“That being said I personally, in a tight situation, would rather have an M14 (or equivalent) with the hard hitting and penetration of the 7.62X51. but that’s just me.”
I had an wonderful National Match M1A until recently. The serial number was under 24,000 and all TRW parts. It had the correct Springfield Rangefinding scope on it, a Gen II. I got it 20 years or ago so from a guy going through a divorce. I paid around $400 dollars for it. It had a beautiful tiger birch stock hand rubbed with 15 coats of tung oil and was professionally glass bedded. Just gorgeous.
I had 10 SA factory magazines for it. It’s a no **** 800 yard rifle.
I sold it recently and got nearly $3,000 for the package. Why?. I spent a day humping it in the field, that’s why. Damn near killed me. Between the rifle, magazines, and ammunition it was over 20 pounds. I’m just plain too old for that.
Now my .308 is a Savage bolt gun. It’s wicked accurate out to 500 yards or so and weighs less than half. The M1A is a fine rifle for a younger man than I.
L
I have a Garand. Got it for $125 from DCM before it became CMP. Two of my boys have Garands. One is a National Match I picked up from a friend’s, friend’s widow for my son for $800. Extremely accurate. We hump them with our cars to the range. I wouldn’t carry it in the field…not at my age. When I do hunt it’s my Marlin 336 in .35 Remington. Nice, fairly light short easy to swing. Enough power and range here in the NE.
If World chaos happens I’d probably hump my M1 carbine. Low power but enough for close range work and only 5 lbs.