Mark, good to hear that you got it loose. That screw does normally have a spot of LocTite applied to it.
LocTite is a terric tool for building accurate rifles. While it should not be used to make up for lousy fit, it makes a solid, stiff, never comes loose until you want it to bond between metal parts. I glue barrels to receivers, float tubes to recievers and barrels, and front sight housings to barrels. And I can take them apart by judicious use of a blow drier. I do NOT glue the lock ring to the float tube. I glue carrier weights into carriers using epoxy, and have removed them with a heat gun as well. No big deal.
The easiest way to get some heat on a screw that has been either loctited or rusted, but is in a spot where heat sensitive stuff is also exposed is with a soldering iron and a bit of solder, but no flux. The screw will warm up, the plastic can be spared, and the loctite, epoxy, fingernail polish or whatever was used to glue it in place takes a beating and lets go. Just make sure to wick off the solder when you lift off the soldering iron. If the stock does get some damage that way, you can easily repair it with epoxy putty with graphite powder mixed in.