1949 SKS Magazine - "Rivet or Not"

[jstin2]

Sometime in 1949, the change was made by riveting the post to the magazine. I have a spare magazine(1954) that I ground off the rivet to remove the post. You can see that the magazine was predrilled and post was fabricated to fit the hole and then peened.







Before looking at my 1949, I had thought that the spring was loose fitting and that the reason for the rivet change was to hold it in place. But then I saw that there was a post holding the spring in place. Pictured is my ЮE 1217 SKS





Once I removed the pin holding magazine together I could see that the post was welded to magazine. Pictured is my ЮE 416 SKS.



When I cropped some pictures, I noticed why the change was made to a rivet. Poor welding and weld was cracking.

[jstin2]

I added the top picture tonight. It looked a little odd, so I clicked on picture then on the + to enlarge. I then scrolled down to where the post is. It appears that the heat from the inside weld made a circular impression on the outside of magazine.