M1A is a Fine piece of Equipment!
I bought it in 2008. I decided to test it and see when it would fail.
I shot 4,000 rounds through it and had zero failures.
I used mostly surplus ammo from all over the world. Dirty, dirty, dirty crap.
Cleaning was very easy.
Further, I found it accurate with just the iron sights, the differences in surplus ammo performance not withstanding...
I am going to buy a couple more...eventually...