If you want to take advantage of the side rail, RS Regulate mounts are very, very nice. Well built and low profile. They are also on the pricier side, but sometimes RS runs deals on blems (I've also bought a couple used models on eBay for fair prices). I've used just about every brand of optic mount under the sun on my AKs at some point - Midwest Industries, Zenitco, surplus Russian, UTG, no-name Chinese stuff, etc. - and in my opinion, nothing compares to RS Regulate. Alternatively, if you dig the low profile/scout setup, you can run a rear sight leaf mount (I currently have an Attero on my WASR) or a gas tube rail (such as the Ultimak), but while you're still new to AKs I'd suggest keeping it simple and going with a detachable side rail mount.
How is your vision? Red dots will get you easily out to 100+ yards, but if you want to stretch the x39 round a bit more, a decent 3ish-x optic will do you well without adding too much weight (not that us AK guys give too much a
shit crap about weight ... that's more for those "modern sporting rifle" folks
).
Clearly, AK parts are plentiful and setups are too each their own. If you're anything like most of us here, you'll end up with at least one overflowing parts bin full of extra stocks, grips, handguards, muzzle devices, rails, mounts, slings, and anything else you can swap out without a drill and press. It's a sickness, really...