Rivet melting point???

Does anyone know if the center support rivet would melt if I had the whole receiver heat treated after it was put in?

Everything is made of steel. If you aren't melting your receiver you won't be melting anything else either. The heat treating point is hundreds of degrees colder than the melting point, so even if you leave the torch in one spot for a LITTLE too long it shouldn't melt anything (I'm assuming an oxy-X torch here, straight propane probably won't ever melt steel).

I'm going to be heating the whole receiver in a heat treating forge. I just thought with the rivet being softer stell it might cause a problem.

The rivet is made of mild steel. It shouldn't melt but it won't get hard. I'm not sure if it might get brittle but I doubt it. Normally the center support is heat treated separately from the receiver and riveted after the receiver is heat treated. In fact the lower rails are the same. Heat treated separate from the receiver shell and spot welded after heat treating is done. A lot of the receivers in America are heat treated with the rails welded in place though. The center support rivet is replaceable but I doubt it will need it. I think it will survive heat treating of the receiver. if the receiver hasn't been heat treated maybe the rivet isn't there yet. I'd leave it out but would jig the receiver to prevent warping, which may happen anyway. If it's a receiver that was torch heat treated before and has the rivet you most likely can leave the rivet in place.

Good luck, it will probably end up looking like a pretzel. I do ask - why? I can't afford the ammo to wear out a spot heat treated receiver (thousands of rounds through them already). If you can afford to buy that much ammo and your concerned about the heat treatment then just spring for a NDS receiver. BTW, make sure the receiver material is heat treatable - if it's an off brand you may have no idea what it is.