Eddie,
First chance you get you'll want to buy a different scope. I had the same one on a Howa 1500 Varminter using a 0 MOA rail and it ran out of elevation at about 350 yards. If you plan on keeping that scope you will definitely need a 20 MOA rail to get out much beyond 350 yards. Better if you start saving for a better scope though. The Nikko Sterling is a rather difficult scope to work with and the turrets are terrible for feeling the adjustment clicks. So soft you can't tell how much of an adjustment you made, and the amount of adjustment per click is not a constant.
With the understanding that glass can get pretty expensive, and that many will tell you only the high end products are worth buying, there are a large number of scopes that are not ultra high priced with good quality. A couple you might find affordable are the Vortex HS and Sightron SIII products. Look for scopes that offer more than 50 or 60 minutes of adjustment. When you mount up a scope with say only 60 minutes of adjustment you may find you used up most of that in obtaining a 100 or 200 yard zero. That stated amount of adjustment is the total available, not the amount that would be available after "zero". 100 minutes is a much better choice.
Go with EGW for the rail. A rail does not have to be steel if mounted correctly. Aluminum works just fine for a well made rail. They are very good products and easy to install. If you have questions they respond very quickly to e-mail questions and provide a phone number if you need to talk with them. They also seem to have the best prices around.
As for this problem;
"I still have to find a way to remove the current mount now that the screws are stripped " If you used a thread lock compound when you installed the screws you may end up damaging the mounting rail getting the screw out. You can take it to a gunsmith but odds are likely he would end up doing what I'm about to describe. Either way it's better to sacrifice the rail instead of the action. Obtain a Dremel tool and a "cut off wheel" bit. Get a few extra cut off wheels as well since they can be a bit fragile.
Consider practicing the following instructions on some small screws or bolts laying around before proceeding to the rail mounting screw. Carefully cut a narrow slot in the top of the stripped out screw to a size that will accept a small flat blade screw driver. Afterwards use a soldering iron to heat up the screw. This will take quite a bit of time for the heat to soak but thread lock compounds require heat to loosen up after they have set. The amount of heat is dependent on what type of compound was used. After getting the screw hot you may be able to back it out with the screw driver. Avoid cutting the top off the screw because that will require the screw be drilled out, which could (likely) damage the threads cut in the action and assure that only a gunsmith could do the work.
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