Welcome from Eastern NC.
If you are "new" to the game and want to shoot long range (subjective what that is to each person) and want lots of range time there are much better calibers for accurate shooting with less recoil.
If you are looking for a do all gun and caliber, that you will hunt as much as bench shoot, then that is a different animal.
Are you going to hand load?
How often will you shoot?
What is your range to be "long range"?
What is your budget?
My thoughts are buy the best gun and optics you can afford. Buy once and cry once is the term. If you have not shot long range and want a crash course, there are places like Barbour Creek to give you hands on training. If you are serious about jumping in head first, and want to have the best equipment, it will not be a factory gun. If you want to ring steel at 500 yards and in, there are many factory guns that will do that.
I am not a 6.5 CM fan, but many of the top shooting schools use this as their standard. Great ballistics, light recoil and easy to reload for and is a good hunting round.
I guess you need to decide what you want to accomplish in your shooting and our members will give you our $.02.
Good luck and welcome aboard. Best forum and members on the internet here.