popeep, a Free Peep Sight for SKS and AK Rifles

My last pair of glasses was issued to me in 2001 and it wasn't a great prescription back then. These days, 50 yards is blurry and 100 yards is pretty much a guess, until I can cough up for some new glasses.

The open iron sights on the SKS (and AK) are not made for people who can't see long ranges and focus on sights at the same time.

I had entertained the idea of buying some peep sights for my little rifle, which range from a $29 drop-in replacement for the stock sight (minus the range adjustment) all the way to half what I paid for the rifle for a dual-adjustable sight (that also makes the rifle more complicated to take down). Everything seemed unappealing to me, and I just waited.

That $29 drop-in replacement sight leaf seemed like a pretty simple afair and eventually I got to thinking I could come close in my home workshop.

I tried supergluing a thin piece of steel on the sight and it helped but the glue wasn't up to the task. Then I went with this:
(click for full-size image)



That's a random piece of thin sheet steel, cut with tin snips and bent tight around the sides and bottom sight to hold it. The hardest part was making the arch close to symmetrical. Then it was bending the steel. If you can't figure out how to do this without detailed instructions, you don't want me to explain it to you before I've had coffee.

Trust me.

Anyway, the glue-on and the popeep both shrunk my groups by about 30%. In my hands with russian mil-surp ammunition, the rifle is an 8MOA player. That's minute-of-head and good enough for me, for now. My dad, who spent a few thousand dollars getting his eyes fixed, shot around 3-4MOA his first time on the SKS and it was his first rifle shoot in a while.

Why popeep? a) it's little and b) it's for po' folks who want a peep sight.

That is all.