Thanks for the nice note Dave. Installing a rib with rivets is so much faster and easier than fluxing, soldering and cleaning up a soldered rib/barrel. I have also installed a lot of solid ribs to Hawken rifles using Brownell's 6 x 48 scope mounting screws. All of the nearly 200 rifles that came out of Robinson's shop in the late seventies early eighties were attached that way, and are still holding up well to this day. But riveting is faster and every bit as strong. It does require a barrel wall sufficient thickness to accommodate the staking process without dimpling the bore.
With a riveted hollow rib, I plug the muzzle end with solder, but leave the aft' end open to breathe.