15in lbs is probably plenty for a rimfire. One of the tricks used to help with tunning a rimfire since ammo cannot be reloaded to a specification that the rifle likes is to tune the action screw torque setting. sometimes the right adjustments can tighten up groups in some rifles. The action screws should be rated beyond 40in lbs with that figure being about the max torqure you should apply.
Also take into account that for year "tight" was what felt tight enough to the user. I prefer to use a torque spec simply because I tend to strip and break screws all the time when I don't!
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