Sling mounting problem Remington 870 Express Synthetic

[VA Lawdog]

I have a brand new Remington 870 Express Turkey Synthetic stock shotgun that came with the magazine cap ready to accept a sling swivel attachment. The buttstock has the factory attaching hole for a sling swivel molded into the bottom of the stock. My problem is my Uncle Mike's QD sling swivel stud will not go through the attaching point hole on the buttstock. It is too small. Uncle Mike's says they do not make a smaller shanked swivel to fit the smaller attaching hole. Remington says not to drill the attaching hole on the buttstock any larger to accomodate the sling swivel shank. First I thought that the hole had just filled with the stock molding material much like paint fills a hole when painting. Remington says the synthetic stock Mossy Oak coating is applied decal like. So far my only solution is to grind down the sling swivel stud to fit the smaller attaching hole or come up with a link between the swivel and the buttstock hole and attach those two components. Grinding on the swivel stud takes away from the integrity of the attaching point of the swivel and would be sloppy in its fit. Plus I don't know that I could do a good enough grind job to suit. Any link suggestions, like a hardware store "S" hook or something similar, would be greatly appreciated. Remington says no one else has called them describing this problem. I'm thinking I have a defective stock whereas the sling swivel attaching point was not formed correctly at Remington. I may go and look at another Remington 870 Turkey Synthetic and see if other swivel attaching points are as small as the one on my shotgun. Thanks everyone.

[Virginian]

I think the hole is too small. I just mic'ed seven Uncle Mike's swivels and they are all within a couple of thousandths of the same size. Probably just a casting error on the stock. IF the side plates of the swivel will go in far enough for the hole to line up, I would try to enlarge the hole in towards the stock so you do not lose strength in the connection. If not I would call Remington and ask to speak to a supervisor. They do NOT make different sized swivels and they dang well know that. If the stock is brand new and "just fine" they shouldn't have any problem swapping one then should they?