Should I Have Passed On This Inland?

[USGI]

My goal was to get the sling and oiler removed and still have the sling capable of being reinstalled. To do that, I needed to drill out the rivet and replace it with a post (barrel) screw. The rivet turned out to be hollow steel about 1/8" in diameter with brass caps. When I started drilling, the cap came off - then it got really tough to get the rest of the rivet out without ruining the leather.

The smallest post screw I could find at HD was 3/16" x 1/4" so knew I would have to shorten both pieces to get the length down enough to tighten against the leather. Even though the leather was nearly 1/8" thick just a few inches from the riveted loop, I found that I needed to shorten the post to a length of about .170" to match the leather at the loop. The (double) thickness of the leather in the area where it comes in contact with the oiler when installed on the gun, is about .235" - that's why the loop at the end of the sling has to be taken apart to remove the oiler. I used a 3/16" hollow punch to increase the size of the original rivet holes.

The oiler didn't look like it had been out or had the cap off in a long time - an original leather washer was still in there! I'll probably put on a GI sling, but at least I was able to save the "Veteran" one!

I'll attach a few pictures. - Bob