I have Plinkers riveter and it works great. Quesion is when doing the long rivets on the rear tang the rivets want to push or bend to one side. How do you guys get them to push stright down?
TIA

Do you have plinket's rear rivet jig?  There is a special jig he made for the rear rivets (I don't own one myself)....

For rear rivets I simply drill out my trunion for a snug fit to the rivet and then place the rounded head of the rivet into a rounded out hole in a piece of steel and then use a hammer to squast the opposite end of the rivet...  slow and easy hitting gives a nice fit....

BUT, I am always listening to other ideas....

I've had hit and miss luck with my regular plinker's jig on rear rivets.  I use the rounded head insert on the pusher.

My end conclusion is that some of the rear rivets are a tad long.  Also, if they don't start off dead square (the end to be smooshed is perfect) then you will get a sideways smoosh.  Once it starts to go sideways, there's no saving it with the jig.  Maybe a ballpeen hammer would help.

I know plinker makes a rear rivet specific jig to address this same problem.  Check www.ak-builder.com

If you find some majical solution, let me know

ps plinker's jig is worth its weight in gold!

Plinker is an amazing guy... I knew these existed but hadn't really seen how they work...

www.ak-builder.com/ak/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=20

Looks like another $55 I need to spend soon as god knows I have all the rest of the jigs out there!

I'm gonna get one of those rear jigs and try to straighten out some of my crooked rear rivets....

I'll let you know how it works- hopefully with pics.

for the rear rivets I to an impact air hammer bit,  cut the head off of it, and drilled a small dimple in the end of it.  I use a piece of flat stock that is drilled for the formed rivet head, lay it on the bench, and start the smashing with a 3 lb hammer, then use the impact bit to form the rivet head.  works great, and looks good too, more uniform instead of mushroom on one side and flat on the other, I now have two mushrooms on either side.

Chris

I agree that Plinker's jig is worth it's weight in gold.  I've completed several nice builds with it and am still amazed at how well thought out it is.  What's even more valuable is all the instructions and photos that Plinker furnishes on a CD.  I printed all this and made a binder that I refer to.  Also, Plinker himself has alway been willing to answer my emails when I have had questions.  It's really a bargain if you look at all the stuff it comes with and what it does.

I ran into the same problem with rear rivets.  I agree with Eyegun, that the lenth of rivet protusion is the most important factor in producing a nicely formed head.

I recently bought a zillion rivets through one of the recent group rivet buys on Gunsnet, so I felt I could spare a few for experimentation.  I drilled some holes in a steel bar then cut back some long  rivets to simulate the length of the rivet protruding from the side of my receiver.  I used Plinker's jig with the cupped set screw.  Just the way they came out of the bag, the longer rivets protruded about 6/16" through my receiver.  This seemed way too long, to my eye.  I started with this length first, which just resulted in me bending the rivet over.  I kept shortening subsequent rivets by about 1/16 at time, until I got down to a 3/16" protrusion, which seemed to form a nice, even shaped head.  Encouraged by this result, I went ahead and did the actual riveting of my first rear trunion, using rivets cut down to a 3/16" protrusion.  The heads were as nice as any AK factory job I've ever seen.  Note, after cutting back the rivet shanks to 3/16" protrusion, take care to file the shank surface parallel to the side of the receiver, remove any burrs and smooth up the surface to remove any saw or file marks.  When you form the head, any imperfections in shank will be mirrored in the finished head.

Plinker's jig works "ok" for the straight through rear trunion rivets, but even with the proper protrusion, you've really got take pains to eyeball from a couple of angles and make sure everything is lined up straight and is stabilized with the clamp, so the rivet is crushed straight.

Plinker also has another fixture he developed just for the straight through trunion rivets and cross member rivet.  By consulting with Plinker and looking at some of his photo's, I made my own copy of it.  I've spent alot of time experimenting with it, too.  Everything I said above about rivet length and prep etc. also holds true equally ture with this jig, except the setup is fool proof and takes almost no time at all.