This paper presents a comprehensive reliability analysis framework for the Chris–Jerry (CJ) lifetime distribution under an improved adaptive progressive Type-II censoring plan. The CJ model, recently introduced to capture skewed lifetime behaviors, is studied under a modified censoring structure designed to provide greater flexibility in terminating life-testing experiments. We derive maximum likelihood estimators for the CJ parameters and key reliability measures, including the reliability and hazard rate functions, and construct approximate confidence intervals using the observed Fisher information matrix and the delta method. To address the intractability of the likelihood function, Bayesian estimators are obtained under independent gamma priors and a squared-error loss function. Because the posterior distributions are not available in closed form, we apply the Metropolis–Hastings algorithm to generate Bayesian estimates and two types of credible intervals. A comprehensive simulation study evaluates the performance of the proposed estimation techniques under various censoring scenarios. The framework is further validated through two real-world datasets: one involving rainfall measurements and another concerning mechanical failure times. In both cases, the CJ model combined with the proposed censoring strategy demonstrates superior fit and reliability inference compared to competing models. These findings highlight the value of the CJ distribution, together with advanced censoring methods, for modeling lifetime data in physics and engineering applications.