Best optics mount for 858?
- Thread starter Steiner
- Start date
PerversPépère
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Shawinigan (Quebec)
Mounts
No doubt the siderail is a very good option if someone wants to mount a scope in the conventional position.
I recently tried a scout mount with a small red dot sight and it works very well. With a Kobra sight, due to its elevated position, one has to raise its head and lose cheekweld.
I'm pretty sure the new model very low profile Bushnell Holosight reflex sights would fill the bill while permitting a correct cheekweld.
PP.
No doubt the siderail is a very good option if someone wants to mount a scope in the conventional position.
I recently tried a scout mount with a small red dot sight and it works very well. With a Kobra sight, due to its elevated position, one has to raise its head and lose cheekweld.
I'm pretty sure the new model very low profile Bushnell Holosight reflex sights would fill the bill while permitting a correct cheekweld.
PP.
There are only 2 places on the rifle that give you a solid consistant mounting position and thats the rear sight leaf and the left side of the reciever. Since 90% of the rounds fired from 58/858 rifles are corrosive removing the upper hand guard for cleaning after a day of shooting is a must and for me this puts the hand guard mounts in question as there will always be some play although rifles will vary and the return to zero will bit a bit off although your milage may vary.
The scout mount replacing the rear sight leaf is a nice solid mount but its really only good for red dot types or possibly one of the mid eye relief scopes like the Burris or Leupold scout scope offerings. The drawbacks are limited magnified optics selection, you lose the irons so if the optic fails it kills your day and you have to modify the upper hand guard in order to clean the gas system. I have never used one on my 858 but have used one on my m44 and although solid, it did shift over time (there is a lot more recoil involved with the m44 so milage may vary). I'd take this option over an upper hand guard rail but thats just me.
The way the 58/858 is designed it lends itself best to the SVD type optics mounting for magnified optics. This system allows the shooter to retain the use of iron sights and the Russians have mounts with weaver rails or scope rings so you can mount pretty well any optic you want. Unfortunately the russian red dots are designed to be mounted closer to the eye then the POSPs so with the current side rail offerings once you commit to one eye relief you are kinda stuck there.
Another drawback is offset, the russian optics untill the last few years have pretty well all been left offset. My theory is that they did this so the shooter could always easily fall back on the iron sights if needed. Since we aren't likely to ever use our rifles in combat this is somewhat lost on most shooters. That said I'm left eye dominant and I can still comfortably use the SVD setup cause the rifle is rather thin. Almost every adaptation of the SVD mount rail that I've seen builds it out even further then is was deisgned to be on the SVD only making a small problem a bit worst. I think if I used some of the rifles I've seen on the wire I wouldn't find the positioning comfortable. Oh yea and the SVD rails on their own don't fit on the side of the rifle so you NEED to fabricate an adapter to make it work.
The real drawback is casing ejection; unlike the AK or SVD which eject to the right, the 58 ejects almost straight up (consensus is the 1:00 position) meaning that anything mounted above the ejection port like a scope gets hit with spent casings which can damage the scope.
If only somebody could make it better...
The scout mount replacing the rear sight leaf is a nice solid mount but its really only good for red dot types or possibly one of the mid eye relief scopes like the Burris or Leupold scout scope offerings. The drawbacks are limited magnified optics selection, you lose the irons so if the optic fails it kills your day and you have to modify the upper hand guard in order to clean the gas system. I have never used one on my 858 but have used one on my m44 and although solid, it did shift over time (there is a lot more recoil involved with the m44 so milage may vary). I'd take this option over an upper hand guard rail but thats just me.
The way the 58/858 is designed it lends itself best to the SVD type optics mounting for magnified optics. This system allows the shooter to retain the use of iron sights and the Russians have mounts with weaver rails or scope rings so you can mount pretty well any optic you want. Unfortunately the russian red dots are designed to be mounted closer to the eye then the POSPs so with the current side rail offerings once you commit to one eye relief you are kinda stuck there.
Another drawback is offset, the russian optics untill the last few years have pretty well all been left offset. My theory is that they did this so the shooter could always easily fall back on the iron sights if needed. Since we aren't likely to ever use our rifles in combat this is somewhat lost on most shooters. That said I'm left eye dominant and I can still comfortably use the SVD setup cause the rifle is rather thin. Almost every adaptation of the SVD mount rail that I've seen builds it out even further then is was deisgned to be on the SVD only making a small problem a bit worst. I think if I used some of the rifles I've seen on the wire I wouldn't find the positioning comfortable. Oh yea and the SVD rails on their own don't fit on the side of the rifle so you NEED to fabricate an adapter to make it work.
The real drawback is casing ejection; unlike the AK or SVD which eject to the right, the 58 ejects almost straight up (consensus is the 1:00 position) meaning that anything mounted above the ejection port like a scope gets hit with spent casings which can damage the scope.
If only somebody could make it better...
Last edited:
PerversPépère
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Shawinigan (Quebec)
At one time, there was a small 3X-20 Chinese Red Star scope which was so short it could be mounted over the receiver of an SKS and still permit the use of stripper clips. Anything in that class can be mounted on the VZ-58 without too much problem, I believe.
Kalinka Optics has such a scope, albeit a much more modern one:
h ttp://www.kalinkaoptics.com/detail.aspx?ID=53
Of course, it will have to be a drill&tap job.
PP.
Kalinka Optics has such a scope, albeit a much more modern one:
h ttp://www.kalinkaoptics.com/detail.aspx?ID=53
Of course, it will have to be a drill&tap job.
PP.
With the appropriate mount/rings I think pretty much any scope can be mounted on the vz58 the problem is that for a comfortable eye relief the mount itself sits in the path of ejecting rounds placing the scope in their path as well.
- Location
- Alberta Free State
An excellent summary of the issue. Maybe Deck would consider incorporating some of this into the sticky post #1.
very informative thread. I'll have my own CZ 858 soon and I'll be looking into some rugged custom options for it, which I'll post all about. I've got a nice little holosight I'll figure out how to mount on there, and I'll pick out a nice muzzle break (or make one if I see fit, simple part to machine). lefty bolt carrier is a possibility. some flashy hardware would be cool too, maybe trick it out to look like a DRAGUNOV or better yet, a VINTOREZ? anyone know about availability of those sorts of hardware (wood of course)?
thebuckhunter
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Eastern Ontario
I've been looking for a solution to that problem since I recieved mine. I'm just thinking out loud, but, is the rear dust cover (stamped metal) be strong enough to hold a small DR optic style red dot? Or could a piece be machined to replace it? Everything seems very well built on the CZ858 but a stamped dust cover? What do you guys think?
-Jason
-Jason
The dust cover is not meant to be solid, it moves and when you clean it has to be removed so you lose zero. There are other rifles of simular design like the SKS with a more solid dust cover and those scope mounts suck unless you get the bolt down type and then you can't clean the rifle.
Its a non starter.
I am not going to give a "best," I am going to tell you what I have done.
I bought a VZ Scout mount for my 858. A little work to get the sight leaf off, but after that installation was good.
1. I have used an NC Star D4B red dot sight. Good ranges of 25m to 50m. I have not used it for hunting yet.
2. I have used an NC Star 6X42 compact scope. Good for ranges over 100m and for hunting.
Both optics I mounted and test shot on my 858. If I get a deer with the scope on the mount this season I'll post about it. So far the point dot sight works fine for it's purpose. Maybe if I get some varmit hunting in with it I will post about it too.
Like other people have said here if you plan to shoot a lot of corrosive ammo you will have to remove the rail to clean your rifle. When you're ready to hunt you can zero your scope in and go.
Also the VZ mount doubles as a notch sight as well if your optics poo poo out at the range.
My 2 bullets.
