SKS: Optics, sights & mounts.... update feb 16, 2010
- Thread starter Curtton
- Start date
I'm not really an SKS guy, although I've owned several...and I didn't slog through 4 pages of this thread, especially with all those missing/deleted pics...so my apologies if this isn't original. In fact, it works so well that I can't believe it hasn't been done before, but I don't recall ever seeing it, so here goes:
I've tried a bunch of SKS optics-mounting ideas over the years; Magwedge-type rails, rear-sight replacement mounts, receiver cover replacements, Tech Sights and others. I never went to the extent of welding or drilling or ordering from a farm supply store in Russia. But while searching my junk collection for something competely unrelated, I came upon a couple of gadgets that made me go hmmmmm...
I think they are designed to mount a bipod onto a rifle barrel; one might be intended for a light instead, don't know for sure. I combined the two into one simple barrel-clamp gizmo, mounted it upside down on my Chinese SKS so that the pic rail section was on top of the barrel, and then tried a few red dots until I found one that allowed a decent cheekweld and comfortable shooting. That's it. Takes very little time, costs very little, no permanent mods to rifle, easily removed without a trace. Mounting the red dot on a QD mount would allow easy removal, leaving the iron sights still instantly available with the clamp still in place.
Cons? Well, I left the front sight/hood in place, so they are visible right there in the field of view. Shooting with both eyes open, and concentrating on the target as we should, those distractions are easily ignored. If someone still squints with one eye while shooting, it might be more of a problem. Removing the sight blade would be helpful in that case. I didn't bother and don't feel the need.
Mounting it a little bit forward would have had it butted up against the "sleeve" that mounts the bayonet lug and front sight, which would perhaps eliminate any chance of the clamp sliding forward on the barrel under recoil. I didn't do that, partly to keep an eye on it to see if it did try to slide, and partly because I don't know if that sleeve might be moved by doing so. I didn't want to risk reducing the pinpoint accuracy of my rifle...
Put about 100 rounds through it this morning, no problems so far. Definitely more Bubba than genius, but worth a try if you are looking for a quick and easy red dot mounting solution for the SKS.
I've tried a bunch of SKS optics-mounting ideas over the years; Magwedge-type rails, rear-sight replacement mounts, receiver cover replacements, Tech Sights and others. I never went to the extent of welding or drilling or ordering from a farm supply store in Russia. But while searching my junk collection for something competely unrelated, I came upon a couple of gadgets that made me go hmmmmm...
I think they are designed to mount a bipod onto a rifle barrel; one might be intended for a light instead, don't know for sure. I combined the two into one simple barrel-clamp gizmo, mounted it upside down on my Chinese SKS so that the pic rail section was on top of the barrel, and then tried a few red dots until I found one that allowed a decent cheekweld and comfortable shooting. That's it. Takes very little time, costs very little, no permanent mods to rifle, easily removed without a trace. Mounting the red dot on a QD mount would allow easy removal, leaving the iron sights still instantly available with the clamp still in place.
Cons? Well, I left the front sight/hood in place, so they are visible right there in the field of view. Shooting with both eyes open, and concentrating on the target as we should, those distractions are easily ignored. If someone still squints with one eye while shooting, it might be more of a problem. Removing the sight blade would be helpful in that case. I didn't bother and don't feel the need.
Mounting it a little bit forward would have had it butted up against the "sleeve" that mounts the bayonet lug and front sight, which would perhaps eliminate any chance of the clamp sliding forward on the barrel under recoil. I didn't do that, partly to keep an eye on it to see if it did try to slide, and partly because I don't know if that sleeve might be moved by doing so. I didn't want to risk reducing the pinpoint accuracy of my rifle...
Put about 100 rounds through it this morning, no problems so far. Definitely more Bubba than genius, but worth a try if you are looking for a quick and easy red dot mounting solution for the SKS.
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I'm not really an SKS guy, although I've owned several...and I didn't slog through 4 pages of this thread, especially with all those missing/deleted pics...so my apologies if this isn't original. In fact, it works so well that I can't believe it hasn't been done before, but I don't recall ever seeing it, so here goes:
I've tried a bunch of SKS optics-mounting ideas over the years; Magwedge-type rails, rear-sight replacement mounts, receiver cover replacements, Tech Sights and others. I never went to the extent of welding or drilling or ordering from a farm supply store in Russia. But while searching my junk collection for something competely unrelated, I came upon a couple of gadgets that made me go hmmmmm...
I think they are designed to mount a bipod onto a rifle barrel; one might be intended for a light instead, don't know for sure. I combined the two into one simple barrel-clamp gizmo, mounted it upside down on my Chinese SKS so that the pic rail section was on top of the barrel, and then tried a few red dots until I found one that allowed a decent cheekweld and comfortable shooting. That's it. Takes very little time, costs very little, no permanent mods to rifle, easily removed without a trace. Mounting the red dot on a QD mount would allow easy removal, leaving the iron sights still instantly available with the clamp still in place.
Cons? Well, I left the front sight/hood in place, so they are visible right there in the field of view. Shooting with both eyes open, and concentrating on the target as we should, those distractions are easily ignored. If someone still squints with one eye while shooting, it might be more of a problem. Removing the sight blade would be helpful in that case. I didn't bother and don't feel the need.
Mounting it a little bit forward would have had it butted up against the "sleeve" that mounts the bayonet lug and front sight, which would perhaps eliminate any chance of the clamp sliding forward on the barrel under recoil. I didn't do that, partly to keep an eye on it to see if it did try to slide, and partly because I don't know if that sleeve might be moved by doing so. I didn't want to risk reducing the pinpoint accuracy of my rifle...
Put about 100 rounds through it this morning, no problems so far. Definitely more Bubba than genius, but worth a try if you are looking for a quick and easy red dot mounting solution for the SKS.
Why did the magwedge didnt work for you?
I have both drilled and tapped and magwedge. They all work but I prefer magwedge. I would never clamp anything on my barrel.
Yeah, d&t is easy enough...if you have something to screw on after you do it...but this was far simpler and faster, more than solid enough for my purposes, and utilized stuff I already had. If you require your SKS to be bombproof and ready for combat, then fill your boots and start drilling. To me, it's just a cheap rifle that I own to use up cheap ammo that I have in abundance. I'm not taking it to war, not hunting with it; it's a plinker and I will never take a shot with this rifle that I consider important. This is a quick'n'dirty improvement that does not degrade the intrinsic accuracy of the rifle at all, and significantly increases my practical accuracy with it. That's all I wanted.
The Magwedge was the best of the commercial solutions that I tried; if I wanted to mount an actual magnified scope as opposed to a tiny red dot, I'd use it again without hesitation. But I wanted the compactness of a red dot, I wanted cheap'n'easy and also fully reversible, I wanted to retain the iron sights and I wanted the red dot mounted as far forward as possible. This is not merely the best answer, it's pretty much the only answer.
As stated above, that's what I would do for a scope if I wanted one. And normally I wouldn't dream of clamping crap onto a barrel...but this is an SKS, not a precision target gun. There's a bunch of stuff already hanging off the barrel, and I somehow doubt that harmonics and balance were a priority when they piled all that on. I didn't think one more goodie would matter, and it absolutely didn't. Just makes the gun more fun to shoot for older eyes.
Guys, I didn't want or expect a tackdriver. I wanted the attributes listed above, and this idea has delivered them beautifully. I'm not suggesting it's any more than that. As Bubba hacks go, it's perfect. As a means to combat worthiness or precision shooting...no, you're in the wrong thread.
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jj - That's good that you discovered this solution. I found it on SKSBOARDS .com a few years ago. The way his is mounted it's adjusted to co-witness with the iron sights. Is yours set up that way too? I can't find the thread from back then but I did find a YT vid that the same person made a couple years later. -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMFA_n1EtiE
My only concern with the magwedge is it's not easily reversible , thanks . I'm in the process of trying it out. About the barrel clamp, obviously not suited to scope and generally I don't like the thought of clamping on to metal that expand when heated.
My only concern with the magwedge is it's not easily reversible , thanks . I'm in the process of trying it out. About the barrel clamp, obviously not suited to scope and generally I don't like the thought of clamping on to metal that expand when heated.
I agree about barrel clamps, generally speaking...but this is an SKS. At best, with the corrosive milsurp I use, using the irons in good light with my senior eyes on an ideal easily visible target, I may get about 5+ MOA @100. Now, with the barrel clamped red dot, I got about 3.5MOA with a fairly "casual" rest. So I don't care about the technical inferiorities of the barrel-clamp idea; I can produce better groups and with a red dot I can do it more easily than ever before. That simple fact trumps all the theoretical "problems" with what I am doing.
Near the end of my firing test I did 20 rounds as rapidly as possible, i.e. "mag dumps" which I normally never do. The barrel was pretty hot afterwards, which was the goal. Measured the mounting location of the clamp carefully before and after; no changes. Mount still very solid, red dot still functional and still sighted-in, no surprises. I probably should have let the thing cool back down and then try it again, but ran out of ammo.
Yeah, I thought this was too obvious to be an original find on my part.
That guy's set-up looks identical to mine; I think he's even using the same red dot. Bushnell TR-something-or-other...?In terms of co-witnessing, the red dot is a fair bit above the top of the front sight. Throwing the rifle to your shoulder and sighting it, when the red dot is more-or-less centered, the front sight is still visible down below it. I can use the irons looking through the optic, but I must scrooch my cheek down ever so slightly tighter to the stock to do so. This places the red dot right at the top of the post, but nearer the bottom of the field of view. I doubt that I would use the irons as long as the dot is functional.
This was just a happy coincidence; I didn't set out with co-witness on my radar, but I like that I got it. I think this is actually better than a perfect co-witness, where the red dot appears floating right on the top of the front sight right in the centre of the field of view. This way, the field of view is unobstructed all the way around the dot, rather than having the bottom 50% blocked by the rear notched blade. The irons are still there, instantly available down near the bottom. This is a function more of the height of the mount than the type of optic.
My firing test was a lot more animated than the one shown in the video. Similar set-up, although I did some offhand as well. The biggest difference was I would periodically stop and chortle to my wife "Holy s**t! This works like a charm!"
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- Location
- Blaster land, Okanagan BC
In what way? The rear cover take down pin is the only thing you have to modify and it’s not hard to drill out and replace the pin that gets ground off.
When I did mine I just gave up trying to punch it out and ground the pin flush. A new takedown lever with pin is cheap. I agree, drilling a little pin out of another round pin is a pita especially since it's difficult to clamp it in place.
I don't even think you can get that pin out without grinding it down. Even the guys on youtube gave up. They must have done it at the factory with some special tool which you would also need to push it out.
- Location
- Blaster land, Okanagan BC
Clamp it in a drill press vise, centre punch it and drill it out. Fit a replacement pin and re install it if you want to go back to stock, I honestly like the Kwick pin or whatever magwedge calls it. Better than the old way, I gave the rail away to a friend and kept the pin.
Tried that. Too much wiggle room.
But I get it where you are coming from. Using the iron sights on a SKS is actually quite good.
- Location
- Blaster land, Okanagan BC
I went through a phase of wanting a scope or red dot on an sks for awhile and then realized that I always liked shooting them with irons lol. So back I went to irons, only thing I did was paint them high viz.
