Monday Gunday Palette's Product Reviews: Tandemkross Sub-2000 "Eagle Eye" Sights

Last week I reviewed some quick, easy and inexpensive upgrades for my Sub-2000 courtesy of Tandemkross. This week I'm going to talk about a more expensive, more involved upgrade for your S2K.


Eagle Eye Peep and Open Sights ($44.99)
The stock rear sight on a Sub-2000 is a non-adjustable plastic peep sight that deploys when the carbine is unfolded. This makes it difficult to mount magnified optics of any sort: an S2K owner must either remove the plastic sight altogether or experiment with removable risers that move the scope bell over the peep sight and close enough to achieve proper eye relief.

My S2K with  folded open sight and a 4x scope on a quick-release mount.

The Eagle Eye sights by Tandemkross solve this dilemma by introducing rear sights that can fold down when the carbine is deployed, giving a Sub-2000 owner more choices in the use of optics. In addition, these sights are made out of metal, making them more durable.

Here is a video showing the sights in action.


Installation: The sights installed easily, and at no point did I wish I had a third hand to hold anything. Instructions were clear and concise. with color photographs and guide arrows. I was told I might need a small punch to remove the aluminum pin holding the sight in place, but in my case this was not necessary. I am continually impressed with how easy to read Tandemkross' instructions are.

Performance: It took a little fiddling with the screws to achieve a tension that held the sight in place but still allowed a smooth raising and lowering, but this was nothing unexpected. Once installed, I was satisfied with their function: they did not fall down when the Sub-2000 was operated, and I was able to achieve a good sight picture with the open sight.

You will note that I specifically excluded the peep sight. Here is why:

This is the open sight next to the stock plastic sight. They are mounted on the same sight lever rod ensure the same horizontal axis. You will note that the apertures line up (I apologize for the line intersections not being centered; this was the best I could do as I am not a professional photographer).

This is the same stock plastic sight, but this time next to the peep sight. It is immediately obvious that the TK peep sight is lower than the default sight. This means that the new sight will have a different point of aim, and that the elevation of the front sight will need to be adjusted.

From TK's Product Department:

"The Peep has been re-dimensioned. Having is a little lower means that the front sight will have to be adjusted when installing. We have had reports of the stock front sight not being able to come up high enough so having the rear sight a little lower will help with front sights that do not have enough upward travel.

Be that as it may, there is no mention of this sight being lower than stock, either in its instructions or in the product description. People who install this sight will notice that their gun is suddenly shooting lower, and will likely be irritated to discover that their new sight is to blame. Had I not noticed this during installation, I know that I would be pretty peeved.

Perhaps I'm being unreasonable here. Perhaps my inexperience or ignorance is shining forth, and I ought to expect that changing a rear peep sight would affect elevation. I simply assumed that an aftermarket peep sight would have an identical point of aim as that of the sight it was replacing, unless otherwise specified. 

My Recommendation
I wholeheartedly recommend the open sight to all Sub-2000 owners. I consider it a bit pricey, but the ability to use scopes on my S2K makes up for that.

I recommend against  buying the peep sight. Why should you be forced to re-zero your sights when you can buy the open sight and not have to? Additionally, I feel that not labeling it as being lower than the standard sight is a terrible disservice to customers, and that sort of negligence should not be rewarded.

• Eagle Eye Open Sight: Grade A+ all around. 
• Eagle Eye Peep Sight: Grade C. Once you know it's smaller you can work around it, but honestly you shouldn't have to, and it's not obvious that it's smaller. I subtracted a full letter grade for non-disclosure of that fact. 

Obligatory FTC Disclaimer: I received these products for free and did not receive payment in exchange for a good review. You will notice that I gave one of them a bad review. Go away.