Is there a trick to this?

Using a rag to protect the finish, I'm pressing down on the leaf spring with a flat tip screwdriver and trying to lever the sight out rearward. Seems like it ought to pretty much slide rearward out through the little groove.

It's kickin' my ass ... am I doing it wrong?

PS - This just might be my second dumb question in a day. I'm going for an ARFCOM record.

Mak,

Why didn't I think of that....great tip.

I use the old "hold the gun between your legs, rest the forearm on a bar stool, put pressure on a screw driver with your chest and remove the sight" trick

It works, but it takes alot of technique....and usually alot of new cuss words.

You are going about it the right way, just need to apply more pressure to compress the leaf spring.  I just swapped the rear sight on Yugo and it needed a LOT of downward pressure, then I wiggled the sight blade out.  Going back on with the new one was bit easier.  Run a search, there are other posts with advice on this same topic.

If you set it barrel up between your legs (clear the gun first, of course!), place the tip of a large flat blade screwdriver against the middle of the front end of the sight.  Put a rag or towel over it to catch the sight.  Press the screwdriver against the sight, then give the butt end of the screwdriver a sharp rap with the heel of your palm, it should pop right out.  Took me a few tries to figure it out.

Originally Posted By Mak: Stick a screwdriver through the skin on your hand (or into a testicle if holding the rifle between your legs) and you learn to do it a safe way real quick.

Thanks Mak!

Guess I'm on the right track. Tonight I'll enlist help to remove the sight while I press down on the spring, as I am not endowed with a drill press.

I wanted to make sure I had the right idea, before pointlessly scratching the weapon all to hell - or skewering a 'nad, as noted above.

If you have a front sight windage adjustment tool, you can use it as a C clamp to compress the rear sight spring.  Of course, you will need to remove the gas tube and insert the C clamp under the rear sight.

Another way to remove the rear sight is tp press straight down on the sight blade where it pivots.  You press STRAIGHT DOWN, no leverage.  The sight will eject to the rear with a fair amount of velocity; but you will still need to compress the spring again to put in the new sight.

The C-clamp technique is an easy one man way to do it and you have control over the spring.  Takes about 5 minutes.  Good luck.

Stick a screwdriver through the skin on your hand (or into a testicle if holding the rifle between your legs) and you learn to do it a safe way real quick.

Luckily I still have both the boys down there and no entrance/exit wounds.........

That's why I only have 2 AKs and 8 ARs.....It's easy to change shit out on the AR

No flaming needed......I love AKs too

Got 'er done fellas.

I'm now tritium equipped!








The pics are shitty, but they're the best I could do. Sights are totally workable and just as bright as new Trijicons.

Looks good to "glow"!  
ok, puns suck, but what the hell>

where'd you get those sights?
is the front sight really as wide as it looks?

Originally Posted By Darrellbear: If you set it barrel up between your legs (clear the gun first, of course!), place the tip of a large flat blade screwdriver against the middle of the front end of the sight.  Put a rag or towel over it to catch the sight.  Press the screwdriver against the sight, then give the butt end of the screwdriver a sharp rap with the heel of your palm, it should pop right out.  Took me a few tries to figure it out.

Thanks DB!  This is the quickest, easiest way to do it.

G23c

everyone seems to have trouble with the back sights on AKs i never had much of a problem with russian bulgarian or romanian AKs but my norinco was a pita, the spring seemed much stronger in my 84s that one took awhile with a flat tip screwdriver. i prefer to use a small allen wrench the srcewdrivers have a bad tendecy to slip from time to time, but those sights can get you cussing and swearing the press idea looks great i will try it next time

Exchanging rear sights on the AK-47 can be a frustrating experience if attempted manually using only hand tools.  The spring compression is very strong and attempting to apply manual pressure adequate for rear sight replacement is difficult.
The method below sounds a lot more complex than it really is, it took me about 10 minutes start to finish.  I now have a Rumanian AK with a windage adjustable rear sight rather than the original non-adjustable rear sight.
You must be careful because tolerances are tight and there is not a lot of working room.

Here’s a variant on the “drill press method” that worked for me.
Parts:
Replacement rear sight ( I used a windage adjustable AK/RPK rear sight advertised as acceptable for Rumanian AK-47 use.  Important: Before you start be CERTAIN that your replacement will fit into your AK’s rear sight mount.)
Optional, rear sight replacement spring.   (I did not have one.)
Be CERTAIN to keep your original rear sight in a safe place in case you have to re-use it.
Tools needed:
Drill press with table that can be raised and lowered and moved side to side.
4 inch simple machinist vise capable of holding the AK
C-clamps, bolts or other parts to securely hold the vise to the drill press table.
Vise protection for AK to prevent vise damage, wood, leather, rubber, etc.
A 3/32 metal drift punch, about 4-5 inches in length.  Use of a smaller punch (e.g. 1/16 inch) will result in slight but significant movement of the punch end when in contact with the spring.
Method:
Place the punch all the way into the drill press bit, punch end down and secure tightly.
Lower the drill press table to accept the vise-AK set-up.  
Place the vise on to the drill press table and secure from movement with c-clamps, bolts, etc.
Place the AK into the vise, be sure to protect the AK from the vise contact.  Removal of the foregrips may be necessary and is recommended.
Adjust the drill press table (up, down, sideways) with the AK in the vise so that the punch end will just hit the very front tip of the rear sight spring.  Secure the setup from motion.  Tighten the drill press table, tighten the vise.
It maybe necessary to raise the front sight slightly.  Apply downward pressure to the front end tip of the spring using the drill press.  For me it was necessary to “push” the spring all of the way down.  Keep pressure on the spring.
The “old” rear sight may fall out of the mount by way of channels located at the very bottom of the rear sight mount, under the pin holes.  It may be necessary to gently twist or wriggle the rear sight to remove it out of the mount.  Tolerances may be close.
Release pressure on the spring and inspect for damage or bending.  If needed, rebend the spring upwards using flat blade screwdriver of adequate size.  If needed or replace the spring (should not be necessary.)
Have the replacement rear sight handy.
Re-apply downward pressure on the spring using the drill press.  Hold the spring all the way down.
Insert the replacement sight, into the rear of the rear sight mount, so that the sight hinge pins enter the mount from below the mount holes.  (There was a channel at the bottom of the holes on my Rumanian AK.)  It may be necessary to twist or turn the replacement rear sight to get the sight pins into the channel and holes.  Tolerances may be close.  I placed one rear sight pin into the mount hole then inserted the other pin into the open channel at the bottom of the other mount hole.  To do this it was necessary to enter the sight mount from the rear at an angle to twist the replacement sight into position.  On my AK, the mount holes were larger at the bottom than at the top.
Once the replacement sight pins are in both rear mount holes, release the drill press pressure on the spring.  The upward motion of the spring will force the replacement sight into appropriate position.
The replacement sight pins should be in the top holes of the sight mount.  The replacement sight is now installed.  Test for appropriate movement BEFORE removing the AK from the set-up.
Test the installation for “springiness”.  Slight variations in replacement rear sight construction (length, size of sight bar may effect the feel of the replacement rear sight motions.  There should be enough spring strength to hold the replacement rear sight in place if it is adjusted for elevation.  The feel of the spring may be different from the original configuration. (My rear sight felt “lighter” to push up, however it was longer because of the windage adjustment.  The width of the rear sight bar appeared to be to be a little thinner than the original.  Both conditions would lead to the perception of a “lighter” spring because of slight variations in leverage.  The spring appeared to be undamaged in the appropriate position.
If the sight is “floppy” remove it and re-bend the spring upward or replace the spring.  It will be necessary to remove the replacement rear sight to adjust or replace the rear sight spring.  (I did not find this necessary.)
No-damage? Un-do the set up and reassemble your AK with new rear sight installed.

Hopefully firing your AK will not effect the installation.  I have yet to try mine at the range.  Don't forget to keep your original sight in case things shoot loose.
Good luck and thanks to all for their suggestions above.

I have a new approach.

TOOLS REQUIRED:
- Large adjustable wrench
- Pliers
- Screwdriver bits (preferrably small, flatter headed ones, like hex bits or star bits)

There I sat, with those tools and some c-clamps and other crap, and only two hands.  After a couple false starts, here's what I came up with.

1) Remove the gas tube.

2) Expand the adjustable wrench quite a bit, and place one of the prongs under the rear sight assembly (through the large gas tube area exposed by the removed tube assembly).

3) Hold a very small head screwdriver bit (in my case, I ended up with one of the smaller hex heads) on the tip of the leaf spring.

4) Adjust the wrench so that, keeping the one prong tight against the underside of the sight assembly, the other prong applies pressure to the screwdriver bit, while you're holding it.

5) Tighten it a little and apply pressure so that it holds its position well enough to remove your hand from the bit.

6) The goal here is to get it tight enough so that the leaf spring is under the bit, while the side of the bit is pressed against the front of the sight housing, thus preventing it from slipping.

7) Remove your hand from the bit, after you've hand tightened the wrench as far as you can.  Pick up your pliers.

8) Use the pliers to adjust the wrench further.

9) At this point, the goal is to get the leaf spring compressed far enough that the sight will slip in or out.  If you used too wide a bit, you'll discover that there isn't enough clearance for the sight, even with the bit flush against the front of the housing.  Don't worry, just choose a thinner bit.

10) With the sight in place (or removed), wiggle the wrench free.  If you somehow have an extra hand available now, while holding the rear sight in place and messing with the wrench, you can use the pliers to loosen the wrench, but wiggling ought to suffice.

11) With the wrench free, the bit will pop out, the leaf spring will shoot up again, and the sight will be pressed into position.

Once I figured all this out, it took maybe five minutes, and then only because I chose too wide a bit the first time.  It was actually amazing how readily the bits wanted to balance on the end of the leaf spring, so long as my hands were close by to supervise.

Doesn't scuff anything up, either, except probably a little of the inside of the large part of the gas tube, but that won't hurt anything.

I just finished installing the rear sight and I tried everyone's approach except for a c clamp or drill press.  Here's the best way to remove and reinstall the rear sight IMO,


Use a vise grips with either ground down nail or a small allen wrench and compress the spring in front of the rear sight.  


That's it.  The trick is the vise grips because it gives you a lot of room on your hand to push down on spring.  It should take you about 5 minutes to get off and 5 minutes to get on.  It's real easy with the vise grips.  You also might want to wear eye protection too.

Hope this helps

Trijicons are horrible for shooting in day time.

I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around this. Anyone provide a little more detail?

height=8

Originally Posted By hepcat85: I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around this. Anyone provide a little more detail?

Look in the notch at the front of the rear sight (where it attaches and swivels upward).  Lift the sight up slowly, and you'll see the spring (although it's not an actual spring as you'd think of one but a curved up piece of metal (like a tongue).  Once you can see a good piece of the spring with the sight lifted up part of the way, you're ready to go.

You need a flat blade screwdriver, hammer and a second person.  Get the other person to hold the stock and grab hold of the rear sight.  Take the screwdriver and stick it directly on the spring.  Whack the top of the screwdriver with the hammer, and it should pop right out with the other person holding it.  You don't need to whack it too hard, but if it doesn't pop out on the first try, just whack it a little harder.  This should take you 10 seconds once you locate the spring.

I searched this site for instructions on how-to-remove-the rear sight and found a lot of info, well...I decided to use a small flat head drill bit to the tensioned leaf and put my rifle to my vise(sideways) so the bottom handguard on one end of the vise and the smaill bit on the other. I slowly apply pressureby closing the vise and pull the old sight out without any effort. I replaced it with a Beryl Style Scope Mount.

This is all you will need..

campy sight tool

uxo2 - thanks for the link!  I have the LaRue IronDot on order and was wondering how I was going to do this (other than shoving a screwdriver into the twins as described above)

This is how I have changed out 3 Romanian AK's, although I do not, nor need another person to do this as it only takes a couple pops from my big rubber mallet onto the blade. I have Mini red dot sights on my 3 AK 47's.

Boy, old Kalashnikov really screwed up this part of the AK grand scheme. It can be one of the most frustrating things to work on I know of....surely he could have designed another sight setup...but

My approach to removing the rear sight...notice I spelled it sight...not site...

One hardwood stick ,about 6" in length a dowel will work.

Whittle, cut, carve,trim,narrow, one end down to a flat point eg. a chisel point.

Put rifle in steady place...Place the trimmed end of the wood dowel/stick/rod on the rear sight , not parallel with the rifle but downward .

USE A GREAT BIG HAMMER AND HIT THE DOWEL, IF YOU DO IT RIGHT YOUR SIGHT...NOTICE I spelled it sight...not site , and by using wood, your sight....notice I spelled it.......is not damaged.....

Will fly off.....takes about ...hmmm...5? minutes to find , carve, dowel.
4 seconds to remove sight. I got tired of gouging myself with screwdrivers.

Harder to explain than do.

This is what I did on my 5.45 Saiga to upgrade the rear sight.

THIS !!!!

Took me 20 seconds to get the gun secured, 3 seconds to line the screwdriver up, 0.2 seconds to tap the sight out.
This is the way old Mikhail would do it.

Same here, i recently changed the rear sight on my Romanian AKM for a genuine Soviet AKM rear sight (it has Soviet laminate AKM furniture and slant muzzle brake fitted) and i found it was really easy and the spring stayed in place and the new sight fitted in a treat.