Hello one and all,

Been building a few AK's  -- habit forming ain't it  ! ! -- and have a fun time, except for the trigger guard rivets.  

Have a "crimping tool" for the front trunnion rivets and set the rear trunnion long rivets "by hand" but always seem to have a problem with those pesky trigger guard rivets  ! !

May last attempt was NOT good and ending up drilling out the rivets and starting over.  

So . . .

any ideas on this problem  ? ?   How about some type of a "self-made" rivet tool ? ?

Thanks for any advise . . . .

My ghetto method is to put it in a vise with the top of the jaws closed down enough to support the rivets. Then you press down to make sure everything is snug, and flatten the other end of the rivet inside the receiver with either an air hammer or a large punch. This doesn't give pretty results (the rounded head of the rivet gets a little flattened and the other side can be ugly), but it works. I will caution about air hammers...if it slips off it can dent your receiver very easily.

I just got a trigger jig from Sebring, so with my 12 ton press this should be easy and give pretty results...

Chris, at AK-builder makes a high quality jig that will press all four trigger guard rivets at once.  Others are available and if you're able to weld, and do a little dremel work, you could make your own after looking at the designs.  RTC

make your own with some tools the trigger guard rivets are the easyest to do
find my rivet squeezer thread theres a pic of mine i actually built mine on 2x1/4 flatstock and they work great

If you want to go the air hammer route the way I do it is as follows:

I've got a big round punch, but you could use any steel rod, or my original one was a 1/2 Ratchet Extension about 6 inches long.  Used my drill press to drill a rounded depression in the end of the rod/extension.  Then clamp that in a vise so it stands straight up.

Take an air hammer punch and and gind the tip down so it's wider and not pointed.  Then make slight depression in the end of that (to help keep it from slipping off the rivet and denting the receiver as discussed above)

Then place the rivet through the trigger guard, set the head in the depression in the top of your vice clamped rod, use the air hammer to mash the rivets flat inside the receiver.

The rivets are ugly on the inside, but stay round on the outside.

Here's a link to the TG riveting fixtures I used to sell.
They're pretty easy to make.

www.gunco.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1743