I went through boot camp with the M14, was it a good combat rifle ,yes, was it a target rifle as issued, NO. Can it be made to shoot well at distances over 300 yds, yes with work and money, will it approach the accuracy of a tuned bolt gun at 600+ yards, not likely, but somewhat close. I have a match grade M1A that shoots very good, but can it keep up with my M40 clone or my Model 700 Long Range 300 win mag at 500 yds+, no it can't. I own it because I carried one in a land far away in the 60's and I trust it. If your friend wants to shoot a M1A and nothing else he can have one build that will work well, if he just wants to shoot at distances like 600 yds accurately he can do it with more accuracy with out spending as much money to get there. I shoot mostly bolt guns and like using Remingtons for the same reason I have the M1A, but I realize that there are a great deal of fine products out there that will get the job done. I have no experience with the A10 platform but I hear and read good things about it. I shoot a couple of AR15s that shoot well out to 400-500, and am building one with a 24" barrel in 6.5 Grendel that I expect great things out of. As a qualifier on what I accept for accuracy, if it doesn't shoot less than MOA over all the ranges I want it to, depending on platform and caliber from 300-1000yds, it either gets fixed by re-barreling, load development etc or it gets gone. I look to the military for which caliber to use at different ranges, up to 5-600 the 308 will get it done, the 300 win mag maybe a bit better, if the intent is to go out and shoot 1k I'll use the 300 win mag or pick up a 338 Lapula.. Your mileage may vary, best of luck with your search.
