One little trick:
Sometimes getting the nosepiece of the rivet gun to seat properly on the head of the rivet for pulling you may need to stack a few washers on the mandrel. This is especially true in the older main track on the 14 and 16 and the mast cleats. If the nose isn't seated onto the head of the rivet it won't pop right.
I used to use a stop sleeve before I had a custom nose piece built for my gun. Just slide it onto the mandrel, pop rivet, reuse.
Make friends with rivets, they are an easy solution that can solve all sorts of problems.
Hope that helps.