HA.. I got a Springfield Armory M1A myself. I also got a stock from Fred's. Even joined that shooting club he advertised.
I picked up one of the fiberglass presentation stocks, brown. I don't know how to glass bed, I did get some info from AGI, mostly reference material.
The short version is you just have to hog out a bit of material around where the receiver fits into the stock and fill that with something like Acraglas. It keeps the receiver from shifting in the stock from shot to shot so you have a consistent platform launching your rounds.
The Acraglas keeps it from shifting from side to side, and up and down in between shots. This leads to a more solid and consistent platform, hence smaller group sizes. That's the short version of the theory anyway.
I'll ping you to a source for the video and a couple of books on the subject if you'd like.
Nice choice on the M1A. Great minds do indeed think alike. It doesn't look like it takes much in the way of tools other than a drill press and a couple of router bits. The trick seems to be not permanently bonding your receiver to the stock yet getting a good, tight fit at the same time.
One of my buddies has already done his, and he's got the drill press. I had enough foresight to let him do his first and it tightened his groups considerably.
I've also got the original fiberglass stock that came with the rifle in a green camo pattern. I think I'm going to pick up some Krylon and do it over in a nice desert pattern.
I topped my rig off with one of those Springfield rangefinding scopes. It shoots pretty well now, but I'm anxious to try it at some extreme ranges, say 600 yards or so.
Old Fred certainly is a character. He's got about a thousand copies of Travis McGees book. If you haven't read it, pick up a copy. It's a darn good read.
I'll let you know how the work comes out. The guy in the video makes it look easy. That's usually my downfall regarding do it myself projects. I'll put some pics up on my homepage when it's done so you can check it out for yourself.
L