The base and rings came with the gun and seem to be right, but could be wrong. They are Leupold.
I put the same scope on my Ruger #1 45-70 and had no issues with elevation. I've got 2 more 444p's to install scopes and ordered new Leupold bases and rings which will be the correct ones from my gunsmith. I'll know in the next week or so.
As far as the having the variable scope, I've used them all my life and have appreciated seeing what I was shooting at better when it's say 200 yards or so.
I can see better with 10 power than 7.
Anything that's close the 3.5 setting works great for me and never been to much magnification.