Log Hog,
Great guns, no doubt there. When properly built and fed good ammo, an M1A should be a 1MOA to 3/4MOA rifle without too much difficulty. My competitive M14 shooting was all done with iron sights, and the only scopes I've used on them extensively was the ART (Redfield 3x9) scope on my M21. There's some much better mounting systems out there for them these days, utilizing both the mounting screw on the side of the receiver AND the drilled and tapped clip guide. Much more solid than the old single point mount for the original M21s.
You didn't mention reloading, but that's pretty straightforward here; 40.5-41.5 grains of 4895 under a 168 and go to the range. That was the standard National Match load forever when the M14s were the dominate force in Service Rifle competition. ALWAYS full length size, check the seating depth of the primers (high primers are a serious problem in these guns) and toss the cases after the third firing. Use a gage to set your dies and maintain proper headspace, setting the shoulder back .003"-.005"and you should be good to go.
