Why are they so notoriously poor for accuracy?
Most Soviet conscripts never had access to a sight tool and this was kept with the armorer. Ive read that the armorer bore sights or "Gets it close" and its considered good. And then.....theres the internet. Americans care about accuracy a helluva lot more than most countries. My guess anyways.
Seems they would have been able to fix that during the production run over decades and several countries.
The whole misconception on bad Chinese AKs is what allows lucky bastards to find usually great MAK90s with crappy stocks to be picked up for $300 or less and resold for $700-800.
Valmets and Galils did exactly that. However, the standard AK sights may not be the best for accuracy but they are plenty effective for combat on moving targets. I normally paint my fronts blaze orange and "Fullerize" my rear sights by widening the notch to about 0.80" and rounding the corners.