In Soviet Russia Optic Look At You!

[Kommander]

I am one of those blessed souls who recently to got a K-VAR AK. One of the reasons I got it is because it came with a scope rail, a feature that my old AK lacks. Since this is a backup to my main defensive rifle, and is most probably not going to see any kind of real heavy use, I think that I would get the most pleasure out of the gun if I put an original Russian sight on it. Seeing as how it's a normal AK and not one of the longer barreled variants I think that mounting a red dot would probably be best. So as per my usual methods I began to do some research. However I ended up with just as many questions as answers.

I found that the types of Russian red dot easily available and reasonably priced are the PK-A, the PK-AS, PK-01, and the Kobra. For those that don't know the PKs are similar to an Aimpoint whereas the Kobra is similar to an EO-Tec. The best price for most of these can be found at EastWave. However Kalinka, EastWaveLens, (this is apparently the same people from EastWave, the selection is better but the prices are higher here) rugift, and GoodOptics all have some sights I am interested in. I have managed to narrow down my choices to the following:

PK-A: This is the cheapest and simplest of the sights and the one I am leaning towards right now. All it has is a red dot and some brightness settings. Complicating matters is the fact that there appears to be two models of this scope. One is a black, while the other is a hammered gray. Some reports indicate that the gray one is offset, mounts lower on the receiver, and is easier to use than the non offset black one. $165 from GoodOptics.

PK-AS: This is not only has a red dot, but, as one site puts it, “a precise 3 MOA black dot enclosed in a simple elliptical range-finding oval (170 MOA) is always visible without the use of the battery”. The ability to use the optic without battery power is appealing. $288 from EastWave.

PK-01: This is a more recent optic design and certainly shows some influence from western designs. It is waterproof, automatically controls brightness, and takes AA batteries (the other scopes take more obscure coin type batteries). $245 from EastWave.

Kobra: This optic is quite popular and rightly so. It has four different reticles to choose from and is waterproof. AA versions exist but I have not been able to find any. $318 from EastWave.

The big problem I am having is finding a reputable dealer. Tantal, Kalinka, and EastWave (both sites) seem to have decent reputations, though Tantal is out of optics at the moment and Kalinka has apparently gone downhill recently. I would really like to get one from GoodOptics as the have the best price and will let me choose between the black and gray one. EastWaveLens lets me choose too, but is almost $20 more. Does anyone have any experience with using any of these optics or buying from any of these sites?


I suppose I could just get a NSPU 1PN34 from ebay and be a leet rusky dood. No one is going to have one of these at the range!

[Netpackrat]

PK-AS: This is not only has a red dot, but, as one site puts it, “a precise 3 MOA black dot enclosed in a simple elliptical range-finding oval (170 MOA) is always visible without the use of the battery”. The ability to use the optic without battery power is appealing. $288 from EastWave.

As mentioned elsewhere, I got AlaskaTRX one of these for Christmas 2-3 years ago. If he wants to use it, he HAS to use the black dot now, because the red dot inexplicably died, and he didn't use it much, either. No clue how or where to get it repaired, either. Kalinka said they would try to find out, but I'm not holding out much hope. The Russian optics may seem like a good deal, but before you buy be sure you can get it serviced if necessary, once the warranty period has expired.

[Highspeed]

I've used each of those optics and while I liked them all the Kobra was my favourite by far.

If you are serious about buying any of the multistage Gen 1 Russian NV scopes then I'd caution you that you really are buying a curio, rather than a functional weaponsight. The fisheye distortion they exhibit is absolutely bloody awful.
If you want a Russian NV scope that you can actually use then their equivalent to the US PVS-4, the Gen 2 1PN51 is not bad at all.

With all of the Soviet NV scopes ( when mounted on AK's at least ) you'll end up looking through them with your left eye, unless you have a neck like Stretch Armstrong. There is no word in Russian for 'ergonomics'
My Russian mate explained it like this :- " They try to design scope so you can still use iron sights with it mounted. By time they finish designing you can't use either "

[Darrell]

As mentioned in the other thread, I have both the Kobra and PK-AS. I like them both. Perhaps the biggest strike against the Kobra is battery life, which doesn't compare to western sights. Still, I've yet to replace one. The biggest strike against the PK-AS is that it sits rather high over the gun. Also, there are (or were) several variants, which all have different mounts. Some sit pretty much over center, some are waaaay off to the left.

The Kobra is a holosight, and has a nice, wide open view. The four reticles are nice, though I usually just run the center dot only. I probably prefer the Kobra to the PK-AS by a hair, but the PK does work without batteries...

[Netpackrat]

I thought that was a cool feature, until faced with the reality of it.

[Kommander]

Heh, the night vision is a joke, though I think it would be fun to buy a cheap broken/missing pieces one just for the looks you'd get at the range. I realize that for $175 I am not going to get some super high end scope, but I would like it to keep it's zero and not break.