I went down to Al store last week and bought some Carbines, two of which were labled "rack grade' and cost less than Service Grade...but darned if I can tell any diff.
Bore mic's just as good, and is bright and shiney. In fact, wood on one was better than either of the Service grades.
It was a 6 hr trip for me too, and worth ever second of it.
They had a ton of Garands, but I know nothing about them
and passed them up.
Get on the CMP web site and take with you all the documentation they call for. They go over that while you are looking and picking. I think just being a member of some CMP affiliated club is all that is needed, other than
birth cert, CC if you have one, etc; i even took them a copy of my army retirement. They accepted that I had been a member of the Nat. Security Agency as sufficient in lieu of club membership. Very helpful people too.