I need to remove and then reinstall a factory sling mount under the front sight of my AR in order to slide a rail panel on.  I've been searching the forums to find out how to remove and then reinstall it, but unfortunately I can't find anything.  I know it's pinned, but it's a weird looking pin and I don't want to damage it. Can anyone tell me how to remove it, or give me a link to a guide?  If so, it would be much appreciated.

Thanks

anyone?   I can't get this damn rail panel on without removing the mount, and I want to do it without damaging it.

thanks

SPECULATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was recently watching the brownells ar15 video because Ive never assembled an upper for myself.  That flared rivet that holds the swivel looks like it'd be a lot harder to remove than the entire gas block (held by two taper pins and a roll pin).  I hope someone can disprove or approve this notion.  It just looks as though the sling rivet is meant to be permanent and the tapered pins on the gas block were meant to be semi-permanent.  That is my take, good luck!

got it, couldn't remove the gas block, but fortunately the sling mount was on a totally separate thing with only two big roll pins.  Easy to get out, I only hope I can get it back on smoothly.

But if anyone knows how to get the sling mount pins out without damaging them, I would still like to know.

thanks for the help

You can tap the side "M4" sling mount pins out.  They're just plain ol' roll pins; no special challenge.  Just watch your hammer strikes if you want to keep a pristing finish.

The "M16" sling mount attached to the gas block is held in place with a pin that is peened down.  I Dremeled the "meat" of the pin's interior (looking end-on) with a very small spherical cutting bit and then just tapped it out with a small punch.  The pin was trash but I don't like those sling mounts so putting it back on was never a consideration.  I'm willing to bet you could find the GI pin and peen it back into place if you ever wanted to return your rifle to box-stock configuration.

I run my sling attached to the very aft part of the rail with a DD mount.  Works great for me and I don't have extra sling mounts flapping around and getting caught on things.