Friend just purchased a  Christensen arms light weight carbon barrel 300 win mag with muzzle break.  Purchased For a backpack elk hunt coming up. Brought it over to me to help sight in, check it out etc..  I have a range in my back yard.
it’s got 1 in 10 twist.  He is not really a gun guy but a hunter. I’m not familiar with this manufacturer or having carbon fiber bbl.
What is the thoughts on this combo? What bullet weight? I used to use nosler partitions not a fan of Barnes…

Glass is Swarovski v3 4-12.  Gun shop owner put this together for him.  

I haven’t been in bolt action world in 15+ years so I’m kinda out of my knowledge base. Been bow hunting exclusively.

Added: this rifle will be carried a lot on his trip but shot very little. I know the guy and he is not a go to the range just for fun guy.. so weight was big reason to get it. So any particular bullet combo suggestions? I want to get him set up for success on an elk.  His adult son is going and borrowing my 300rum. 180 nosler partitions at 3133 fps. Retumbo load.  I ordered him some federal factory loaded 180 partitions. Will see how they print. I’ll probably shoot this rifle more than him … I’ll post how it does.

Have him sell it and buy something else. Everyone I know who had a Christensen rifle had issues with it. One of the guys is a manager at the local gun shop, and they even stopped carrying Christensen rifles because of how many issues customers have had with them (the gunshop manager also had one and sold it because it was terrible). Look up some threads over on Sniper's Hide as well, lots of people having issues with Christensen rifles. My only recommendation is to get rid of it and buy something else.

Here is my Christensen 300wm, it's been to Africa and hunted Elk in Idaho and shoots lights out. I also have the same caliber in 28 Nosler and it is as equally a good shooter.
I load a 200gr ELD-X and a couple years ago when they were unubtanium I loaded a Barnes 200gr VLD as a substitute and they shoot.

So you've not owned one nor shot one yet giving him advice to sell his based on hearsay. Got it.
I seem them at the range, my shooting buddies own them and so do I. Like others, CA has had qc issues in the past.
I can tell you a close buddy had a 6.5 Ridgeline and bought it 2nd hand from another friend. The barrel looked to have issues so he photo'd it and sent in pics. They paid his shipping back and replaced the barrel no charge. The first barrel was just a visual blemish and didn't effect shooting yet they replaced the barrel.
I recently sold a Browning Hells Canyon in 300wm because it shot almost moa of paper plate. It was awful, yet I know Browning produces good rifles. Should I tell owners to sell their Browning because of it?

I've saw pics of the crappy bedding in several CA rifles, crooked barrel channels/barrels contacting forend, and also read numerous threads about wild poi shifts within 1-2 shots and bullets walking 4+moa from bad carbon wrap jobs.  I looked at a bunch of CA rifles once at Whittakers in KY, several had barrels that were obviously contacting forends(not pressure pads, just crooked/warped forends or barrels not true to action or action bedded crooked to stock).  They appear to be pretty rifles for the Gucci deer hunter, and I'm sure they accidently let some good ones out, but after seeing the new ones with all their issues, I'm out.  If I was looking for a rifles like that, and I could shoot it, I'd be tempted if it actually shot good.  Sight unseen, ordered from a dealer, nope.

That's correct, I've never personally owned one, but seeing half a dozen friends extremely unhappy with their rifles left quite an impression. Newsflash, you don't need to own a product to know it's reputation. I don't need to own a Bear Creek Arsenal upper to know that they're trash. I don't need to own a Christensen rifle to know that they put out a ton of problematic rifles. When 5 friends all have accuracy issues (and a few of them with quality issues) end up dumping their Christensen rifles, that stands out. You even mentioned in your post that they're known to have quality issues. Obviously all companies can put out a shit product every now and then, but knowing about half a dozen people that have all had issues with Christensen Arms rifles is not statistically insignificant. I've seen this first-hand with my friend's rifles, but since I don't own one myself my thoughts on the company and their products should just be outright disregarded with no further discussion. Got it.

The OP asked for thoughts on this rifle and I gave my thoughts on it. Simple as that. No one needs to take my advice, but at minimum they should know that this company has put out a ton of bad rifles. It's great that you have a good Christensen rifle, but that doesn't mean that the bad ones need to be brushed aside, hidden, and never discussed. There are some Bear Creek Arsenal upper owners out there who have had no issues with their upper and they enjoy shooting it. That doesn't make everything from Bear Creek Arsenal a good product, same thing with Christensen Arms. Christensen puts out shit products, and sometimes some good ones. This is extremely well known, and it's ridiculous to get so offended over it.

Maybe the OP's friend got a rifle that will shoot well, maybe he didn't. But when someone is spending $2,000+ on a new rifle, they should expect it to be excellent. That's not the case with Christensen, and I suggest spending money on something that has a much better track record. That's why I made the suggestion to bail on it and get something else. If the OP's friend's rifle shoot as good as yours, then he got lucky and he'll enjoy the rifle. If not, then it's now a used rifle that doesn't shoot worth shit. In my personal opinion, it makes more sense to not even bother with a questionable product. Like I said, the OP's friend doesn't need to do anything I suggest, but at the very least he should be informed about the accuracy issues and quality control issues that Christensen is known for.

What you've seen is something that my friends have experienced first-hand when they owned their Christensen Arms rifles. This is pretty common knowledge with this company, but since you haven't owned one of these rifles, your opinion will apparently just be discarded.

I suggested for him to get a sako/ tikka   and a Leupold . But he let the gun store owner talk him into it… oh well ! I’ll get to give it a look over and sight it in. If I see any issues I’ll post em.

I haven’t got to play with a new bolt gun in a while so should be fun. Especially shooting up other people’s bullets.

Thanks for all the replies. Went over to snipers hide (annoying u gotta be 18 yrs old message on every page) … got mixed reviews on CAs. seems like that CA will warranty any defects. So I guess we will see.

You had an excellent suggestion for your friend! It's too bad the gun store employees try everything they can to push these rifles on people. Hopefully there won't be any issues, but keep everything in mind when you're at the range. If the rifle has quality issues and/or accuracy issues, then he'll probably want to get rid of it and grab something else. Some of the Christensen Arms rifles have been good, but an inordinate amount of them have been terrible.

Just sold my ridgeline 300wm because it wouldn't hold group after the first 3-5 shots , that said it was sub MOA for the first three most of the time if I did my part. I never got around to working up handloads for it but with federal 190 MK it would shoot good....for a few rounds.
I did shoot some 180tsx loads with 70.0g h4831sc 3.330 that a friend made up. this load seemed to work well, but again, only for the first few rounds.  I think the CF barrel begins to stress once it heats up, I say this because the problem seems to subside when it cools.

After owning a Christensen I'm sticking with my early 80s 700 BDL with a Trijicon 18x optic

Carbon wrapped barrels need to be wrapped consistently and in opposing directions.  I'd trust a proof or bartlien carbon barrel, both are quality and their name rides on precision and they are a barrel company not a Gucci deer rifle company.  They can't take a hit on accuracy complaints or ot tarnishes their brand.

So, looked it over and no glaring issues. It’s very light weight!  Barrel is carbon fiber  3 heart shaped side baffle muzzle break. checked fit in stock, straight and true. Ran barrel patch between stock and barrel, didn’t catch anywhere so full float is good. Trigger is crisp and smooth, I’ll put my trigger gage on it later. Bolt is fluted and smooth action works as it should. Long bolt throw but ok for a Remington 700 type bolt with twin locking lugs. Extractor seems to grab case ok. Cleaned barrel didn’t pull any fibers out of tight fitting patch, Dewey coated rod with Sinclair bore guide.   Shot it once at 40 yds it had been bore sighted , adjusted scope some  and moved out to 100. Using factory 180gr  Barnes bullets. (not a fan but that’s what he brought)  Two shots with me adjusting scope. Recoil was not bad, way less than my 300 RUM with no muzzle break.

Put it and me back in the AC to cool. It’s 98degrees 95 % humidity here.

I read that the CFiber barrels are finicky about heating up because the carbon wrap insulates liner and holds in the heat. So while it was cooling I cleaned barrel with copper solvent. No green/ blue residue on patches. After cooling down we went back out,  rifle in lead sled, owner fired and centered bulls eye. So far so good. Started to rain so shut it down and picked up stuff. He left it with me to check zero with the nosler partitions I ordered for him come in.  
 I’ll probably shoot the remaining Barnes just for kicks. I have found the Barnes to be extremely accurate but very disappointing on our small white tail.  Shot .308 165gr and 300 blackout 110 black tips.  Shot doe 70 yds with 308 and pencil holed the heart she ran 220 yds my second shot broke her front leg and dropped her.  If she had ran in the woods instead of down the pipeline I’d lost her no blood trail.  No expansion! Shot doe with daughters 300 blk out. 125 yds quarter away shot hit perfect, bullet impacted opposite shoulder and doe dropped in her tracks. I waited a bit then reached down to get empty and looked up, doe got back up and hobbled off into the thickest cutover on lease. Again no blood trail lost that one. ( so I’m kinda soured on Barnes) Obtw I chrono’d both loads and they were within 10 fps off suggested speed on Barnes data. I know others who swear by them just not my experience.  
I’ll post when I get some more range time with it. Looks promising for now!
I’m managing my expectations for it. I figure a light weight mountain rifle needs only to hold tight group for first three cold and clean shots. If it throws flyer after that I’m asking too much. My RUM will hold first 4 then it needs to cool down it’s got a long light taper barrel and 4th round is off but predictable but #5 goes high and right depending on forearm pressure. It has light weight stock as well.  After cool it will return to zero. After 10 shots it’s all due to shooter error that rifle hurts on both ends… lol

Edit checked trigger weight with my wheeler scale and 4 pulls avg a little over 3.5#. Happy with that. My rum is close to 4#

good luck

See how the CA shoots OP, buddy bought one, had issues with it, sent it back to the maker twice I think he said, got it back the last time and sold it...
 As far as ammo for both rifles for elk, We have used a lot of these in factory 300rum, for grizzly/moose/caribou..damn fine bullet for accuracy, longer range hunting shots while still being able to kill up close  without fear of the bullet disintegrating up close or not opening up out far.....Been a great hunting bullet for me out to 600 yards and it has performed excellent on anything we have ever shot with it...Highly recommend if you want to be sure the ammo works regardless of conditions...

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I don't have a CA, but I shoot and hunt a lot with a .300 WM.  My two favorite factory loads are:

Federal Copper 180 (I've done a 5 shot, 6" group at 800 yards with this ammo)

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and Barnes 190 gr LRX

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So I’ve got about 30 rds down range. Using their ridiculous breakin process.  Ughh!  But I’m not familiar with carbon bbls so I’ll do it.  I’ve shot Barnes ttsx, and nosler partition 180 factory loads and some of my Hornady sst loads. Even a few 220 gr boat tail loads. Not seeing any real accuracy issues. But, not impressed either. I got a few 165 gr game king loads ready for next range session.  So what I’m noticing is no matter what bullet combo I shoot off my lead sled. First round is cutting the bullseye on my shoot and see targets. #2 #3 are close. 3 shot groups between.85” to 1.5”. Seems like barrel heats up fast. Note,its been right at 96 to 100 degrees here with high humidity. Miserable for me and the black barrel is out in the sun heating while I’m checking targets etc.. no shade!
Trigger and action are nice. Feeding is smooth.
I’m cleaning per their procedure with Barnes copper solvent and not seeing much blue on patches so seems like rifling is not stripping copper off bullets.
On another note the factory federal nosler 180 partition rounds are filthy. muzzle break and bbl is dirty and takes quite a few patches to get that crud removed..  

Worse groups were with the 220 gr loads but not interested in that heavy anyway. Just was curious how they grouped.
All shot were at just 100 yds. To wet to mow out to my 200 /300 yd backstops. And way too hot to fight it!

If you want to get the most from the Barnes bullets don’t shoot the after any of the traditional cup and core bullets. The harder copper fowling can impact the softer copper of the Barnes. May affect grouping. Also, I have had extremely good luck with the 180 tsx.

It's just Christensens carbon barrels, they aren't very good.  I worked up loads for a friend's rifle in 308, carbon proof on an origin action.  Generic 175smk loads were shooting .5" 5 shot groups without any load work.