I think youre talking about OLD rugers. I believe my buddies ruger is like that. It has one of those fixed dovetail style receivers. The ruger american and american predator are new rifles and use a picatinny base for mounting which can be moved around like any other rifle or like an "ar15"

As for glass. I used to feel the same way. I subscribed to the mentality that whatever the cost of the rifle is the minimum but more often double what you should pay for a scope. With a company like primary arms entering the market i no longer feel that way and would buy their scopes all day long over a nightforce, swfa, leupold, etc. You couldnt pay me to run any of those if you tried.