I bought a Ruger Lite weight rifle for my son and the hinged floor plate comes open when we shoot it. It is a 257 Roberts, tang safety. The gun shoots well, except for dropping its drawers. Any ideas on fixing the problem? I appreciate any input you can give.

First thing I would check, is the floor plate bent?
I had that happen on a 7mm mag before.

Loosen the middle screw half turn

Thanks for the ideas. It does not appear to be bent. I will try the screw idea and see how it goes.

Is there a way to add some material to the "bump" on the floor plate which will allow it seat deeper?

when the angle gets to shallow, or too deep, the plate will spring free, same as on some m70s ..

find out where it is "right" and spot bed it with JB weld, if you want the quick answer

That is what I was considering. I may check into a gunsmith to build up the "bump" on the plate so it will seat deeper into the slot.

I do appreciate you taking the time to respond. Thanks very much.

My brothers Ruger .458 dropped its floorplate too on each shot. I contacted Ruger and they furnished a new spring that retains the release, problem solved.

I found that mine would do this when the floorplate wasnt tightened correctly,like jeffosso said.play around with the center screw and it will be fixed,