I am not new to Christensen Arms rifles, and I’ve been lucky enough to get experience with several of them over the last couple years. But today we are looking at a new-to-me rifle: the Christensen Arms MPR.

The Modern Precision Rifle (MPR) is Christensen’s version of a lightweight sharp-shooting rifle. Whether it’s used for competition shooting or as a sniper rifle, the MPR brings some very modern touches to the precision rifle market. But are those features worthy of praise?
 

Table of Contents

The MPR
Rifle Setup
First Impressions
Into the Snow
Pros & Cons
Conclusion

The MPR

The MPR is based on Christensen’s stainless-steel two-lug action, which is similar to the popular Remington 700, as are many other modern actions. The rifle tested here is chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor, using a short-action bolt. 

Like most Christensen rifles, the MPR is heavily reliant on carbon fiber. The carbon-wrapped match-grade barrel is largely responsible for the rifle’s light weight, as are other parts of the chassis. The barrel is threaded 5/8x24 TPI and fitted with a matching muzzle brake for additional recoil reduction. 
 

The heart of the chassis is an aluminum block where the action is mounted. The handguard is bolted on to the front and is made from a carbon-fiber shaped tube. The MPR uses the very popular AICS-pattern magazines, which feed nicely into the mag well of the rifle. 

The grip looks to be a basic AR-15-type pistol grip. This is a nice feature, as you can install whichever one suits your fancy. The folding stock hinges just behind the tang of the action. I really like the design of the hinge mechanism. It’s quite tight and locks up as if there was no hinge at all – just be careful to keep skin away from the area while folding, or you may bleed a bit.

The buttstock of the MPR is completely adjustable, meaning it’s adaptable to each individual shooter. The whole thing is handsome and put together nicely.
 

Rifle Setup

I was going to need a good scope and at least a bipod to shoot this rifle well, so I installed a Primary Arms ACSS Apollo 6-30x56 riflescope in a ZRO Delta mount. I went simple with the bipod and attached a Harris 6-9 to the Pic rail on the bottom of the MPR hand guard. For ammunition, I brought along a few boxes of Hornady 140-grain Match ammo. With everything assembled, leveled, and balanced, I adjusted the rifle for fit and headed for the range.
 

First Impressions

The MPR was plenty comfortable to shoot, and it weighed so little compared to other similar rifles I have. As I sat behind it on a bench, I ran the bolt a few times and felt the break of the trigger just to familiarize myself with it. The bolt was easy to lift and snap shut, and the Trigger Tech trigger as usual felt outstanding.

I loaded the magazine and closed the bolt. As I broke the trigger everything felt right, the recoil was quite modest and running the bolt for round two sent the empty case flying. The M-16-style extractor of the MPR does a great job getting brass out of the way for the next round.
 

I fired a few more shots and adjusted my scope to get a proper zero. At that point I tried to settle down as best I could and shoot a few good groups using both the Hornady and some Federal 130-grain Match.  I felt quite good about my shooting, but I was not super excited about the grouping downrange.

The first three groups of five shots measured right around an inch. I tried again with my other ammo selection and got similar results. My only hope is that perhaps this rifle doesn’t like what I feed it, and maybe there is something out there it will shoot better.
 

Related: Christensen Ridgeline Rifle Review – Lightweight Bolt-Action Precision
 

Into the snow

I decided to take the rifle for a hiking trip into the snow-covered Rocky Mountains, and I brought another type of Hornady ammunition to see if perhaps it fared better. With all my gear stowed on my back, my son and I headed into the cold.

The open country where we live makes an excellent place to hunt and shoot. Here in these breezy canyons, I wanted to see how the MPR shot – mainly to evaluate its performance at longer distances and real-world shooting scenarios.

Normally this time of year I shoot at tiny snow patches in the dirt, but due to “winter part 2” I was instead shooting at little dirt patches in the snow. The first target was about a 3-inch muddy spot surrounded by white snow. I figured it would be easy to spot the impact and judge the shot. 
 

After loading the rifle, I steadied it and focused on my point of aim nearly 400 yards away. I pressed the trigger, and the suppressed gust of pressure echoed across the canyon. I’d added my Yankee Hill Machine R9 suppressor just to see if it helped the performance of the rifle.

The contrast of dark splattered dirt across the snow, and my hit was close enough to call it good in my opinion. So, I continued my search for additional targets, and repeated the process until I had exhausted my curiosity and ammunition supply.
 

Pros & Cons

I’ll be honest up front: I wasn’t exactly sold on the aesthetics of this rifle when I first saw it. I couldn’t exactly say what I didn’t like about it, but it certainly grew on me a bit over the last few weeks. Everybody else thought it looked great, so I’ll assume it’s my taste is just weird.

I was really hoping this rifle would shoot better than it did. To be fair, it is not a new rifle, so it’s possible that it has been “ridden hard and put away wet” too many times. But a rifle like this should shoot half-MOA groups all day, and I just couldn’t get it to reliably do that.

On the plus side, I really appreciated many of the rifle’s other qualities. Its light weight and comfortable and adjustable chassis made shooting pleasant. Little features like the folding mechanism, great trigger, awesome cycling, and threaded barrel made adapting the rifle to my purposes easy – and, of course, improved my shooting experience.

Pros:

• Lightweight
• Adjustable chassis
• Comfortable
• Folding mechanism
• Trigger Tech trigger
• Smooth cycling
• Threaded barrel

Cons:

• Accuracy could be better
• Appearance (but that’s just me, and it grew on me over time)
   

Conclusion

I must say that I liked this rifle more than I expected to, yet I’m torn because I am simply uninterested in rifles that won’t shoot reliably sub-MOA. I have rifles ranging from discount economy models under $400 up to production sniper rifles that cost $7,000, and I can typically get even the cheap ones to shoot consistently sub-MOA and often half-MOA.

The Christensen MPR surely could be an outstanding rifle. I’ve heard of others that shoot outstanding and accurately. If this one did, I think I’d be hard pressed to let it go. But with a street price just under $2,400, I’d need more convincing.