in my opinion and from past knowledge and shooting an AR..id say the stock really is just for comfort. it really wont make a difference on your shooting as long as its comfortable for you. The foregrip will prob be a pain for certain cases while hunting. definitely a better addition for home defense. They do sell ones that have a spring mechanism on them to flip up and lock out of the way. same for bipods you can add to the rail that flips up. As far as the barrel goes, the longer the better for distance I think. But that caliber is a good one but not neceseraily for long range. You can get a .308 or something in the same platform if you wanted a longer range gun. But good luck on whatever you get