drover,
Interesting info on the Canadian Rangers and the T3!
I've replaced the soft screws on Tikka mounts myself, in fact I keep a supply of harder screws in a drawer of my scope-mounting workbench because some other brands of mounts can also have soft screws. Years ago one scope-mount manufacturer told me this was not only to prevent over-tightening, but because softer screws don't vibrate loose as often when under-tightened with a poorly-fitting screwdriver.