one reason why the "drive nail" works better than a rivet: you don't have to hit them hard enough to deform the back of the shaft, the spiral fluting cuts enough into the hole to hold them (if you have the dimensions matched right) and the nails are steel so the heads are pretty tough. I use a plastic-faced mallet. But for those who really have to have rivets McMaster-Carr has many styles in steel as well as brass and copper, even tiny pop-rivets (but I don't have a pop rivet tool small enough for them).