So I contacted McMaster about the problem with the rivets. Their online rivet spec drawing indicated that they had 0.118 mandrel and the ones I received had 0.128 mandrels. They suggest me to order the 1/4 hand riveter as its 3/16 nose piece should take the rivets.
Well with my pass experiences of the rivets not fitting the 3/16 nose piece on other riveters I ordered a spare 3/16 nose piece expecting that I would need to machine the piece to fit. As expected when the tool arrived the rivets would not fit the nose piece that came with the tool. To my surprise the extra nose piece I had ordered at the same time fits the rivets. Sure luck reckon that I lucked out getting a factory nose piece that the rivets fit.
Well I tried installing the 3/16 rivets and they install fine and mandrel were pulled and broken off like a hot knife slicing thru butter. The tool is a little bulky but I can work around that. After I order 1/8 nose piece I think this will be my go to riveter. It was a little hard to part with $144 shc included for a manual tool when the HFT tool was only $50 plus tax. But it turn out to be well worth it. The spending another $7 for the extra 1/8 nose piece is well worth it later.
Whatever you use with these rivets I highly recommend getting a tool that catches the rivets. I installed the 5/32 stainless rivets that other day and one of the mandrels hit me in the face. Luckily I was wearing my safety glasses as the mandrel just barely caught the edge of the left lens instead of my cheek.
