"For sure, if I had the $ right now, I'd order an M1. I just don't understand the prices for the guns they admit are in poor condition and some unsafe to fire. Unless the parts are worth more than I know, I could not spend $350 for a rifle that's unsafe to fire, or up to $500 for a rifle the seller states is in poor condition. Business has been terrible for 2 years and $ is hard to come by."
I went up to the Port Clinton, OH, the North store, last Wednesday and I will say that they had two full racks of service grade rifles. If you only read their technical description online, you might assume that these are in poor condition and unsafe to fire. Their website will tell you that even their Rack grade rifles are safe to shoot. Maybe not accurately!
In reality, the Service Grade, SG, rifles were, for the most part, far better than their descriptions. I gauged every SG rifle there and only one or two gauged over 2.5 at the muzzle and most were in the 1-2 range. I bought one that gauged less than 1 and a second that was just a hair over 1. The first one has VERY nice wood and almost completely matching components and shoots very well. The second one, a gift for my son in the Air Force, has nice wood with a slightly mis-matched rear hand guard but shoots amazing groups. Both rifles were in the 5.8 million range and from 1955.
This was my first visit and I will say that I would not buy a rack grade rifle from them since my first criteria was appearance and the second was matching components while the third criteria was how much wear the barrel had. I hit home runs on both of mine and they cleaned up nicely. I am still trying to clean some of the grease out of the wood by letting the sun heat it up and then wiping it off. Overall, I think I got my money's worth for $595.