I have no idea regarding prices but can say that my Garand (a 1953 Springfield with 300 easy rounds through it since built) is a fine rifle and a lot of fun.
Unlike yourself, I am going the reverse route. I have had a Garand for many years and now (I just KNOW I'm gonna be drummed out of this form) I own a genuine Black Plastic Rifle: one of the curent Norinco M-14S rifles. Interesting toy. We are not allowed to own and shoot original American M-14s because we are too stupid and they are too dangerous.... but it's perfectly okay to own and use a Communist Chinese copy, made on American equipment and essentially hand-finished on some noncritical parts.
In essence, the M-14 is a product-improved Garand. They work much the same, some parts even interchange. The Garand uses an en-bloc clip, properly termed a Pederson clip, the M-14 uses a standard Lee box magazine. The M-14 action is an inch shorter but otherwise is much the same and demands the same maintenance, including GREASE in a double handful of locations. The Garand combines piston and op-rod in a long-stroke design; the M-14 uses a short-stroke piston to propel the long-stroke rod. M-1 relies on having the gas take-off close to the muzzle to equalise operating pressures; M-14 has a self-regulating piston. BOTH can be very accurate and very reliable.
Not generally known is that John Garand did most of the work on the M-14 in 1944 when he shortened an M-1 and fitted a BAR magazine and a full-auto assembly to it. It was a tryout rifle for the jungle but the War ended before they could be produced. Springfield dithered with it for about 10 years after the War, shortened it and the ammo and it got adopted.
Notably, the M-1 had about 6 million copies produced and they were VERY close to 100% interchangeable, a tribute to John Garand's genius as an industrial tool designer. The M-14 took this a step farther and was the FIRST industrial product to be produced with dead-fit accuracy, entirely on CNC machinery, all 4 manufacturers. BTW, some of the very first Winchester M-14s were strict semi-auto and lacked ANY of the full-auto kit which encumbered most of these fine rifles; they are legal to own AND shoot but viciously expensive. M-14 production was about 1.3 million in 4 plants: Springfield, Winchester, H&R and TRW. This said, I marvel at the hand-finished parts on my Chinese knockoff; the M-14 was the one single item which proved that CNC machine-controlled manufacture would WORK! Oh well, at least it had the (necessary) tool kit in the butt trap!
But yeah, there is nothing quite like the sound of that WHANG! when the Garand ejects its clip and asks for another mouthful of those nice handloads you are feeding it.
Hope this helps.
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