Peep sight for VZ-58

[Bigdude]

I made this peep sight for my VZ-58 using the rear sight feather and a KNS dovetail front sight. I still have to paint it but tell me what you think before I commit to installing it. Obviously I would lose the ability to adjust for elevation.

[TJNewton]

Looks nice but I think it will be way too high.  I did something similar using a sling stud.  It sits much, much lower and is almost too high.  You have an open front sight hood so you will have more adjustment in relation to sight picture, but I think that in raising your front sight you'll run out of threads long before getting even close.

Once you get the height right, I wouldn't worry about adjusting elevation.  I think that from 0-200 yards, one setting works well with this caliber with minimal hold over.  Farther than that is beyond the practicality of the caliber and iron sight-picture.  I think that the ladder sights are a hold-over from earlier 19-century rifles where entire regiments used to volley shots at each other from hundreds of yards away in true "rainbow" arcs, which was likely an extension and hold-over from archery warfare.  Most modern rifle sights have a fixed setting or just one additional for longer-range precision shooting.

Also, the principle of a peep sight is to look through the rear ring, completely ignoring it and focusing on the front sight.  Your eyes will naturally center the front sight in the ring of the rear -- without you thinking about it.  If you notice the rear sight, if you think about it, which the cross hairs will make inevitable, you'll lose that natural centering and lose the inherent speed and accuracy of a peep/ghost ring sight. 

[MeatAxe]

The stock iron sights on the Vz58 are way too low for me, especially when using a straight-line butt stock (e.g. AR15-style  buffer tube / stock) so I end up straining my neck to get on the irons, especially if they're co-witnessed to a red dot optic.

Not a bad idea having the peep sight, but you might want to remove the crosshairs on the KNS. You might try mounting the KNS sight to the regular Vz58 rear sight blade so you would still have elevation control. Maybe just drill a small hole through  the back end of the rear sight blade and bolt the KNS sight on through it. KNS cross hair sights come in different heights depending on what rifle they're made for.

The hard part is getting front sights tall enough to line up with rear sights. These AK-style FSBs from Dinzag are about half an inch taller than the stock Vz58 FSB and are open at the top, which is a plus. They come with a muzzle device retainer - plunger/pin and can be custom drilled to your barrel diameter, and he could probably drill you a hole to fit the Vz58 FSB pin to secure it better:

http://dinzagarms.com/saiga_762x39/akfsb.html

[Bigdude]

Looks nice but I think it will be way too high.  I did something similar using a sling stud.  It sits much, much lower and is almost too high.  You have an open front sight hood so you will have more adjustment in relation to sight picture, but I think that in raising your front sight you'll run out of threads long before getting even close.

Once you get the height right, I wouldn't worry about adjusting elevation.  I think that from 0-200 yards, one setting works well with this caliber with minimal hold over.  Farther than that is beyond the practicality of the caliber and iron sight-picture.  I think that the ladder sights are a hold-over from earlier 19-century rifles where entire regiments used to volley shots at each other from hundreds of yards away in true "rainbow" arcs, which was likely an extension and hold-over from archery warfare.  Most modern rifle sights have a fixed setting or just one additional for longer-range precision shooting.

Also, the principle of a peep sight is to look through the rear ring, completely ignoring it and focusing on the front sight.  Your eyes will naturally center the front sight in the ring of the rear -- without you thinking about it.  If you notice the rear sight, if you think about it, which the cross hairs will make inevitable, you'll lose that natural centering and lose the inherent speed and accuracy of a peep/ghost ring sight.

I just re-installed the rear sight and measured where it sits in it's lowest position. Then I placed my peep sight in and measured where the cross hairs sit. I measured both using calipers and they are almost exactly the same height, so I do not feel that it is too high. The difference is about 0.010".

[TJNewton]

Looks nice but I think it will be way too high.  I did something similar using a sling stud.  It sits much, much lower and is almost too high.  You have an open front sight hood so you will have more adjustment in relation to sight picture, but I think that in raising your front sight you'll run out of threads long before getting even close.

Once you get the height right, I wouldn't worry about adjusting elevation.  I think that from 0-200 yards, one setting works well with this caliber with minimal hold over.  Farther than that is beyond the practicality of the caliber and iron sight-picture.  I think that the ladder sights are a hold-over from earlier 19-century rifles where entire regiments used to volley shots at each other from hundreds of yards away in true "rainbow" arcs, which was likely an extension and hold-over from archery warfare.  Most modern rifle sights have a fixed setting or just one additional for longer-range precision shooting.

Also, the principle of a peep sight is to look through the rear ring, completely ignoring it and focusing on the front sight.  Your eyes will naturally center the front sight in the ring of the rear -- without you thinking about it.  If you notice the rear sight, if you think about it, which the cross hairs will make inevitable, you'll lose that natural centering and lose the inherent speed and accuracy of a peep/ghost ring sight.

I just re-installed the rear sight and measured where it sits in it's lowest position. Then I placed my peep sight in and measured where the cross hairs sit. I measured both using calipers and they are almost exactly the same height, so I do not feel that it is too high. The difference is about 0.010".

Should be good, then.  But you might still consider removing the crosshairs from the rear sight.  The beauty of ghost ring/peep sights is that they use your eye's natural and instantaneous ability to center an object into a circle and remove the step of lining up the front sight with the rear sight.  It may at first sound unbelievable, but if you look through the rear circle, ignore it and focus on the front sight, the shots will be much, much faster and much more consistently accurate.  The speed of target acquisition is just shy of a red dot, although more accurate.  It takes a little bit of faith but does work.

Please post some pics of the finished project.  I'm sure it's going to look good.

[Bigdude]

Looks nice but I think it will be way too high.  I did something similar using a sling stud.  It sits much, much lower and is almost too high.  You have an open front sight hood so you will have more adjustment in relation to sight picture, but I think that in raising your front sight you'll run out of threads long before getting even close.

Once you get the height right, I wouldn't worry about adjusting elevation.  I think that from 0-200 yards, one setting works well with this caliber with minimal hold over.  Farther than that is beyond the practicality of the caliber and iron sight-picture.  I think that the ladder sights are a hold-over from earlier 19-century rifles where entire regiments used to volley shots at each other from hundreds of yards away in true "rainbow" arcs, which was likely an extension and hold-over from archery warfare.  Most modern rifle sights have a fixed setting or just one additional for longer-range precision shooting.

Also, the principle of a peep sight is to look through the rear ring, completely ignoring it and focusing on the front sight.  Your eyes will naturally center the front sight in the ring of the rear -- without you thinking about it.  If you notice the rear sight, if you think about it, which the cross hairs will make inevitable, you'll lose that natural centering and lose the inherent speed and accuracy of a peep/ghost ring sight.

I just re-installed the rear sight and measured where it sits in it's lowest position. Then I placed my peep sight in and measured where the cross hairs sit. I measured both using calipers and they are almost exactly the same height, so I do not feel that it is too high. The difference is about 0.010".

Should be good, then.  But you might still consider removing the crosshairs from the rear sight.  The beauty of ghost ring/peep sights is that they use your eye's natural and instantaneous ability to center an object into a circle and remove the step of lining up the front sight with the rear sight.  It may at first sound unbelievable, but if you look through the rear circle, ignore it and focus on the front sight, the shots will be much, much faster and much more consistently accurate.  The speed of target acquisition is just shy of a red dot, although more accurate.  It takes a little bit of faith but does work.

Please post some pics of the finished project.  I'm sure it's going to look good.

I will post a picture tomorrow. The peep sight is curing right now from the devcon.

[Bigdude]

Here is the finished product. The front sight post height is perfect.

[TJNewton]

You know, looking at the second picture, you may still get the benefit of automatic centering of the front sight.  The cross hairs are relatively light and will probably "ghost" out when focusing on the front sight.  Then, if you want to take a very deliberate and careful shot, you'll have the crosshairs at your disposal. 

Let us know how well it works after your first range time.

[gwvt]

Interesting. With the cross hairs it reminds me of the sight picture with a co-witnessed red dot.

[RSR]

Cool mod.  Try running a run-n-gun for a couple months with different rear sight options each month (including red dot, but practice with each for a time before running) and let us know your times...  Proof is in the pudding.