I feel what you're saying about the quality of a lot of newer guns. They just don't hold up to the classics.
In my case, I bought a 10/22 last winter. It took me that long to stop holding a grudge to Bill Ruger years after he died before I started buying anything associated with him again after the AWB fiasco.
Anyway, the 10/22 that I bought had a wooden stock, but dang if it wasn't soft wood. It would dent and ding if you looked at it wrong.
So, I bought a plastic stock, did a water camo dip in my favorite pattern and sold the original stock on ebay for the cost I had in the other stock.
While I appreciate a nice wooden stock, Ruger missed that memo.
The plastic stock was an improvement sadly.
I know that it's completely off topic of the 572, but I have started a new project that does involve 22lr bolt action. I was going to email you some details, but I didn't want to pester you
If you can plink shotgun hulls at 25 yards, that's plenty accurate enough for putting food on the table. Congratulations.