Came into a couple of rounds of 7.62 NATO and was looking for my first semi auto rifle in this caliber. What rifles options would you suggest that we are able to get in our wonderful state ?

Really depends on what you want to do.
Sr25
M1a-
M1a scout

remington 7400 i think is in a 308 caliber...

Saiga 308

Browning BAR
Benelli R1

Boy, that's an excellent round.  I thought I was in love with the 30.06 but the .308 really captured my heart.  I owned so many military rifles, too, that were designed around the NATO caliber that are, today verboten in this lovely state.  I would have highly recommend an AR in that caliber but let's not go there.

The M1a is a nice rifle with great historical lineage and qualifying mag.  In looking at the other rifles that have been suggested, however, they do look really great considering the restrictions we have here.  The BAR caught me by surprize with me thinking we were talking about WWII model!  Dummy me.  

Just out of curiousity, you said you came across a few rounds of .308.  Suplus or commercial?  

Rome

Commercial, found almost 2000 rds of ZQI for 240 bucks !!! Always dreamed about an M1A but prices are pretty steep at this time. Looking for a Polytech / Norinco clone as I write this, wish I could pick up one of the newer 18.5" ones being sold in Canada for 499

You scored some of the Walmart ammo. Don't waste your money on a good gun to shoot that stuff. It is really mediocre at best, ammo. Shoot if for the brass and reload some good quality rounds.

Buy an M1 Garand in .308

Edge, has that been your experiece with that ammo?  From what I've seen on the web, it's just average run of the mill in that caliber.  You and I have both experienced some horrible stuff.  Are there ZQI varients out there, one  being worse than the other?  

If you're still looking at all your options for a .308/762-51 rifle, allow me to suggest a MAS 49/56 in  NATO caliber.  It's French.  It's a semi-auto, really robust and it uses 10 round "clothespin" mags, easy to find.(all Connecticut legal).  The French originally issued them in 7.5 French which is just a tad smaller.  When they joined Nato, they converted a handful of them to be experimented with using the new caliber.  Then they were mothballed.  CAI bought them up and converted a ton of them into the new NATO caliber.  There were a few duds in the beginning but none of the ones I owned (a few) every caused one single problem and were a load of fun to shoot.  They're a very masculine, no-nonsense rifle to be sure.  There are some on Gunbroker right now for prices all over the place.  I would estimate that a reliable one with accessories will run about $600 or so.  They don't have the panache of the more glamerous rifles but they are accurate and have peep sights very similar to the Garand.  You can scope 'em , too.  Your buddies will all want to try it out, trust me.  Just a suggestion.  Oh yes, that's a 22mm grenade launcher on the front, also NATO caliber.  They still work extremely well.
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I will be searching for a French MAS at that price !!! Also keeping an eye out for a clone M14/M1A.

The Norinco clone (M14s) is a wonderful example but typically needs a US bolt.  The bolts sold by Norinco were notorious for losing headspace.  It's a relatively cheap fix, however.  The M1a is built around that caliber and can be a spectacular tack driver.  I built one for competition a few years back and love it to pieces.  Still, it was a wood-stocked rifle from the mid-century and was limited in what it could do compared to the new AR platforms in that same caliber.  

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Hard to locate 10 rounders for that beast.  The "lock out" switch on mine was a non-functioning dummy.  Everything else was authentic.  It was heavy with that scope, too. Most wood-stocked rifles are.  This one was good to go out to 500+ yards.  I never shot it that far living here in New England but I did shoot it to 300 without even making it breath hard and it was very accurate even with surplus ammo, of which I had/have plenty.  

Rome

I keep forgetting about the AIDS cannon and the FDM other that the Freedom Shoppe puts out

There's a pre-ban low round count HK91 ($2500) at Center Sports in Columbia  But for that price you can get a nice Ma1 Scout/Squad!