My recommendation would be to not free float. I did it and ended up ruining the stock. You have to remove the two support pillars and a lot of material/support along the barrel channel. It ends up making the forend pretty flimsy with no noticable improvement in accuracy.
If you decide to do...
Yeah, more light, faster target acquisition, and really good eye relief. I can just kinda stick my head vaguely behind the scope and I'll be able to find crosshairs quickly, which I really appreciate hunting small game.
I've got a Leupold rx1400i. It's great, no complaints. Got it for around $150 on sale, used it for archery and rifle hunting. I set up a ballistic profile for one of my rifles and it does an excellent job providing accurate corrections for me.
The options aren't great, which is one of the reasons I think there's deer in this spot is because you really can't glass it from a long ways away. I can see about half of it from 400yds, but that's a dice roll whether or not a deer will step out where I can see them.
The setup: a canyon hellhole that has good water, cover, food, and a pretty good number of bucks for my area (Southern California... To be fair, one buck is a "pretty good number" out here). The best glassing point is close to the thickest timber, ~100yds away and up a steep face. Would you be...