Correcting AK Front Site Cant

[D Boone]

Front site of WASR is canted to the left if you are looking down the bbl, with the sight post itself drifted to the left as well. Better off to leave it, or fix it and re-site in? Did they do this on purpose because they had drifted the site over as far as possible? Is there a quick fix, say vice and twist, or do i need to drift pins out and re-drill??? I have had 2 underfolders a polish, rear block canted, and now this one. Guess I am not meant to have a pristine underfolder where everything lines up. Any help?

Cheers

 

[M1key]

Can the sights be zeroed to point of impact? If so, I'd leave it alone.

If not and they are severely canted, maybe CAI will straighten them for you. Or do it yourself.

There is a way to file on the factory rear sight to move the notch left or right. Also, an RPK windage-adjustable rear sight will help (if you can find one).

Good luck.

 

[nalioth]

All AKs have 'cant' in them to a degree.

If you can zero the rifle, you have no issues.


If you can't zero it:
Straightening a canted FSB - Romanian Kalashnikov Rifles

 

[D Boone]

It seems to zero ok, but have only shot it at short ranges. Need to get it to range to find out for sure. Its only the front site, and its not canted terribly, but between that and the site pushed over to the left, it does not aim naturally, and feels a bit awkward.

 

[Roadkill]

I had that problem with a Galil - I punched out the roll pin that held the sight, straightened it, took it to the range and made sure it was centered, then drilled out the hole and inserted a larger roll pin.

 

[TonyRumore]

The cross pins don't hold the sight straight very well. That's why the sights are routinely canted. The press fit is what keeps the sight tower from rotating. Just leave the pins in place, take a big-ass dead blow hammer and knock the sight tower over into alignment.

Tony

 

[dafitch]

The cross pins don't hold the sight straight very well. That's why the sights are routinely canted. The press fit is what keeps the sight tower from rotating. Just leave the pins in place, take a big-ass dead blow hammer and knock the sight tower over into alignment.

Tony

Although I am also a fan of a big hammer, at risk of twisting the barrel, probably better off to remove the pins first. If the cant is not too severe, the pins can be re-inserted once straightened without incident.

 

[DWhitehorne]

I fixed my canted sight on a WASR a few years ago. My front sight post was drifted all the way to the left and I couldn't stand it. Fixing the cant was easy. I knocked out the sight pins, put the rifle in a vice and moved the sight over to center it. I then redrilled the barrel and put it back together. I'm no gunsmith by any means and I was suprised by how easy it was. This is the sight I used to show me how to do it. Instruction link is on the left column toward the bottom. David

http://www.novarata.net/Linx310/index.html

 

[CZguy]

I fixed my canted sight on a WASR a few years ago. My front sight post was drifted all the way to the left and I couldn't stand it. Fixing the cant was easy. I knocked out the sight pins, put the rifle in a vice and moved the sight over to center it. I then redrilled the barrel and put it back together. I'm no gunsmith by any means and I was suprised by how easy it was. This is the sight I used to show me how to do it. Instruction link is on the left column toward the bottom. David

This is the correct method.

Leave the big dead blow hammer technique for working on bull dozer's.

 

[TonyRumore]

The problem with not leaving the pins in place is that the tower can rotate when you go to reinstall them. I assure you, there is plenty of rotational play to allow you to realign the tower with the pins in place. Remember, you are only talking about moving the tower, maybe +/- 2 degrees tops, of which the cross pins can't hold the tower within either of those limits. You would only need to remove the pins and redrill if you were trying to rotate the tower 5 - 10 degrees or so.

One of the all time greatest builders of competition National match AR-15's, Derrick Martin, wrote in his book "The complete guide to AR-15 accuracy" to leave the pins in place and realign the sight tower with a dead blow hammer.

Of course I am sure many of you here on THR are substantially more talented than Mr. Martin........so just do it however you want.

Tony Rumore
Tromix Corp

 

[DMK]

If the sight isn't canted too far, there is one easy trick that helps. Widen your rear sight notch on the opposite side of where the front sight post is drifted over to. So if your sight post is all the way over to the right, trim the left side of your rear notch. Then you'll need to drift you front sight back towards the left to compensate.

I always felt that the rear sight notch is too small for quick acquisition anyway, so it kills two birds with one Dremel Tool.

 

[JDGray]

One of the all time greatest builders of competition National match AR-15's, Derrick Martin, wrote in his book "The complete guide to AR-15 accuracy" to leave the pins in place and realign the sight tower with a dead blow hammer.

But He's got a crooked AK47

My AK FSB needed heat in order to be moved. I drilled out the pins, chucked the barrel in my vice (with wood blocks, as close as possible to the canted FSB). Heated, cooled, soaked with penatrating oil, beat with a brass hammer, redrilled, roll pinned. Of corse I cut the spot weld on the muzzle nut first, and removed it, replacing it with a very evil looking slant brake, after everything was straight.

 

[D Boone]

You guys are a trip. Tony has surely taken apart and put back together more than his share of AK's. I'm gonna try his "low tech" approach first then if I can't get it to move I'll work on punching out the pins. Thanks for all the replies, my first instinct was to just put the FSB in a vice and twist the gun. I'll try and go the more gentle route. To be sure I took a step down from a polish I put together to a wasr, but I found I just couldn't be without an underfolder.

 

[CZguy]

You guys are a trip.

It's your rifle, and you have every right to fix it how ever you want.

Please take a moment and post the results when you are done. Someone may stumble across this thread after using the search function, and you might save someone some grief.

 

[nalioth]

You guys are a trip. Tony has surely taken apart and put back together more than his share of AK's.

I'm quite certain the majority of these folks have no idea who "Tony Rumore" is.

OTW, the responses would be different.

To enlighten you guys - Tony Rumore is the owner of Tromix and is responsible for the majority of all these OOH-AHH shorty Saigas you see. .

 

[axeman_g]

I saw some Afghan fixing his with a wooden mallet.... try that, it's an AK by Gosh.