The general consensus 'round here is that's its a bad idea. New chains are assembled with a peaned head on the rivet rather than the old flush fit. Pushing the pin out removes the pean and thereby weakens the link. You should use the master link that you gave up on.

That said.

Before I knew about the above consensus. I lengthened a 9spd SRAM chain and used my old shop grade Park chain tool. That chain has now seen about 1500 miles and has been torqued going over some of the 'hills' 'round here.

Your decision. Out of curiosity, was this on a 10 spd SRAM chain? As alien as the thought may be. Read the instructions that came with the chain. It had me stumped too. But RTFM sometimes does work.