QUESTIONS: SKS SIGHTING SYSTEMS

[230RN]

I've done as much research as practicable on the subject of the various sighting systems on the SKS Yugo 59/66 rifle.

No answers to the following questions seem to pop out of the various searches I've done, including on THR. Perhaps I can't find the answers because I don't know how to pose the questions for search engines.

So I figure it would be easier to just ask outright, and maybe my questions will help others. Please pardon my naivete in advance.

This rifle has:

1. Regular battle sights with the little post front sight and the regular tangent leaf rear sight.

(a) The post front sight is threaded and seems to have cutouts (flats) for some kind of spanner wrench for vertical adjustments, accessible from the hole in top of the front sight hood. I did not receive the buttplate tool kit with this rifle (it's on the way). Is there a tool in the kit for adjusting this post front sight to calibrate it with the rifle's tangent rear leaf sight?

(b) Is there any windage adjustment possible on either the front post or rear tangent leaf sight? (I'm familiar with which way either sight must move to change the point of impact in a given direction, so there's no need to go into that.)

2. The "Night Sights," which are supposed to be tritium sights and no longer glow perceptibly, as to be expected with a rifle this old. I'm clear on that part, considering the half-life of tritium is about 12 years.

(a) There is the flip-up front Night Sight whose function is fairly obvious and I'm clear on that part, too.

(b) But the "Night Sight" dots on the rear tangent leaf are on the underside of the sight bar, which means that to use it, one must have the leaf set up vertically in order to see the dots. This brings the notch for the night sights up about 1 3/4 inch above even the 1000 Meter setting on the regular leaf. This seems rather excessive, to say the least. Moreover, the dots appear on a solid portion of the rear sight leaf, and are therefore not adjustable. How are these Night Sight dots on the rear sight supposed to be used?

3. The "Grenade Laucher" sight. (I understand about the gas valve --no need to go into that, and I understand that one is not supposed to fire a grenade from the shoulder.)

(a) When flipped up, this is supposed to form a new "rear sight" for launching the grenades, and there are three notches in the steps to the "ladder" for different ranges. But what is supposed to form the "front" sight in this case? The point of the grenade? In that case, it would seem that with the different types of grenades available, the length of the grenade itself must be somehow calibrated to the weight and "ballistic coefficient" of the grenade so that the range markings on the grenade laucher sight are reasonably close, even though one should not expect pinpoint accuracy.

(b) There are two sets of graduations on the steps to the grenade launcher sight. On the left, it shows the letter "T" and the numbers 110, 175, 240, and 270 for each of the steps and the 270 is on the left side of the sight. On the right there is a "K" and the numbers 50, 100, 150, and no corresponding marking on the right side of the leaf. I assume these numbers are ranges in Meters, but what do the letters "T" and "K" stand for?

If someone out there can answer these questions definitively, it would be appreciated. I have looked at most of the sites regarding SKS sights but cannot find satisfactory answers, especially with respect to the grenade launching sight.

Again, pardon my naivete, and I'm sure I will smite my forehead and say "Dummy!" when someone answers these questions, but it sure would be nice to stop scratching my head over these things.

Thanks in advance, and I hope "General" is the right place to post this.

 

[Eightball]

The dot sights on the rear site ramp fold up, they just flip up strangely; pull back and up; the rotational axis can be seen on the side of the rear sight leaf. You don't need to put the rear sight in the "ladder" formation. it works, i've done it on mine, then put them back down for how I shoot. could be spiffy if tritium was reapplied.

The grenade launcher sight is the rear sight; from what i've heard, the front sight is on the grenade. Wouldn't know, since I've never shot a rifle grenade; would be willing to try, though .

 

[230RN]

Thanks! Everything is so stiff on that rifle I was afraid of breaking something. Sure enough, it does flip up with a little effort. As predicted above, I hang my head in chagrin and shame.

However, I'd still like info on what the "K" and "L" stand for, and how the grenades are used as the front sight in that arrangement.

I understand there are at least two styles of grenades, the NATO standard and "something else," so I imagine the L and K sight designations might refer to that difference, but which is which?

 

[ZeSpectre]

I understand there are at least two styles of grenades, the NATO standard and "something else," so I imagine the L and K sight designations might refer to that difference, but which is which?

If I'm wrong I'm sure someone else will correct me but I believe one was for "antipersonnel" grenades and the other for "AntiVehicle/armor" grenades.

 

[mkh100]

This is the SKS and AK front sight tool:

http://www.tapco.com/proddesc.aspx?id=1a7b1e9a-dec6-4eb0-90be-b1e29b62794b

In the picture they are adjusting windage. In the handle of that tool is the driver to adjust the post up and down for elevation.

these guys sell the tool cheaper.

http://www.copesdist.com/sks.htm

I have placed the tech-sights on one of mine and will be converting more in the future, they replace the rear pin and allow elevation and windage adjustments by 5/8 clicks (at 100 yards). They also increase your sight radious by about 10 inches....very sweet !

http://www.tech-sights.com/

good luck,
Mike

 

[230RN]

ZeSpectre says:
"If I'm wrong I'm sure someone else will correct me but I believe one was for "antipersonnel" grenades and the other for "AntiVehicle/armor" grenades."

If that's the case, I'll bet the T scale is for antivehicular/armor grenades, since it would give a shallow angle of departure.

mkh100 says:
"This is the SKS and AK front sight tool:

http://www.tapco.com/proddesc.aspx?i...e-b1e29b62794b

In the picture they are adjusting windage. In the handle of that tool is the driver to adjust the post up and down for elevation."

That tool does not look as if it would fit in the buttplate hidey-hole, so I would assume there is no sight adjusting tool in the issued tool kit. I'd be interested in one of those.

mkh100 adds:
"I have placed the tech-sights on one of mine and will be converting more in the future, they replace the rear pin and allow elevation and windage adjustments by 5/8 clicks (at 100 yards). They also increase your sight radious by about 10 inches....very sweet !"

I'd rather leave the thing as-issued, but this brings up a somewhat related question: What kind of minor modifications can be made (such as replacing the sights) which will not remove it from the "as-issued" condition so as to endanger its "Curio and Relic" status?

(I know, for example, that just taking off the bayonet is a no-no --if one wants to take one accessory off, it all has to come off.)

THANKS! What a font of information!

It's certainly an interesting arm. It's so ugly you can't help but love it, and at nearly 11lb with all the accessories, handling it is darned good excercise.

I've got to take a pic of it with an apple stuck on the end of the bayonet and show off the pic as "my new deer rifle."

 

[grimjaw]

230RN, have you tried the surplusrifle.com site, maybe email him?

I would assume there is no sight adjusting tool in the issued tool kit.

You are correct. The buttstock tool is a cleaning kit. The AK/SKS front sight adjusting tools work.

I know, for example, that just taking off the bayonet is a no-no --if one wants to take one accessory off, it all has to come off.

If by "no-no" you mean it invalidates the rifle's C&R status, I believe you are correct. However, removing the bayonet does not make the rifle illegal to own in most states. Someone will come along to correct me if I'm wrong. I personally dislike the bayonets on shooters, which is why all of my current SKSs are Chinese (no C&R status to worry about, just 922).

Below is the most I care to modify any an SKS.

- 1" spacer for the buttstock to increase LOP.
- TechSights.
- Gas tube w/metal vented handguard (more for looks and parts count than anything).
- Kivaari trigger job.

Makes it a light, short carbine with decent sights and still just as reliable as it was before. No one makes a synthetic stock for them that I really like, although Ramline came close.

jm

 

[230RN]

Good suggestions and info.

I like the bayonet so I can bait deer with the apple on the end of it.

Actually, I'm thinking of getting another one so I can trick it out. I'd really like to keep this one "stock." The bore on this one is clean and shiny and the rifling is sharp. Actually, all that weight out there makes it feel like a target rifle.

 

[malix]

Sorry to bring this thread back from the dead, but ive got a quick question about my 59/66..

I cant seem to figure out how to fold the grenade sight back down. I finally got all the cosmoline off but for the life of me i cant get that thing to fold back into place. Is there a trick to it or a release on it somewhere?

 

[obm]

accurate plating "upgrades" SKSs...traditionalists need not apply:

http://www.apwcogan.com/SKS Page.htm

 

[benEzra]

If by "no-no" you mean it invalidates the rifle's C&R status, I believe you are correct. However, removing the bayonet does not make the rifle illegal to own in most states.

Actually, on a Yugo SKS less than 50 years old, invalidating the C&R status without removing all of the Evil Features *could* make the rifle "unimportable," which would therefore be a felony violation of 18 USC 922(r), modifying a rifle classed as an import into an unimportable configuration. So if you remove the bayonet, you *might* also have to remove the "grenade launcher" muzzle.

It all boils down to whether the BATFE would consider a non-C&R-eligible Yugo SKS with all the doodads except a bayonet to be importable--and whether temporarily removing the bayonet, but keeping it, would revoke the C&R status to start with. Since the price of being wrong is a felony record and the loss of all your civil rights, I'd be leery of removing the bayonet on any C&R SKS less than 50 years old unless the BATFE told you, in writing, that it would be legal to do so.

 

[Ben Shepherd]

Malix: Just push. Hard. IF your gas valve is in the correct position.

 

[Caimlas]

I cant seem to figure out how to fold the grenade sight back down. I finally got all the cosmoline off but for the life of me i cant get that thing to fold back into place. Is there a trick to it or a release on it somewhere?

If you were a Soviet conscript, fighting for your life and wanting nothing more than to be back on the farm milking cows, how would you respond to a rifle that wasn't responding to your input?

You'd hit it. In this case, that is the correct answer: just give it a solid whack with the palm of your hand. You will note that on the (I think) right side of sight (looking from the top and rear) there are two holes/pins in the actual grenade sight as opposed to the one of the other side. That second hole/pin is a tensioned pin and operates somewhat like the tensioned ball-bearings found in ratchets.

If you cut your grenade launcher sight off as I did, that little piece will spring out and hit you in the eye.

 

[yodar]

Tritium sites

http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=137473 lists a source of tritium vials that possibly could be used to replace SKS site vial

yodar

 

[army_eod]

Battlesight Zero for SKS

Can someone just tell me the procedure for battlesight zero on a stock Yugo SKS 59/66????

 

[Limeyfellow]

The Grenade launcher sight letters are nice and simple to understand.

K is for the M60 Heat Grenade.

T is for the M60 fragmentation and the M62 smoke or illumination grenades which were much lighter.

You probrobly noticed the two dots before 100 metres reading on the rear sight elevation. Thats the battle sight set to 300 yards.

The rear sight is not supposed to popup at all for the night sight. I am not sure what you have there other than it could be an older part before they went metric. and they merely switched it over.

And as someone else suggested look at the Tech-sight ts200. It give you a great peep sight that keeps it zero and can alter the elevation and windage simply. Well worth the money.