Project Appleseed

I'm interested in bringing my front sling swivel closer to the receiver. It appears to be riveted on and will need to be drilled out. Has anyone out there done this? It could be reattached with some small nuts and bolts, but I'm worried it may interfere with the op rod...

-Jesse

You can remove it by drilling off the peened section inside the forend and driving the shanks out with a punch.
buy 2 new rivets at the local hardware and use them, plenty of clearance available if you are neat.

Not sure why you want to move the sling swivel on your M14 .

Have you considered adding an after market swivel and leaving the original in place ?

Just a thought 
JA

Duh --- Light bulb  A hand stop .
I get it 
Whew 1 lifetime is not long enough to learn the "gun culture "
Thanx Guys
JA

I used a GI synthetic stock.

I used a drill bit large enough (3/8" or 1/2"??) to remove just the rolled over sections of the front rivets on the inside of the stock (as Sam described) and then used a punch and small hammer to remove the rivets.  The front sling swivel will then fall off the stock (mine did). 

I didn't reinstall the GI front sling swivel but it would be easy to do by moving it towards the magazine well and redrilling the holes for the rivets.  If you go the rivet way be sure to securely support the other end of the rivet as you flatten the other end with the punch and hammer.

Be sure to check the op rod for clearance.  I checked mine by removing the op rod spring and spring guide and putting the rifle back in the stock and working the op rod back and forth while feeling for dragging/binding.

Good luck.

,

Quote from: DwayneH on December 13, 2010, 10:33:12 AM
I have never taken a sling swivel off, but it is soft aluminum so you could grind it off with a dremel. 

The sling swivel and base is not aluminum, not on my rifles.  The rivets may be.  If I were grinding them off I'd ground on the inside so as not to mark up the sling swivel or stock.

If you do it with a dremil be sure to wear eye protection and have the stock solidly held so you don't bounce around the inside of the stock with the dremil and cut up your stock (would probably make a weak spot in a synthetic stock and spot for moisture to sneak into a wood stock. 

Old Dog,
That sure is a pretty rifle

Same here. Short version, leave the old swivel where it is. YMMV, but I like to use the front swivel for a hasty in standing and a relocated one for loop in prone and sitting.

Anyway...milled a flat on the stock (optional) where the new swivel would go so it "lays down" right and used the holes as a template to drill. Can't remember the diameter, but not too big...bigger hole=less strength. Used the shortest screws (rounded machine screws with hex drive look less crude than plain hex-head bolts) and nuts I could find, but still had to grind the shanks a little to clear the op rod. Use blue loctite if you ever want to get it off again, red if you like it where it is. Don't tighten the screws too much on a synthetic stock because that's where mold seam is and you could induce cracking which is bad for obvious reasons.

BD,

I have BOTH spare swivels and GI issue rivets, if you want we can take care of this next weekend in the "Osage 'Smith Shop"

The rivets and swivel BOTH are steel, and the rivets also have a washer inside for reinforcement. No biggie, I've done it before and have everything necessary.

Bring me the parts and I'll build you a collapsible, pistol-grip stock while you're here...   

KR

Thanks everybody for all the help. KR - I'll take you up on that this weekend. See you in Brumley.