Funny that this thought crossed my mind again. Not trying to revive the dead here, but looked at my tc compass in my pickup and debated whether i should sell and get something else or hold on to it. Ill probably always consider it, but until then i figured it might be worth noting the upgrades i have made and adding a few review comments.
I started with the god forsaken trigger. I bought the mcarbo 2.5#/1.5# spring kit and what a HUGE difference it made! Install was a cake walk, and i used the 2.5# first. It was nice, and easily passed the drop test onto concrete, but for as easy as install was i decided to give the 1.5# a try. It felt great, and still passed the drop test. For the shooting and little bit of hunting i do with this rifle, im confident with the 1.5# and left it installed. Especially for the price of it, i would hands down recommend this as the first upgrade to anyone looking to invest any amount of money into a compass!
Next, i wanted to do something with the bolt handle in hopes that it might help with cycling the action. I opted for the anarchy outdoors bolt arm and area 419 knob. The 419 looked like it would be perfect for getting a solid grip with gloved hands in the nodak winters, and i wasnt wrong. I will throw this out for everyone though…you do NOT need a “floor hammer” or any excessive force to install the arm. One of the videos i watched showed that with the correct alignment, the arm easily slides in and out vs inviting thor over to help! Overall though, this did help with cycling and was well worth it, but i have since noticed another issue with the design of the action that i will talk about in a min.
With the trigger and handle taken care of, i felt it was deserving of a bit better glass. I purchased it with a crossfire II 3-9x40 bdc, which now resides on my sons ruger american compact 22-250. Im sold on ffp scopes, and not wanting to spend much more than the rifle cost me, i ordered a diamondback tac 4-16x44 and rings direct from vortex. FWIW, if you are military and want vortex, call them! Anyways, before mounting i also ordered an egw 20 moa rail. I realize a 20 moa rail is pretty useless for a round as flat shooting as a 204, but when its the same price as a 0 moa, why not. After all installed and mounted up, shoots roughly 3/4” at 100 yards pretty consistently. I would still like to do the stock, but im having a hard time dropping money for a boyds or apex chassis unless im certain its staying. Great setup for a truck rig to get bounced around and beat up a bit, and use as a loaner rig though.
Finally, ive had pretty regular binding in my action while cycling a new round and having any slight lateral pressure on the bolt. If i make sure i cycle the bolt directly forward only, no problem. Chambering that followup shot in a hurry though is a totally different story. I removed my bolt to clean up and lube after a range day about 2 months ago and took some extra time to inspect everything. I noticed excessive wear on the lower left locking lug (as seen from behind the rifle as if shooting). Where the other two lugs were still black and slightly worn, one corner of the third lug was noticeably more so. I looked at the inside of the action and found a worn spot at the bolt release button. These lined up perfectly, and i found that any lateral pressure would cause the lug to bind in the spot machined for the release button. My hope is that i can have a smith fine tune and polish this area to alleviate this from happening in the future.
Hopefully this might help anyone having the same issues or considering similar upgrades. Thanks for the advice everyone!
