Just picked up this rifle from an estate sale. No manual or extras.

Two questions:
1) what size Allen wrench do I need to take the recoil pad off? The previous owner has all the extenders installed.

2) what is a good solution to mounting a scope on the forward rail?
I was thinking a rail attachment to bring the scope back further towards a "normal" position.

Thanks.

Toss the rail and buy Ruger rings.

You don't have to take the rail off to use rings on the receiver. You do have to take off the rear sight.

I used an intermediate eye relief Weaver Super Slam 1x-5x-x30mm on an ADM SW (super wide) qd mount.

Puts the rear ocular exactly where I need it when mounted at the rear of the rail, because the rings are wide most of the scope itself is between the rings which appears very sturdy, comes off easy, retains irons, allows largely unfettered access to loading port. It's unconventional for sure, but it works well

I also have an Aimpoint Comp M3 in an ADM SL mount for it, so it can be used irons, magnified, red dot with minimal effort.

As an added bonus if gives Scout purists heartburn because it isn't mounted as low as humanly possible, and gives scout haters something to hate because it's a scout, but it's not.

It's been a while, but I thought the recoil pad/spacer screw was a Phillips ?

Anybody can mount a scope over the action.
There are a half dozen advantages to mounting out on the forward rail, but some close minded people can't get over decades of shooting with the optic right up against your head and shooting with one eye closed to make things worse.


It took some adjustment for me to get used to a forward mounted scope, and shooting with both eyes open, but it has serious speed and peripheral vision benefits, and provides plenty of accuracy for as far as  I need.
I handload the 168 grain A-Max in new Lake City brass, and 5 shot 100 yard groups are 3/4".
You can try to tell me that I could do even better with a scope mounted over the action, and if I squinted and closed one eye, probably, but it's not enough to matter.
With the forward mounted scope ( a Nikon Force 2.5-8x in this case ) I can punch fist sized groups all day at 300 and 400 yards, and get on each target much faster than the guy with the 4-12x scope right up against his head.

Nothing you tell the naysayers will convince them, they'd need to shoot with a forward mounted scope enough to appreciate the advantages.
Some guys are convinced that the LER scope is the work of the devil, and won't even look through one, much less shoot one.
But those same guys that never used such a rig will be the first to tell you that you can't do precision work with such a rig, after all, benchrest and competition shooters don't use LER scopes, right ?
The LER optic is plenty accurate  enough to plug your intended target.

Even a red dot is effective to 300 yards and a bit beyond:

Thanks guys. Good ideas for sure.