[megadeth22885]

i was wondering what kind of AK sight options are out there for improving and replacing the stock AK sights?

[EricTheBarbarian]

i got this and its awesome. The mojo micro click peep sight. It really isn't that hard to install if you have a screwdriver, hammer, a vise or just use a little bit of muscle. Big difference over the crude v notch sights. heres the link www.mojosights.com. There is also those cool side mount scopes eventhough I dont have any experience with those. Avoid anything with a rail or mount that goes onto the top cover. Im sure youve noticed the top cover tends to move around alot and I dont see how they could ever hold a zero. I also got some glow in the dark orange paint and painted the tip of my front sight post, thats a quick easy and cheap modification.

[Plink]

I like the Mojo sight also. The only problem is that it doesn't correct the short sight radius, which is a major drawback of the AK (and SKS) design. I with there was something like the Tech Sight available for an AK. I went with optics because of that. Eric is right about the receiver cover not being a stable place to mount optics, even with those cover mounts that have screws. The gas tube is another crappy place for optics. I use side rail mounted optics, but another good choice would be the Ultimak scout mount. It's very stable and solid.

[megadeth22885]

by short sight radius you mean the fact that the rear sight has to be in front of the receiver cover? if only the top cover could be fixed to teh receiver in such a way that its very sturdy, could be returned to zero every time (like an HK claw mount)... hmm, i wonder if the time will soon be here that someone redesigns the top cover solution that can mount optics better?

[MD_Willington]

FYI: The easiest way to remove the rear sight on an AK is to use a drill press, not to drill, but to gently push down on the spring like plate under the sight, there are examples of this on youtube, it takes less than a 10 seconds to do...

[Plink]

by short sight radius you mean the fact that the rear sight has to be in front of the receiver cover? if only the top cover could be fixed to teh receiver in such a way that its very sturdy, could be returned to zero every time (like an HK claw mount)... hmm, i wonder if the time will soon be here that someone redesigns the top cover solution that can mount optics better?

Yes, the short sight radius makes precision sighting almost impossible, regardless how good the sights themselves are.

The receiver cover on an AK will never be a great place to mount optics. The thin receivers flex and you can't really tighten down on them like you could on a stronger receiver. There's a model out with screws on the back to help keep it steady. They actually work pretty well for a while, but when you remove it to clean, you need to retighten and zero it again. Also, any rough handling or bumping around tends to dislodge it, knock it out of zero and/or make it loose and wobbly. Gas tube mounts have many of the same issues.

The good part is that there are quite a few solid mounts out there. It's easy to install side rails on an AK that doesn't have them. There is at least one really good mount that replaces the rear sight, and there are the Ultimak and Leapers scout rails, both of which are very stable. So you can mount an optic pretty much anywhere you want on an AK from front to back.