After 3 hours, I'll be damned if I can get the rivet stubs out of the rear trunnion and trigger guards -- I've managed to egg 2 holes on a rear trunnion already. I've filed/ground the rivet heads down, have tried drilling the rivets (wound up walking the bit even after center punching), tried pressing, hammering, air chiseling, etc. to no avail. I picked up new bits tonight to try again tomorrow with the drilling, but would love to know what I'm missing here. The trigger guard I've been screwing with isn't much better, but at least I think that if I can get the rivets out it'll be salvagable. Also, anyone have a spare rear trunnion sittting around? :shaking:

I leave the rivets in if I'm doing a weld-build.

But otherwise, get a propane torch and heat them up a bit, then use a spring-loaded center-punch and it usually pops them right out. Make sure they're ground flush with the receiver, and that you can see the perfect circular hole that is created by the rivet. I only heat them if they don't immediately pop out using the center-punch. Most of the time they'll fall right out, or will only take a light tap, at the most.

For my trigger guard I did the coarse grinding with an angle grinding, the medium grinding with a dremel, then stepped down to a bastard file and popped it out with a punch.

The rivets are softer than the trunion. Use a slightly smaller (than the rivet) drill bit and even if you are off of your center punch a little bit - the drill will naturally buzz through the bit instead of the hardened steel of the trunion. I just put the rear trunion in a vise and lay into it with an air drill - never ever ever ever had a problem with mangling the trunion itself.

I'm a bit spoiled on the trigger guard - I just throw it in the bridgeport and buzz the rivets off with a small endmill bit. Could easily be done with a grinder though - the biggest trick is to pry the pieces apart with *sharp* flat-head screwdriver wedged between the trigger guard, selector stop and receiver - you'll never get a clean shot at hammering them out with a punch.

Edit: - be careful on the trigger guard to not mangle the selector stop - easy to do if your frustrated and getting a bit crazy with a grinder.

The front trunion I just grind the heads off the rivet and grab the receiver with some pliers and pry it off - press the barrel out - center punch them and those usually hammer out with a punch pretty easy.

i had no trouble drilling out the rivets using only a hand drill.

search the web as there is a tool to keep your drill bits in line while drilling them out.:smokin:

I drill all mine out with 1/8" split point drill bits. One new bit per demil.

On the rear trunnion, I drill 95 percent of the way through the rivet, then knock it out with a long punch. On the rest, I drill all the way through, and knock the small pieces out. I also found it easier for me to drill through the rivet head without grinding it smooth. If my hole ends up off-center, I can drill through the head at an angle to get the hole centered on the shaft, then continue down the center of the shaft.1`````

i had no trouble drilling out the rivets using only a hand drill.

search the web as there is a tool to keep your drill bits in line while drilling them out.:smokin:

link? make it easy on my retarded ass...