Go over to the M-1 board www.jouster.com and ask over there lots of people who know their way around M-1's lots of info... I got my M-1 last month,(an S.G. S.A.made in june, 45, with the orginial bbl,(in excellent shape) lockbar rear sights, orginial uncut op-rod, what a sweetheart!) these are as addicting as AR's,VAR barrels are considered to very well made and very accurate, you may be in for a real treat.. make sure rifle is tight in stock,one of the keys to accuracy with a M-1 (grab the bbl and pull, and see if you can detect any movement, forward and back, side to side, of the action in the stock, front handguard is supposed to be a little loose so, don't worry about it, trigger group lockup should be tight as well,triggerguard should start to lockup just above the trigger, if not, it can (and often will be on Danes,) shimmed to tighten it up, anyway, go ask around over at the M-1 board they'll be happy tp help...I know I'm going to order another sometime after the first of the year,