That's a good looking FAL.

I have a shorty similar to that. Mine isn't coated, just parkerized, it has Tapco furniture, a Tapco stripper clip top cover and an inch style rear sight (because it groups too low with a metric sight).

For any one buying a FAL, make sure you get a good upper receiver. DSA is good, Imbel is good, if it's anything else, do some research.

So far I have a few Imbel, an FMAP (Argentina), an SBL (Israeli), and a few DSA. They are all fine examples of U.S. made or Imported Metric FAL's. I would love to get an actual FN, but CA considers an "FN" FAL an assault weapon. I think that's all of the countries that imported a Metric FAL receiver to the U.S.

One of these days I have to move to a free state.

I like the Garand very much. It's accurate and pretty reliable. The 30-06 cartridge is a classic and more than enough to be effective, especially for WWII where it was fighting against armies with bolt action rifles.

I have never fired an M-1A (semi auto M-14), but the design is similar to the Garand. Compared to the FAL, the M-1A must certainly be harder to clean, less reliable and more expensive (unless you live in Canada and can buy a Norinco, but I don't so I won't mention it).