Have you ever stalled out of a turn before?
You might find you would have preferred a bit more than 1,500ft... When you did your stalling lessons you would have/should have been over twice that high.
I think you will find that with a variable pitch prop, people usually leave the RPM set at the cruise setting and then just adjust MP accordingly to achieve the speed/performance required (adding power through a turn usually not a problem).
If you are hiring from a Flying School, have a chat to the instructors/CFI on the preferred methods of operation for their aircraft and of course as you have said, the Operating handbook is the bible document. Be careful to abide by any special requirements such as time limits associated with certain RPM ranges (some aircraft have such limitations - for example a small range where long term operation in that range can have damaging vibration consequences).