All depends what end purpose you have in mind. For my competition use(s) back in the day, I would buy a standard M1A and then tweak it since I have access and knowledge and tools to carry out the fun tweaking process. For many people who just want to shoot the Super Match, the extra $$ is worth spending.
Then there is the issue of the included stock and barrel (biggest additions) that come with the Super Match version. Does one have access to this barrel through other means? Currently they are difficult and more expensive to import. If you can buy it complete, then that is the easier route for you. Some of the upper end versions of the M1A come with a McMillan (fat bastard profile) glass stock which is super stiff for LR shooting. This is stock is much more expensive to import by itself. This may help make up your mind.
About stocks... We can all agree on one thing: Wood stocks compress under trigger guard pressure. What is your end use? If it's for competition (join us at the Ontario Rifle Association) then go with the glass stock(s). The decision is made for you if you are super serious about competition. If the stock is used for fondling (like I fondle my M1 Garand in the Boyd's walnut stock... and my background is competition) while watching "Band of Brothers", then by all means stick with the wood stocks. Somewhere in that decision making, you have to realize that wood stocks can be glass bedded to ensure a skin tight fit BUT (big but) sooner or later when the wood compresses over the years, additional skim bedding (I had to do this... because this Winchester M14 had a beautiful USGI walnut stock) will have to be added. The barreled receiver would loosen up inside the glass bedding job. We would put over 100 rounds a weekend over the 5 month season. A common compromise would be to buy/find a wood stock made of dense (hope I got my species right) birch or hickory or cherry hardwood. More dense than walnut anyways. Find a nice dark walnut stain, glass bed with Devcon, and then have at 'er with the stain.
I even had a client call his birch stock walnut because he could not stand the thought of birch, but wanted to look, feel, and know that it's walnut instead of birch. He was lucky. He found this birch USGI M14 NM (read: fast bastard profile for stiffness) at a local gun show in TO for $ 40. Nobody wanted it, maybe it was because people wanted walnut. I don't know. Either way, he scored the stock and vigorously searched for a stain that would mimic walnut. He bought some USGI FA parts and resin'ed them into place as a 'dummy selector' to fill up the "unsightly to him" FA cavities. His M1A sure looks good in that stock. He disliked the cold feel of the Mcmillan match fiberglass stocks. He felt right at home back in 1989 when he drove to Camp Perry and saw many, many wood stocks (likely made by Boyd's and Fajen) with fat profiles on the Ohio firing line, alongside all the Mcmillan stocked USMC team rifles.
I helped him glass (Bisonite at the time) that rifle into that stock and he was pleased. Once he learned how to carry out that job, he did his own skim bedding. Teach a man to fish.....
Then there is the tuning of all the internal parts.... Do you trust the factory folks at Geneseo, Illinois to do the work? Many of you out there are pretty good these days. Several of you have PM'ed me offering advice from your trades backgrounds. That's cool. Now I can show you and away you go!
The next issue is the glass bedding. Factory bedding jobs save you all that energy. Unless you want to do it yourself, it's best left to others who do it for a living. All depends on what portion of the learning curve your skills are at. If you are super comfortable, then by all means get the Standard one and glass bed it yourself with your choice of bedding material(s).
So, many factors to weigh out.... some people like to build (used to do this many times) up their M1A from the receiver. I have advised many people on this board through that process. That was long ago before 2003 when USGI parts were super available on ebay. Those days are gone. Today all the current restrictions make sourcing your prize build more difficult and prohibitive.
Anyways, back to the end use of the rifle. Are you going to shoot it on Sundays with good weather (like my .308 Krieger barreled M1 Garand, or at Vintage rifle matches) or are you going to shoot it in Service Rifle matches 1-12 with your PRA? Maybe you are going to truly work that M1A and shoot our ORA Service Rifle matches of 200 rds per weekend from 400m / yd all the way down to 15 m/yd? I do know of an M1A owner who pushes his Springfield to the limit doing the ORA Service Rifle and Service CQB (35m to 15m). He truly knows how to shoot!
I also know of a Montreal area shooter who continuously shoots his CHU wood
Norc M14 and boots my ass! He is that good with a box stock, never tuned, never attended a Hungry clinic Norc M14. Great shooting skills and less emphasis on the tool(s).
Many decisions! Enjoy the addiction!
Cheers,
Barney
