re: Working on an M1 Garand yourself

I would wait for the service grades to be back in stock if you're doing a mail order. My 30-06 M1 is a field grade, but I hand picked it at the south store after finding one with an original GAW stock in decent shape and a Norwegian (Kongsberg) barrel with 2 TE and 2 ME. The odds of getting something like that on a mail order are small - most of the field grades are not lookers, and most have TE and/or ME of 3+.