Thanks again folks.

I took the action out of the rifle last night, there is no access to the butt end of the stock without doing some serious cutting/hacking.

I plan to replace the barrel band with a metal one so all I have to do is figure out how best to attach the lower swivel.

I also got a free Millett 1.5x-4x scope and rings from a friend so I'm pretty well covered when it comes to sights. I might get a set of the Tech Sights anyway as I've read a great number of very positive comments about them.

I'm thinking that reinforcing from the outside ala Benjammin's idea might be the best solution. I wish I could think of an easy, clean way to access the interior of the stock as I could also use it to store some extra gear.

I'd really like to get at least some minimal use out of the original stock before switching to something else, it seems to fit me pretty well and I was able to set up the scope with just about perfect eye relief using it.

The hunt goes on...