Christensen Arms has a rebate right now for their Ranger 22. I happened to be traveling and was able to walk into a local Scheels Sporting Goods and they had a tan one on the wall. It was $787 but the the rebate is $250 (after purchase) essentially bringing the price to $537. This is only slightly more expensive then two recent Ruger American Rimfires I bought for my kids. I think the Christensen is a higher quality firearm, but uses the same 10/22 Ruger magazines that I already have a bunch of, so I couldn’t pass it up for myself. I topped it with a Leupold VX-Freedom 3-9x40 Rimfire scope, added a Magpul bipod, and a sling. Scheels had an amazing assortment of 22LR ammo so I grabbed a few boxes to try out then hit the hills.
I had read some reviews online where people complained about failure to eject. I had no such issues in over 250 rounds fired. During the first 100 rounds, it had trouble feeding the last round from the magazine, it would start to strip it from the mag but then was at a weird angle and didn’t want to feed into the chamber. I think it was a magazine issue, but unfortunately I only had one mag on me to try. Though that issue went away after approximately 100 rounds.
Regarding accuracy, this thing shoots fantastic. Christensen gives a sub-MOA guarantee at 50 yards and this lives up to it. After initial zeroing I set the targets out at about 70 yards. I was shooting it from the bipod only, laying in the dirt. My best 5 shot group is pictured using Eley Tenex ($25/box of 50) however it also shot a wonderful 10 shot group using CCI standard velocity ($5/box of 50). I’m not a target shooter, just bought this as a “fun” gun an likely will use it for hunting. It’s ridiculously light and barely can tell it’s slung over my shoulder when I’m hiking up and down at 9500ft elevation.
Overall I’m very happy with the purchase and would recommend this to anyone who’s interested. At the price point, it’s right in line with a CZ457 or Tikka T1X, however I really appreciate that it uses 10/22 magazines and is made in the USA.
I had read some reviews online where people complained about failure to eject. I had no such issues in over 250 rounds fired. During the first 100 rounds, it had trouble feeding the last round from the magazine, it would start to strip it from the mag but then was at a weird angle and didn’t want to feed into the chamber. I think it was a magazine issue, but unfortunately I only had one mag on me to try. Though that issue went away after approximately 100 rounds.
Regarding accuracy, this thing shoots fantastic. Christensen gives a sub-MOA guarantee at 50 yards and this lives up to it. After initial zeroing I set the targets out at about 70 yards. I was shooting it from the bipod only, laying in the dirt. My best 5 shot group is pictured using Eley Tenex ($25/box of 50) however it also shot a wonderful 10 shot group using CCI standard velocity ($5/box of 50). I’m not a target shooter, just bought this as a “fun” gun an likely will use it for hunting. It’s ridiculously light and barely can tell it’s slung over my shoulder when I’m hiking up and down at 9500ft elevation.
Overall I’m very happy with the purchase and would recommend this to anyone who’s interested. At the price point, it’s right in line with a CZ457 or Tikka T1X, however I really appreciate that it uses 10/22 magazines and is made in the USA.
