AK canted front sight post

[Matt-CZ]

My WASR is like that.

Once I realized it had nothing but aesthetic significance, I stopped caring. It’s an AK, not a Purdey. If I’d paid post-Maura prices for mine I might feel worse, but it’s still just an AK. It’ll go bang.

You can bring it on target, right?

So as long as you can adjust the front sight post left/right far enough to bring it on target, it's not a problem? I'm trying to think it through. Wouldn't the POI be off at longer ranges? Say you drift the front post so it's on at 25 yards, wouldn't it be back off at 100? My thinking is that anything but 12 o'clock for the front sight post makes the sightline not parallel with the barrel

 

[mac1911]

So as long as you can adjust the front sight post left/right far enough to bring it on target, it's not a problem? I'm trying to think it through. Wouldn't the POI be off at longer ranges? Say you drift the front post so it's on at 25 yards, wouldn't it be back off at 100? My thinking is that anything but 12 o'clock for the front sight post makes the sightline not parallel with the barrel

You wont see much deviation down range with the cant.
IIRC a 1' cant is around 5" at 1000 yards?
but: your zeroing with the sight canted but the rifle "level" so youe impact will only ",change," if you cant the rifle after you zero .
So basically if your holding the rifle level and your sight is canted but zeroed IF you now rotate the rifle so the front sight is not straight your groups will move left/right and higher.

 

[Picton]

You wont see much deviation down range with the cant.
IIRC a 1' cant is around 5" at 1000 yards?

This.

Plus, as I said, this is not a Purdey. No matter whether the sight is canted or not, I expect minute-of-enemy-soldier out to expected engagement ranges, say 175-200 meters. These are brutal weapons systems designed to drop enemy soldiers reliably at typical ranges; they’re not really precision systems.

Which is to say, they are precision KILLING systems. Not precision TARGET systems.

 

[enbloc]

Not sure loctite would work on an AK sight post? Mine gets flaming hot. Think you need something for high temp applications.

That is why I like the cone-tipped (pointed base) set screws. Light pressure until you get it right where you want it, then a little more will witness-mark the barrel.
Remove sight and drill a small hole no deeper than the cutting tip of a small drill bit then reassemble. The set screw "point" now has a shallow divot to grab into.

As to thread-locking chems and heat you could go with the green sleeve-retainer that Mac mentioned, or gently peen the setscrew to keep it from backing out after verifying that the sight
is exactly where you want it. Kinda like the way the AR bolt carrier gas key screws get peened to keep from backing out.

 

[mac1911]

The words of my dad when i showed him the first canted zight AK back in the early 90s.
"What do you expect from Russian POS, just shoot the darn thing, its not like you really aim those"

 

[Matt-CZ]

You wont see much deviation down range with the cant.
IIRC a 1' cant is around 5" at 1000 yards?
but: your zeroing with the sight canted but the rifle "level" so youe impact will only ",change," if you cant the rifle after you zero .
So basically if your holding the rifle level and your sight is canted but zeroed IF you now rotate the rifle so the front sight is not straight your groups will move left/right and higher.

This.

Plus, as I said, this is not a Purdey. No matter whether the sight is canted or not, I expect minute-of-enemy-soldier out to expected engagement ranges, say 175-200 meters. These are brutal weapons systems designed to drop enemy soldiers reliably at typical ranges; they’re not really precision systems.

Which is to say, they are precision KILLING systems. Not precision TARGET systems.

Thanks for the info, it's been very educational. Something about iron sights always leads me to confusion and over analysis, even though they aren't that complicated.

 

[Sunny]

The words of my dad when i showed him the first canted zight AK back in the early 90s.
"What do you expect from Russian POS, just shoot the darn thing, its not like you really aim those"

I refuse to accept this approach lol. AKs can be target guns, just need to figure out the sights and trigger. There's no denying the fun-factor when shooting them.

Btw, thanks for the advice everyone. I'll try red loctite on both ends of the block and see how that holds up.

 

[mac1911]

I refuse to accept this approach lol. AKs can be target guns, just need to figure out the sights and trigger. There's no denying the fun-factor when shooting them.

Btw, thanks for the advice everyone. I'll try red loctite on both ends of the block and see how that holds up.

yes you can shoot AKs ""at"" targets all day long.