Adjustable night sights for use on assault rifles or other instruments including tangent sight mounts

Abstract

A method and apparatus to optimize windage adjustment allows the user to leave the front sight post centered and adjust windage using a rugged, compact traversing leaf on the rear sight by replacing the traditionally non-moving rear sight notch with a click adjustable notch of a configuration similar to that seen on a target pistol. A rugged, compact click adjustable mechanism adjusts the windage on the rear sight and the sight leaf contains two or three luminescent elements such as tritium vials in one of three configurations, thereby adding a night sight capability to the rifles.

Description

[0001] This application claims priority to provisional patent application No. 60 / 748,180, filed Dec. 8, 2005, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. This application is also related to U.S. application Ser. No. 10 / 922,918, filed Aug. 23, 2004, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] 1. Field of the Invention [0003] The present invention relates to adjustable sights for use with assault rifles or other rifles or instruments including tangent sight mounts [0004] 2. Discussion of the Prior Art [0005] Many military rifles, military surplus rifles and assault rifles including, for example, the AK-47, AKM and AK-74, have both a front and rear sight, and by aligning the sights on a target using the appropriate “sight picture”, one can aim the rifle. There are a variety of prior art sight configurations for the AK family assault weapons. [0006] Many military rifles, military surplus rifles and assault...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0011] Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to overcome the above mentioned difficulties by providing an improved set of windage adjustable night sights.

[0014] In accordance with the present invention, the way to optimize windage adjustment is to allow the user to leave the front sight post dead center in the protected hood and then to adjust windage using a traversing leaf on the rear sight by replacing the traditionally non-moving rear sight notch with a click adjustable notch of a configuration similar to that seen on a target pistol. A click adjustable mechanism adjusts the windage on the rear sight and the sight leaf contains or holds either two or three tritium vials in one of three configuration embodiments and that adds a night sight capability to the rifles.

Problems solved by technology

A serious drawback on the AK family of weapons is that the rear sight adjustment is limited to pre-calculated elevation graduations for selected distances-to-target or ranges (e.g., (a) from 100 to 800 meters in the case of Chinese AKS to the earlier Russian AK 47 and (b) 0 or actually 100 meters to 1,000 meters on the later Soviet block AKM variations and also on the last AK 74 variation).

The windage adjustment remains a problem since, for the AK class of rifles, to adjust windage the front sight base is pushed or drifted to the left or right.

In some cases, it is necessary to adjust or drift the front sight literally all the way to the one side or another where the front sight post is resting against the inside of the front sight protective hood and so becomes nearly impossible to use.

Adjusting the front sight for windage in this way is not a desirable solution for many shooters.

Many AK style surplus rifles never had a night-sight capability and those that were equipped with prior-art night sights are now not usable due to limited shelf life and the twelve year half-life of the tritium illumination sources.

The latest Warsaw Pact or eastern block guns made in 1989 (just prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall) have non-adjustable sights that don't glow at night; they are not leaking, but are not functional as night sights any longer.

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