A long time favorite of mine, the PK-AS is an interesting and well designed collimator sight that has probably the best field of view of any red dot or collimator type optic that I've seen. Originally descended from the PKS-07 magnified scope used on the SV98 and sometimes SVD Dragunov rifles, the PK-AS is the non magnified version inspired from the original PKS-01.

Of all the collimators I have personally used it seems to me that PK-AS has the highest light gathering and clearest optical quality. Due to it's construction and with such a thin scope body the edges almost completely disappear with both eyes open, leaving you with virtually nothing to obscure your vision. A small 1.5moa always on black dot is handy for more precise shooting and a large black oval is useful for CQB shooting. The PK-AS dot can be illuminated red for low light/night shooting and uses common CR357 type watch batteries, and has a variable intensity as part of the on/off knob. Battery life at max brightness is about 120 hours. Only the dot illuminates, not the oval as well.

This is the most difficult Russian optic to zero due to the mechanical nature of the windage and elevation controls and this is actually an intentional part of the design. PK-AS was intended to be zeroed to a specific rifle and to remain paired with that rifle, therefore the ability to easily re-zero in the field did not appear to be necessary.

KalinkaOptics has a manual for the PK-AS that explains the features in detail, as well as how to zero. Having experience with it I can say it's not too difficult once you get the hang of it but it's really not the easiest thing for a first time user.

PK-AS comes with a 3.5mm wrench for adjustment

From Avtomats-In-Action

This is also one of the most left offset optics and has a reputation for not giving a good cheekweld. If you are right eye dominant I think this is true, however with both eyes open you can still get somewhat of a chinweld. It's definitely to the left however and can be tough for new shooters to get used to. Because of the offset PK-AS does not block the irons, but the AK version with MTK83 mount does. The AK version sits higher than regular PK-AS however and that may take some getting used to as well. My personal experience was that I had to train with this optic to get used to, it wasn't as natural as other rifle/optic combinations I'd tried but as I learned to shoot with both eyes open and practiced more close range drills I began to get an idea of why it was designed the way it was. After you spend some time with it it becomes easy to use and I continue to respect the PK-AS, but all things considered I think Rakurs is probably the better of the two. 

PK-AS has an elevation cam wheel graduated in 2 MOA increments that can be used for any caliber rifle if you know your ballistic drop at range. I believe the pure military version of the PK-AS elevation cam is in meters but I have not verified this in person. Suffice to say that it can be easily used out to 400m by applying the standard 22cm offset of the 400m zero principle, allowing you to put the dot on center mass and not have to know or adjust for range out to about 400 meters.

PK-AS is descended from PKS-01, which itself is a descendant of the PKS-07 shown here on an NDM86. PKS-07 is a 7x sniper optic for the SV98 rifle but is effective on the SVD as well.

PK-AS with PKS-07

Left PK-AS and right, the original PKS-01. This version of PKS-01 is actually for the AS Val, a suppressed 9x39 rifle.

The PK-AS uses a universal mount, PKS-01 (as currently available in the US) uses an SVD mount for the AS-Val. There are dedicated 5.45x39 military versions of PKS-01 but I have not seen them yet.

SVD stop pin on the front part of PKS-01 (right) and Universal mount on the PK-AS (left)

PK-AS comes in several variants as well including a Weaver mount and a civilian model with an MTK83 AK mount that sits directly over the bore (and higher than the regular PK-AS)

PK-AS-V with MTK83 AK mount. This makes the PK-AS very tall and uncomfortable for some shooters.

PK-AS-W from POSP.RU

This was my favorite collimator / red dot for many many years and probably would still be if it were not for the appearance of the Rakurs and most recently Obzor. I'm a big fan of the always on black dot which means that even if the batteries go dead you still have the ability to use the optic during the day. While Rakurs looks huge next to PK-AS the two are about very close in weight...17.1 ounces for Rakurs vs 15.8 for PK-AS

An excellent question from AR15.com member Robotizing. This was my response on how to zero the optic

Because of how many optics I fool around with I use a pretty simple method which is to always move the reticule to the bullet impact. I can never keep track of trajectory right/trajectory left because so many are opposite of each other and for me making a large reticule movement helps me remember which way is which with just a couple shots. That makes it easy to zero a bunch of different optics in one trip.

Having said that for the PK-AS it's not too complicated to understand because it's a straightforward mechanical system that moves the scope body in order to move the reticule. The tricky part is how the three screws control the axis of the reticule and does take some familiarization. This is why I always say that the PK-AS is the hardest to zero of all the optics I've come across yet but it's not a deal killer since you typically only have to do it once for the rifle in question.

Unloosen the left side locking nut using a 3.5mm allen wrench. You will find that to make adjustments while the PK-AS mounted you will need to remove your dust cover to get into the screws. The W or V versions may need to be removed from the rifle completely.

For windage the right side screw turns clockwise which pushes on the center shaft. This causes the reticule to move to the right because the windage screw is screwing in deeper. To move the reticule to the left unscrew by turning counter clockwise...this brings the windage screw further out of the optic.

For elevation the bottom screw goes deeper into the optic (headed up, or away from the receiver) which causes the reticule to move down. Clockwise and counterclockwise is somewhat hard to describe because of the positioning of the screw and optic but I'll try. If you are looking forward to the muzzle from the back of the rifle as though you are sighting down the scope the allen wrench should move from the left side of the rifle to the right side.

If you are looking down on the optic from above and behind the rifle, the allen wrench should turn counter clockwise...again the wrench will visibly move from the left side of the rifle to the right as you swing through a half turn (which is all you can do because of the restricted range of motion from the mount itself).

The range wheel acts in a similar fashion. When viewing from above clockwise causes the reticule to move up, counterclockwise causes the reticule to move down. When the reticule moves up the lowest numbers will be showing when the range wheel stops. When the reticule has moved the furthest down that it can highest numbers are showing. What this means is that after the weapon is zeroed, moving the reticule down will make the trajectory go higher which compensates for range. When the reticule has been brought down as far as it will go in the FOV the range wheel will have the highest numbers showing...either the largest MOA that be applied for most versions, or the furthest distance for the few that have miltary range increments.


What is tricky about the PK-AS is that the locking nut also acts as the stop for the windage nut and the pressure when the two meet during tightening after zero can throw the zero off slightly. It's not uncommon for me to have to refine the zero because the locking nut pushes the windage nut further out which causes the reticule to move left slightly. It can be a bit of dance but with patience you'll get a feel for how tight the locking nut needs to be screwed in to minimize this effect.

PK-AS is in use with police and counter terrorist units but has not been adopted by the Russian military so far as I know at this time.