When I was young, I wanted an M1A in the worst way, but all I could afford was a Sky Arlington import M1 from Korea. I rebarreled that rifle, had the stock glass bedded, and refinished it myself. Shot that rifle a lot, even competed with it, but I still wanted an M1A. Was working at our LGS and asked an old Army Veteran, who had served from 58 to 84, what his favorite service rifle had been, and he said the Garand without even a pause. That was 25 years ago, and I think I finally understand. The M1 shoots a more powerful cartridge, ejects the enbloc for you, you can load it as fast as you can shove enblocs in it, and the rifle has less projuberances, poking from it, to gouge and dig into your back like an M16 or M14. The features that make the M1A desirable, are those carried over from the M1 Garand, and are mainly trigger and sights. In some respects, such as engaging at long range, the Garand is superior to the M14 and FAL, and because of its superior ballistics and sights, the Garand will shoot through things that a 5.56 can’t. Never got the M1A, but I’ve had seven Garands now. I’ve shot my cousines M1A quite a bit over the years, and the things I like about it are the same reasons I like my M1s!