Well, yesterday I fixed the situation of being without a 10/22. I picked up a black synthetic/matte black finished version yesterday. I'm not a fan of black guns, but this was the cheapest route for me to go where I would have a synthetic stock and matte black gun. I bought this configuration with the intention of swapping out the stock for a brown laminated one (Revolution Explorer - looks like the Target model stock, but for a standard barrel dia.) in the very near future, but until then I have the stability and durability of the synthetic one, and it will make a good spare. The matte black Leupold and mount on top of the matte black gun and brown laminated stock should be a handsome, capable rig.
One final question - Ruger recommends 12-15 in. lbs. of torque for the receiver mount screws. My smallest torque wrench only goes to 20 in. lbs. For those of you mounting scopes on these aluminum receivers all the time - what do you do if you have no torque wrench? I'm comfortable with torquing mount screws by "feel" on steel receivers, but the aluminum has me a little bit shy. Thanks