February 26, 2024
By Keith Wood
Times are changing. Over a century of development and innovation of the big-game rifle has led us to the modern sporter. These rifles wear trim stocks, relatively light contour barrels and handle well in field conditions. More recently, though, we’ve seen rifles that are heavily influenced by the precision shooting community with heavy barrels, chassis-style stocks, oversized bolt handles and the like. With the Modern Hunting Rifle (MHR), Christensen Arms is bridging the gap between traditional and modular hunting rifles. It has many of the functional design elements of a precision rifle, but in a configuration that incorporates sporting rifle features.
A NEW STOCK SOLUTION Let’s start with what is most unique about the MHR. Traditional sporters mate a steel action with a wood or synthetic stock. The interface between these components is what we know as bedding—bad bedding can cause erratic accuracy and impact points. Another factor is the rigidity of the stock material. A cheap injection-molded stock will flex easily and can even warp in sunlight while wood presents its own organic challenges. A rifle with these problems is like a house with a bad foundation; it’s never going to be right. A few decades ago, stock manufacturers began incorporating aluminum bedding blocks into their stocks to provide a rigid bedding interface. Assuming that the fit between the block and the action are correct or they are glass bedded properly, which is a big assumption, these setups work very well.
At the other end of the spectrum, we have chassis stocks. On a chassis stock, the action mates with a stock that is usually made entirely of aluminum. Essentially, the stock is the bedding block. These setups are extremely rigid and prevent many of the issues associated with both wood and synthetic stocks. The problems with chassis stocks? They are ugly; and they can be heavy and ungainly depending on the design and materials. On the MHR, Christensen Arms built a rifle that combines the strength and rigidity of a chassis with the look, feel and handling qualities of a more traditional sporting rifle.
The MHR’s “mini chassis” is machined from a single billet of 7075 aluminum. The chassis secures the action via a pair of standard ¼-28 hex guard screws. Though not visible to the naked eye, the internal radius on the chassis is such that the action effectively rides in a V-block. Even when I epoxy bed a rifle, I use a milling machine cut at the six o’clock position to create a similar configuration because it works. The recoil lug, magazine and trigger mortises are machined away along with some excess material to remove weight. The chassis stops just ahead of the recoil lug, where the barrel begins to taper. The forend is secured to the chassis using a large hex fastener that threads parallel to the bore. The chassis is hard-coat anodized and finished in Cerakote, which was tungsten gray on our test rifle. Black and brown are also available.
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The chassis on the MHR provides not only rigidity but also modularity. Various elements of the rifle are user-configurable with a minimum of tools or know-how. The shooter can trade forends, pistol grips and buttstocks. The MHR can be converted from an internal floorplate-style magazine to a detachable box and back again. Christensen intends to provide the aftermarket options to make such changes, so that each enduser can configure the rifle to his or her own needs. According to the company, more than 200 configurations are possible.
CLONES AND CARBON The Model 23 action used on the MHR is a Remington 700 clone. The receiver itself is tubular and made from black nitrided 416R stainless steel. It is a two-lug design which means the bolt throw is 90 degrees. An M16-style extractor is used along with a plunger-type ejector. Two flats are machined into the otherwise round bolt body for visual appeal. The bolt knob is made from carbon fiber. The action uses a sandwich-style recoil lug which is easier and less-expensive to manufacture than an action with an integral lug, yet still works just fine. Both long- and short-action lengths are available with standard and magnum bolt faces. This allows for multiple chamberings which, at this time, include eight cartridges ranging from 6.5 Creedmoor to .300 PRC. Our test rifle came chambered in .308 Win.
Though they seem to be used everywhere these days, not all carbon-fiber-wrapped barrels are created equal. Christensen Arms was the original innovator in this space. The company used its expertise with the material in aerospace and medical-device applications to begin producing steel and carbon-fiber barrels as far back as 1993. Carbon-fiber-wrapped barrels offer some real advantages. Their strength-to-weight ratio is high and they have the ability to dissipate heat faster than similar contour steel examples. This isn’t marketing hype, either. In Modern Advancements in Long Range Shooting, Volume 11 (2016), the authors empirically tested carbon-fiber barrels side-by-side with all steel barrels of similar contours. Though the Christensen Arms was the lightest barrel tested, it was stiffer than both a 2.9-pound all-steel Light Palma contour barrel and a competitor’s carbon-fiber design. The barrel from Christensen Arms also showed the second-lowest heat-induced POI shift of the nine barrels tested; just .35 MOA over 50 rounds.
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Chambered in .308 Win., the MHR uses a 22-inch barrel with a contour that you might find on a varmint rifle, with a shank diameter of 1.200 inches that tapers to around .926 inch near the muzzle. The MHR’s barrel surface differs esthetically from other Christensen Arms products thanks to a 90-degree carbon-fiber wrap. Below the surface, though, is the same efficient multidirectional layup of fabric. Rifling twist is a standard 1:10. Thanks to the materials used, this barrel is stiff without being heavy. Such a rig wouldn’t be complete without a threaded muzzle and the MHR is cut 5/8-24. A factory-installed six-port (three per side) muzzle brake is timed perfectly and significantly cuts recoil. For users interested in mounting a suppressor, the factory brake can be removed. A pair of flats machined onto the brake make it easy to grab the device with a wrench.
MAKING MODIFICATIONS The stock and forend might be the most interesting and modular elements of the MHR. Both are made from Flash Forged Technology (FFT), a patented process that allows Christensen Arms to build extremely strong, yet lightweight components. There is a hard outside structural skin that provides integrity to the part. The FFT surface has a cool, almost Bakelite look to it. The buttstock flows rearward from the chassis, following the angular lines. The stock is adjustable for length-of-pull using spacers and the comb height is adjustable to six different positions with the touch of a button. Thanks to this feature, optics with different sized objective lenses and varying ring heights are easy to accommodate. Three QD sling attachment points are present, one on either side of the stock as well as one at the toe.
Grip size and angle is a very personal element so four different grip modules are available. A pair of hex screws on the bottom of the grip section secure the module in place. The rifle ships with the standard hunter module, which sits at roughly a 30-degree angle to the bore. A nearly vertical tactical module can be fit for users that prefer that configuration and large versions of both the hunter and tactical modules are also available.
The forend attaches to the front side of the chassis and is hollow to save weight. The profile is wide with a flat bottom, ideal for shooting over a rest. An aluminum insert near the forend tip provides various attachment points for accessories including three QD swivel inlets, two M-LOK slots and a short section of Picatinny rail. The plan is for additional forends to be available and, as an example, Christensen Arms displayed one at the Safari Club International show that incorporated a full-length ARCA rail. Changing out the forend is as easy as removing a single screw.
TRIGGERS AND TESTING The trigger is a special model made for Christensen Arms by TriggerTech, a company that has quickly emerged as a provider of good aftermarket triggers. It is user-adjustable from 2.5-5 pounds via a single hex screw—the action does not need to be removed from the chassis to accomplish this. Out of the box, the single-stage trigger on our test rifle broke at 3.1 pounds with zero creep. The trigger bow is designed to complement the lines of the trigger guard and is effectively a flat trigger with an angled bottom.
The top of the otherwise-round receiver is machined flat to accommodate a 20-MOA Picatinny rail. With this simple but rigid setup, we mounted a brand-new optic for our testing. I quickly determined that scope was defective after not being able to shoot a consistent group with a rifle that I had every reason to believe would shoot well. I pulled a Leupold VX-6HD 4-24x52mm from another rifle in my truck and, just like that, solved the problem. Take it from a guy who tests a lot of rifles, this happens more often than you would think.
Thanks to the effective brake and a practical overall weight, recoil was minimal. We tested the rifle with factory loads with heavy-for-caliber bullets with high ballistic coefficients. Norma’s 180-grain Bondstrike was the most accurate, averaging 0.8 MOA. The MHR is guaranteed to shoot sub-MOA and the Norma load readily achieved this standard. Feeding, extraction and ejection were 100% reliable with each of the loads used.
The MHR is a solidly built all-around big-game rifle that is packed modern features without looking like an Erector set. It is accurate, reliable, sturdily made and available in a variety of cartridges well-suited for North American game. The modularity of this design means that it can be adapted to new innovations without having to buy an entirely new rifle. For the hunter looking for a field-appropriate precision rifle, the MHR checks quite a few boxes.
CHRISTENSEN ARMS MHR Type: Bolt-actionCaliber: .308 Winchester (Tested)Barrel: 22 inch, carbon fiber wrapped, threaded 5/8-24 with a six-port brakeWeight: 7.4 poundsCapacity: 5+1Stock: Two-piece FFT carbon fiber, adjustable for comb height and length-of-pullFinish: Black nitride/CerakoteSights: None, 20 MOA Picatinny railTrigger: 3.1-lb. single-stage Triggertech adjustablePrice: $3,499Website: christensenarms.com
