HK 1200m Rear Iron Sights
In trying to decide on which iron sights to use on my PSG90A1 conversion, I found it is not an easy decision to be made. There are at least four version of the 1200m HK iron sight system and they are shown and briefly described below. The purpose of this page is to provide the information I have gathered to other folks who may need to make similar decisions so they don't need to dig through all of the information again.
In the conversion to an A1, that is with iron sights, PSG90A1 - the decision of which irons to use is not simple. Other than selecting one of the 1200m versions (as is used on the MSG90A1 by HK) the other option is to stick with the 400m drum sight that was on the original rifle (HK91/G3). That will not get me any sighting past 400m, but that may well be more than I could need and here is why. The A1 design, since it still keeps the free-floating barrel of the MSG90 or PSG1 has the front iron sight attached to the cocking tube, but the bottom of the sight is NOT attached to the barrel. The lower O of the three-O front sight assembly is removed. What this means is the barrel and the cocking tube form a fork with the muzzel being at the end of one tine and the front iron sight at the end of the other tine. When you shoot the rifle, you put pressure on the forearm, either through the sling, bipod, tripod, or some other support. This pressure is directly transferred to the far end of the front cocking tube - where the front sight sits, as that is where the forearm attaches. Where along the fore-arm the bipod, etc. is placed, affects the torque that is applied to the fore-arm and thus deflects the front sight a varying amount. Additionally, when you cock the rifle, you pull back on the front-sight, in essence.
Keeping that in mind, I wonder what precision I will see using iron sights out at 100m, not to speak of 300 or 400 meters or even beyond. Would it be possible to even get a group size small enough to hit a 6 foot target out at 600 or 800 meters? If not, then the decision must be to stick with the 400m drum sight. Of course one looses the ability to easily dial in windage, but again, at the ranges the iron sight is usefull, how much cross wind effect can there be? The iron sight is just a backup (or a challenge) for when the scope is not used.
I suppose if I find (once my conversion gets back) that I can get decent groups with the 400m drum sight out at 300 and 400 meters, then I'll strongly consider a 1200m sight and if that is the case, THEN one with windage and elevation adjustment is needed. Now as to whether I pick the 2nd version of the orange sight or the silver sight depends on what I learn about the silver sight's sight picture and the prices and availability at the time I want to buy one. It seems that the silver sight does NOT have windage adjustment, though, so that really rules it out. I would think that if a 1200m sight can provide benefit over the 400m drum sight, then the 0range Sight V2 is the one to go with. The usability of an iron sight out past 400m with an MSG90A1 type barrel-sight configuration has still to be tested.
On to the sights...
This information is provided for the enthusiast to utilize in their sight making decisions and all images remain the property of the original authors of those images and the images may not be reproduced without the expressed concent of those original authors.
(images by to Heinrich Kaufman)