I have one in 16ss (lm8mws), one in 18ss (mws) and a third custome fluted 14.5 all in 308. No issues, eat everything and all are accurate.
Optics? Whew, that's a long topic and so subjective. If you hunt in the East and shoot steel 0-600; I really like my mk6 1-6x and my mk8 cqbss 1.1-8x...