Many thanks to wingbone for his advice to use Craftsman brand slip ring pliers. I bought the ones from Brownells and they are useless for this application. We do not have Sears here, but I remembered that KMart and Sears are merged now. Quick trip to KMart and back. Job finished in under one minute.And yes, that Specter 2" sling and on-the stock ammo carrier really look cool!