Tech Sights AK Sights

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1991A1

Re: Tech Sights AK Sights

Post by 1991A1 »

Slight thread hijack.

I've been looking at the LaRue Iron dot sight with some interest. Does anyone have any experience and feedback on it?
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Netpackrat
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Re: Tech Sights AK Sights

Post by Netpackrat »

I think I want my money back. The sights are well made, and were actually a hair oversize requiring a few file strokes to fit, and thus they are rock solid. The bad news is once you snap the dust cover in place, it is damn near impossible to remove, which is inconvenient when you want to field strip the rifle. It's just not practical without some sort of special tool for depressing the cover retaining plungers on both sides of the sight base simultaneously.
:x
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Netpackrat
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Re: Tech Sights AK Sights

Post by Netpackrat »

Adding some further reflections, I'm probably going to keep them despite the substantial hassle in removing the dust cover and sights for field stripping, because I think this is probably the best sight setup strictly from a shooting standpoint, short of spending $275 on the Krebs rail setup. I don't see how they can recommend the use of a bullet tip for removing and installing the cover, because at best it is a 3 handed operation that I have not been able to achieve without uttering many 4 letter words. As I see it, the only thing that will make this sight setup truly practical is to fabricate a special set of pliers that will allow the spring pins on both sides to be depressed simultaneously with one hand, leaving the other free to manipulate the cover. And needing to carry a special tool around just to field strip your rifle is lame, any way you look at it.

Other than that issue, which is this close to being a deal killer IMO, the sights are fine. As mentioned in my last reply, I actually had to put a file on the sight base to allow it to be installed, so I got a good solid fit with minimal play. They include a set screw that can be installed to take up slack in looser fitting rifles, but I didn't need to use it. I tried it in 3 different AKs (G Romy, AMD-65, Saiga 308) and it was too tight for all of them, but came closest to fitting in the Saiga. I bought the Tech Sights for the Romy, so that is what I fitted them to.

I'm not accustomed to AR type sights, but the flip type aperture is pretty cool. I'm thinking about drilling out the close range aperture for more of a ghost ring effect. I'm glad I bought the windage tool, and a bonus is Tech Sights makes one that also adjusts the elevation of the AK front sight post, which is important because I chose the flip sight rear instead of the elevation adjustable rear. This way I still only have to carry the one tool for sight adjustment.

They included a suggested procedure for removing the original rear sight. I didn't look at it real closely, but it seemed to involve string and cloth, and if my guess is accurate, lots of profanity. I have the Power Custom AK rear sight tool, so it was more or less a non issue for me. Removing the rear sight altogether leaves kind of a gaping hole over a portion of the gas piston, so TS included a special retainer pin that goes in place of the rear sight, and holds the leaf spring for the original sight in its usual position, and it then acts simply as a cover over most of the hole so that crap doesn't drop in there, and also probably so less gas vents out that way. I wouldn't want to try installing it without the Power Custom tool.

I also took the opportunity to finally fix the canted front sight base on this particular rifle, so I wouldn't have to adjust the windage all the way to the stops on my new sight, since the windage drum in the post was already most of the way over due to the tilt. A bore sighter would have been nice for this process, but I think I got it pretty close, and with the windage drum centered again, I have quite a bit of coarse adjustment before I have to start with the rear. It definitely looks a lot better. This process consisted of driving out the retaining pins for the sight base, centering the base up with a crescent wrench, drilling out the pin holes, and installing new oversize pins made of the drill bit I used to enlarge the holes. I also staked them so they will hopefully stay put. Wish the Romanians would have taken the time to get that right in the first place.

As for my final thoughts, I'm not sure I would buy it again due to the dust cover issue. I'm not going to try to return it, because as I said, I think it is still the best I am going to do short of spending big bucks for Krebs' detachable rail with the built in AR sight in about the same location. That, and I filed on it before I discovered the difficulty with the cover. If I had everything to do over, knowing what I do now, I would probably buy the Krebs rail and be done with it, instead of riveting on the combloc style side optics rail, removing same, reinstalling a replacement rail (this time aligned properly), and now buying this user unfriendly sight. But, hindsight is usually 20-20, and I am pretty happy with the current setup of my rifle, aside from the field stripping issue.

I'm not going to post any pictures, because the Tech Sights website does a pretty good job of showing what you get.
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Larry N

Re: Tech Sights AK Sights

Post by Larry N »

Hi Guys,
The dust cover issue is being addressed and replacement pins will be shipped to all customers who received the first sights. We were concerned about the covers coming off after severe impacts so we placed a small shallow groove on the detent pins where they contact the cover. We also went from mild steel to high carbon spring steel on the cover material and increased the length of the detent pins slightly. The later two are more than enough to ensure that the cover won't come off during an impact so about two weeks ago we decided to drop the groove as we also had experienced the difficulty in removing the covers. A letter will be going out to all customers that bought AK sights the first of next week with replacement pins and instructions. As always Tech-SIGHTS stands behind our products and we are available for technical support. As far as reviews go Voron over at Krink Freak has tested the sights on several AKs and posted the results. If you have any technical questions I would be more than happy to answer them.

Thanks,
Larry
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randy
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Re: Tech Sights AK Sights

Post by randy »

Hi Larry. Welcome aboard. Always happy to get information from primary sources, and glad to see a vendor talking and working an issue rather than ignoring it or blaming the customer.
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Netpackrat
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Re: Tech Sights AK Sights

Post by Netpackrat »

Larry, got your email, thanks. I'll be posting it at the other forums where I linked to my review, which I am assuming will be okay with you.
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Darrell
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Re: Tech Sights AK Sights

Post by Darrell »

Welcome, Larry! :)
Eppur si muove--Galileo
Larry N

Re: Tech Sights AK Sights

Post by Larry N »

Thanks Randy,
We always try to go the extra mile for our customers and are more than happy to work through any issues when given the chance. This is something that we have always done from our start up 5 years ago. After all we are shooters, and we know how we like to be treated from a customer's viewpoint.
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mekender
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Re: Tech Sights AK Sights

Post by mekender »

oh hell yeah!!! i love it when a manufacturer is willing to come talk on forums...

glad to have ya here, dont be afraid to stick around and yak it up some...
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ButchS1066
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Re: Tech Sights AK Sights

Post by ButchS1066 »

This is a cool development. :)

I went ahead and ordered a set after reading NPR's review, his dislikes nonwithstanding. My first AK type rifle was a Galil, so I'm already accustomed to peep sights on them and the longer sight radius a Galil provides due to it's rear sight placement. The Tech Sights system approximates both of those, and while I understand NPR's frustration with the method of attachment for their replacement top cover, I didn't see it as a deal killer and I figured the benefits outweighed the drawbacks.
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