AK

The metal hardware on the left side is a bracket to mount a scope mount to. The russian-style scope mounts slide onto that bracket and clamp down tightly.

garandaddy,I have a POSP scope that will fit your rail.It's a 4X,and looks like the photo I'm attaching,but it doesn't have a reticle illuminator like the one in the photo.PM sent with details...

Like so.

Congrats on the AK i bought one a few months ago .. I LOVE IT ..

garandaddy,one good thing about the Soviet rail mount,once your scope is zeroed,it may be removed and reattached without re-sighting.And there are many,many different types of Soviet optics with the rail mount...

Here's another civvie AK with an optic on the siderail (Kobra EKP-8-02 on my SAR-1)...



Like kirkcdl said, the siderail mounted scopes/optics hold zero when removed and replaced.

You can think of the siderail as the eastern bloc equivalent of the Picatinny rail found on many U.S.-made carbines.