Wow. No matter WHAT I did, I couldn't get the rivets to snap to the bottom brackets at the correct angle. They were snapping on the edge somehow and the problem wasn't the face normals. I know about face normals. I don't always do things exactly the way the instructor does e.g. using a mirror modifier when he shares object data, but my modifiers were applied and the pieces were split from each other etc. Finally, I saw something on google about options-affect only origins and snapped the origin and then set geometry to origin and got one snapped and then just duplicated it out out and mirrored the back and it's done, but still. I have always had trouble with snapping since I started last May but this was beyond trouble.
Sounds like your origin was off the surface of your rivet. Sometimes snapping works wonky, but there are always ways around it and it's easy to have the wrong options turned on. When you're in a bind, you can always ask us and we'll do our best to help out. Try posting screenshots or videos so it's easier to troubleshoot. That said, I admire when someone is auto-sufficient enough to grind trough a problem and solve it, I always say Grit is a super power worth acquiring. Good job on finding a way out of your predicament Daemeon.
No. It was being in orthographic view. I change things to perspective view and now it's fine. It took me hours to figure that out. No screenshots. I am anti-screen shot. Rivet snapping on the edge instead of the bottom. No screenshot necessary.
I have an M.S. in experimental physics. I am not stranger to aggravating problems.