em a time or two and they seem like great guys
 
#23
7mm-08 Freak said:
It does have several thousand run through it. I figure If im going to go with a new barrel might as well go all the way. Wished I could find some good within driving Distance. I have Speedy in San Antonio do a 280AI few years back but cant get him to answer the phone lately. He would be my first choice for a local guy. im still hunting somebody to do it. Ill find somebody after the first of the year hopefully
Click to expand...
I'm in Houston area, have you reached out to Roberts Precision? The guy is absolutely world class. Theres also Alamo Precision, West Texas Ordnance, and more. We are blessed with no shortage of builders in TX.
 
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