Building upon the design of our popular NT-Mags for the Thompson Center Compass, we’re now making an AICS adapter for these great rifles! These are ideal for people that already have a collection of AICS style magazines for other bolt action rifles and want to be able to use them in their Thompson Center Compass. THIS PRODUCT ITSELF IS NOT A MAGAZINE AND NO MAGAZINE IS INCLUDED! It is an adapter that lets you use AICS-style magazines you already own from other bolt-action rifles in place of the Thompson Center Compass rifle factory magazines.
There’s NO modification necessary to the rifle! The NT-Mag AICS Adapter snaps in place to the rifle’s magwell just like our other NT-Mags with the front latch serving to remove the AICS adapter. They have a rear latch used to remove the inserted AICS pattern mag with an extension that wraps to either side of the trigger guard for increased stability. These adapters position the AICS style magazines slightly lower than the barrel chamber while the ramps at the front of our adapter lift the round into the correct orientation as the round cycles forward into the chamber. Note that lightweight dummy rounds such as Snap Caps may not cycle normally into the Compass barrel chamber unless it’s done slowly. In testing we found that the strong springs in Magpul AICS mags especially tended to bounce snap caps around excessively as they leave the feed lips causing a bolt jam, but normal rounds worked fine every time (see function test video below from our Youtube channel!).
These AICS adapters are intentionally made to be a very tight fit to the rifle! They have to solidly interface with the rifle’s magwell so that the AICS mag stays in the correct position and the adapter doesn’t come loose unintentionally. The bottom of the NT-Mag AICS adapter is flared on the sides for easier insertion and removal of mags and locks in securely via the latch on the rear of the adapter in front of the trigger guard. The adapter was designed around and tested extensively with Magpul AICS magazines and will have a light friction fit with these mags (just enough friction to not drop free when the rear latch is disengaged, this will wear in slightly with usage and make mags smoother to insert and remove). 5 and 10 round MDT and Amend2 mags also function very well with the adapter, but the longer 12-round Amend2 mags failed to feed the last round in testing (see video below from one of our pre-release testers).
To install the adapter, insert it into the Compass rifle’s magwell (without an AICS mag in it) just like a factory magazine or one of our NT-Mags. When fully seated the front release latch will solidly click into place and you can now insert an AICS magazine. Magazines can be removed from the adapter via the rear latch in front of the trigger guard. To remove the adapter, first remove any inserted magazine and then press firmly on the front latch just like with a regular magazine and remove the adapter with a straight downward pull. Some rocking will likely be necessary due to the tight fit until the adapter wears in to your specific rifle.
Thank-you to our pre-release testers of these adapters: Terry, James, and Jason!
A function demonstration video for these Compass AICS adapters is below:
And here’s a video posted by one of the people who tested the adapter for us prior to release:
