Malco;

Yup, forget the indexing.

I have never really been too fond of the whole lining up of screws by "art" since wood compresses and over time the likelihood of that compression resulting in further turning is high, with the temptation then to be to leave the screw "loose" in order to maintain the "art", a bad practise. A VERY thin shim can be fashioned out of aluminum foil or a thicker one from a thin beer can tho getting it perfect is difficult and maybe not worth the effort. I've used a variety of shim stock to get guard screws to line up with locking screws.

The stock ferrules have their own troubles. If slightly too long they can bear weight of the screw and that can be trouble, where the screw is locked down on the ferrule...leaving the action somewhat loose in the stock. In that case the ferrule can be removed, ground down and replaced. Better yet...thrown away as they really serve no purpose.

Sometimes a rear screw may bear against the rear internal part of the ferrule, and, as you can conjure, form a wedge of sorts under recoil, hammering the ferrule into the stock tang area until the natural occurs; splitting at the tang. Again, gently driving out the stock ferrule and finding a home for it in the rubbish bin is the answer.