Wednesday, December 2, 2020

Prudent Prepping: Seeing Red (Dot)

 The dust has settled and the First 72 Hours have passed. Follow along as I build a long term plan via Prudent Prepping. 

Due to technical difficulties, further posts on map reading and distance measurements will be delayed; the compass I ordered was damaged in shipping and needs to be returned and a different model ordered. 

However, what did come in were the parts necessary to make aiming a firearm easier! Look at this:

All The Things!

The Base
Because I received recommendations from friends, I purchased a mount from RS Regulate. This company makes mounts for the AK family of rifles, including cousins not from the Soviet Bloc, and I have a rifle like that. I ordered the AK-303M, thinking I was good to go. 

AK-303M w/mount 

What I didn't realize (from failing to read the complete catalog) is that I needed a separate mount for the red dot I have. The red dot sight has a picatinny mount included, you see, and from looking at the catalog that seemed to be all I needed. 

How wrong I was! The AK-303M rail is a proprietary 1/4 width rail, which doesn't really show in the pictures. That's why the actual RS Regulate mount has such an odd extension. 

The Mount
The really nice thing about RS Regulate products is that the various bases will accept many different mounts, all the way from red dot mounts (like mine) to scope rings. My red dot uses one of the more common types: RMR/Trijicon/Holosun
 

AKMR
Unfortunately, the mount was listed as Out of Stock with no restocking date. After looking at the Authorized Dealer list there was one place with a single, solitary mount in stock.

In Canada.

Who wouldn't sell it to me.

But would sell it to someone with the proper paperwork.

I was able to find a friend who did the legwork and the paperwork,  and then attempted to forward the mount to me at cost. Unfortunately, that didn't fly; shipping and handling was added to the invoice.

By this point you're probably wondering what kind of sight is worth this much effort. 

Red Dot
I'd asked in a very friendly gun group for an ideas on a red dot that wouldn't break the limited budget I'm always working on. A member of the group, Michael Branson with Swampfox Tactical Optics, offered me the same discount as is offered to LEO, active duty and retired military, and I bought the Kingslayer compact red dotThere are three choices in center dots: 3 MOA red dot, red dot w/circle, or green dot w/circle. I picked the simple red dot, since I intend to use this under 100 yards. 
Kingslayer

From the Swampfox Kingslayer web page:

  • Optic with sheath                                                   
  • Picatinny Rail Mount
  • Screwdriver
  • Lens Cloth
  • Battery
  • Three screw sets
  • Torx #6-32x0.315L T10
  • TORX #6-32x0.393L T10
  • TORX M3.5x10L T10

Mounting was extremely easy with all the different screws supplied by Swampfox. Not only do they include screws, they sent four of each, for those of us that tend to magically make screws disappear. 

Another cool feature is the battery drawer can be opened without removing the optic from the mounting plate. 

I also need to mention the box and how everything is packed. All parts are in separate slots and cut in some of the densest foam I've seen. There is no way for any parts to be damaged in shipping. 

I am more than impressed with the Kingslayer and everything included in the box. All in all I'm extremely happy with how everything works and went together. I need an open range to actually sight everything in and I will be golden!

Recap And Takeaway

  • Nothing was purchased from Amazon, but RS Regulate sells many different mounts for AK pattern guns.
  • I did buy the Kingslayer Red Dot from Swampfox direct with a 30% discount. Normally, $219.99.

* * *

Just a reminder: if you plan on buying anything through Amazon, please consider using our referral link. When you do, a portion of the sale comes back here to help keep this site running!

If you have comments, suggestions or corrections, please post them so we all can learn. And remember, Some Is Always Better Than None!

NOTE: All items tested were purchased by me. No products have been loaned in exchange for a favorable review. Any items sent to me for T&E will be listed as such. Suck it Feds.

2 comments:

  1. Having a battery drawer tray is super convenient, and it is also a point where water can get into the sight...be warned.
    not a bad idea to open the tray and dry things out if caught in the rain...

    ReplyDelete
  2. So for various reasons, I've got an assortment of red dot sights. My current "kit" includes a Vortex Optics Crossfire (which lives on the rifle) and a Bishop Revelation 1-8×24 that lives in the rifle case as a "grab when more range is needed" item. Also have several other wide Perture red spots that are good starters - I gifted one to a friend who got a Keltec KS7 shotgun (which note is rail equipped but comes sans sights).

    Oh - one BIG suggestion. Get a laser boresight. They're $10-15, and allow you to easily boresight even in covid conditions. Not the same as zeroed on a range, but a close approximation.

    And I still need to figure out a useful red dot solution for an M1 Carbine.

    ReplyDelete

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