New AK canted front sight

[Bronsonbull]

Okay,

So I finally bought my first AK. A converted Saiga. I've read about canted front sights and this thing definitely has one. What can I do other than return it?

I'm sure that these things fire after being soaked in mud, but I've got to say that it kinda looks like a piece of crap. No offense, but compared to an AR the visible quality is sub-par. I wasn't expecting a rolls royce for $500 but it's a new gun and the finish is not that great and the canted sight sucks.

With that said I still plan to shoot the heck out of it and really don't care that the finish looks bad. I'd like to figure out what to do about the sight before shooting it though. What is involved to straighten the front sight out?

Thanks!

 

[Tombs]

If it hits what you aim at, I wouldn't worry about it.

What's typically involved is punching the front sight pins out, hammering the sight straight, drilling out the holes a little larger, and installing new larger pins.
Well, that's the correct way, I'm sure some kitchen gunsmith will tell you to beat it with a hammer till it's straight.

 

[AmericanBob]

that sucks. on a side note, lets do some shooting!

 

[Bronsonbull]

Yeah I guess I'll shoot it to see how it does. Gonna be kinda weird because I'll have to tilt the gun to get the sight to line up right. I don't have high hopes of it hitting where it's aimed, but we shall see.

And yes Bob, let's go shoot it. The mosin's sights are just fine

 

[cedartop]

I haven't seen any Saiga's with canted front sights, of course there are tons I haven't seen.Very common among Century guns. My WASR has a canted front sight but shoots fine. The finish quality on my Saiga was quite good, not so on the WASR. Who did the conversion, and/ or where did you get it?

 

[Bronsonbull]

I haven't seen any Saiga's with canted front sights, of course there are tons I haven't seen.Very common among Century guns. My WASR has a canted front sight but shoots fine. The finish quality on my Saiga was quite good, not so on the WASR. Who did the conversion, and/ or where did you get it?

Yeah I'm gonna give it a try. Bought it from classic arms. Tennessee Gun Works did the conversion.

 

[Tombs]

I haven't seen any Saiga's with canted front sights, of course there are tons I haven't seen.Very common among Century guns. My WASR has a canted front sight but shoots fine. The finish quality on my Saiga was quite good, not so on the WASR. Who did the conversion, and/ or where did you get it?

My saiga 308 has a very very slight cant on the front sight.

Oddly enough, the rear sight is notched off center to compensate for it.


Gotta love Russian enginuity!

 

[thumperdogg]

Not implying that you don't know what you are talking about, just asking... are you aware the ak front post is what is used to adjust windage? This can cause the front sight to be shifted to the left or right to compensate, not to be confused with canting. The only reason I mention this is because I just purchased my first AK (Saiga) and my front post was shifted to the left (for windage), but I thought it was canting and flipped out!!! My solution was a set of Meprolight Night Sights for it that has a windage adjustable rear sight. This allows me to have the front sight dead center, there is no way I could stand it off to the side.

If this does not apply to you, I am sorry, no accusing you of not being knowledgeable, this was just the noob mistake I made, but maybe it will help someone else like me!!

 

[Tombs]

Rather you're referring to me or the original poster, I'm not sure of.

But a canted sight is the entire sight base being rotated, to clarify.

In my case, the front sight base is canted, with the post centered and stamped from the factory as centered. (There's a little scribe mark on the drum for the windage and the sight base)

 

[Bronsonbull]

Yeah entire sight base is canted 5 degrees or so. I'll adjust the windage at the range but it just looks wierd. If it doesn't shoot decent I'll just return for another.

 

[Mr.JAG]

I'm curious. Is this the factory FSB... or did the company that converted it stick on a 74 style FSB (or other non-factory item).

Saiga rarely puts out canted sights from the factory.

 

[Tombs]

I'm curious. Is this the factory FSB... or did the company that converted it stick on a 74 style FSB (or other non-factory item).

Saiga rarely puts out canted sights from the factory.

Check the year of production.

2008 was the year of the vodka specials. On some guns, entire machining processes were skipped.

My 308 is a 2008.

 

[Bronsonbull]

Not sure on what type of sight base it is. Don't know enough about AKs which is why I bought this one. How can you tell what year it was built. As long as I can get on paper I'll be ok with it. Bought it to learn how to take them apart and put them together and to learn how they work. Not expectingimpressive accuracy. Just a little bummed because with my OCD I'll alway see that canted sight

 

[John Galt]

I purchased my AK's with the specific understanding that these would be my hard-use guns and not safe queens. I have an Arsenal that had the front sight canted and had also researched and learned that this was not uncommon.

 

[Bronsonbull]

I purchased my AK's with the specific understanding that these would be my hard-use guns and not safe queens. I have an Arsenal that had the front sight canted and had also researched and learned that this was not uncommon.

Good for you

 

[Bronsonbull]

FYI... for anyone who wants to know I was able to get the front sight on my saiga back to straight. I put it in a vise (using a rubber vise clamp meant for golf club shafts) and hammered it over. Still seems solid and it did the trick. Not sure if that's the best way to do it but it's the easiest. The sight was canted 3-5 degrees in my opinion. I did get it sighted in while canted but I had to push the sight all the way to one side. The sight picture just looked kinda funny and it bugged me enough to want to fix it. The online dealer that I bought from said that they would return it, but I didn't want to hassle with that. The rubber vise clamp that I used worked perfect and if you want one here's an example...

http://www.amazon.com/Rubber-Vice-Clamp/dp/B002EBX3CU/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1330352638&sr=8-3