PK-23 Red Dot

Here's my review of the PK-23 and mount for another site, will post updates later:

So today, much like an eager boy, I returned home from running errands and saw that a Not So Jolly, kind of Orcish, Old Santa had left a nice little package on my door step. I was quite excited, it meant that my new mount from Kalinka arrived prior to my going out of town, always a good thing to happen.

This mount came to my attention when Belloc of WarriorTalk and TheAkforum did a review on one he was testing for Kalinka. It's a low mount, centered, with built in 30mm rings. He was wanting to mount an Aimpoint. I talked with Kalinka and they informed me that it was orginally designed for the PK-23. What luck, I just happened to have that same red dot and wanted to see if I could get it to sit a little more low and centered than the BP-02. Turns out, it does. According to Kalinka, it is still 4mm off the center of the bore. I can tell you that to my naked eye, I couldn't really tell.

Now I acquired the PK-23 because I was looking for an optic that didn't cost as much as an Aimpoint but was still as robust and reliable as the Kalashnikov design. My simple rule is I won't mount an accessory that compromises my rifle's reliability or function, period. For $200, the PK-23fit my criteria easily. I like the PK-23 for it's blinking 1 MOA red dot. Though it is smaller than I normally prefer (used to the H-1 and Comp Ml2s 4 MOA dots), the blinking function assures you that your eye is drawn to it and that the dot does not get lost in background clutter.

The mount, sits low on the rifle and, as I said is, almost dead centered. I was able to bore sight it but won't be able to check zero at the range until the New Year. Now, according to Belloc, with a little Dremel work you can mount the Aimpoint Comp M family, and it will co-witness in the lower 1/3 of the scope. Same as the Ultimak/H-1 combo. Unfortunately, this does not hold true for the PK-23. You can see the front sight, but the rear is blocked. I'm sure that once I zero the red dot, I'll be able to figure out where the front sight puts the bullet on paper and use the "Caveman Eotech" in case something goes wrong with the scope, which will be more than adequate for close range shooting.

For someone looking for a bargain "Truck Gun" with a red dot, it really is hard to beat a WASR 10 with this set up. For less than $600 invested, I have a reliable, though ugly, rifle. Should anything happen to it (AKA Thieves or Barney Fife), I won't be in as much pain were I to lose my 107FR and ML3, or one of my soon to be SBR'd Dracos and their H-1s. The following pictures were taken at my friend's apartment so he could see.

See how low it sits, just barely above the dust cover (you can still remove and reattach the cover, btw, for malf clearing).

Other side

Cell camera pick, with the Kalashnimutt doing double duty as a target. The camera is off center, not the dot.

I've been told that it will co-witness with the PK-23 on some rifles, but not others. A few mm difference in the location of the optics rail makes all the difference in the world. I can use the iron sights through the scope, but only when I set my elevation to 500m.

Hope you find this helpful.