What can be done about the scope mount? looks like the front just rests on a set screw and can be adjusted side to side with set screws? would like to make it more solid once I get it straightened out. or are there after-market bases I should look at?
Welcome! Sounds like that's an Ultra mount which was discontinued, the vertical screw is intended to be adjusted so it's .0015" off the barrel and is there just for support on large scopes, the side set screws are just to lock the vertical set screw in place.
What rings are some of y'all using? the rings I have don't seem very substantial.
Quality rings that are just high enough for the scope to clear the hammer, I trim the hammer spur tip above the extension to be able to use low or medium Burris Zee rings, scope choice is important here since many have large power rings/ocular bells which require high or even extra high rings.
Is my scope rifle a 71 or an 07? it has HX 279830 as the SN and the barrel says SB2. Barrel has 830 on the left side under the chamber but it looks freshly inscribed. I saw a sticky on the FAQ that had the dates but there were two different X's shown and neither had a two letter code.
It's a 2007, read the info again, you missed the part about the first letter of a two letter prefix starting with H or N.
Is there a conversion to an ejector or a modification to the extractor?
Yes, but H&R doesn't do it, can be done yourself if you have the skill and tools, or a gunsmith could do it, it requires the underlug to be machined to accept the ejector parts, see the FAQs on that and a lot more of your questions which are answered there.
Tim