I would also say a big part of the fun of this sport for me is customizing and tweaking and making the gun 'nice.' I've probably spent just as much time if not more working on guns as shooting them.
I also usually buy discounted gift cards online to get another 10% off or so. Strangely the cabela's gift cards usually have more than the bass pro ones, even though you can use them at either.
I was talking about with a plate. Looks like C-More makes one for the RTS-2 on the M&P CORE, but it's unclear to me if it'd fit the longer length of the Alpha 3:
https://cmore.com/Item/MT-500
I zero at 100 since that's the peak of the curve and I know every other distance will be below it. My Burris XTR II has zero stops that make it difficult to adjust up, so this way I know all trajectories will be below it.
I've found some buffer tubes are short on the inside, not giving the full length of travel they should. Might be another thing worth checking or swapping.