Judson, if you were to ask roughly the same question another way, you would get a totally different response from the people here. If you were to pose as someone who is new to the board as ask " what kind of rifle should I buy so I can shoot deer out to 500 yards?" You would get a response about ethics, the need to practice more, and all of the uncertainties and difficulties with taking such long shots. I feel you baited people in who are better shooters than most who are skilled enough to know when such shots are appropriate or not, and now you are getting upset with the answers you are getting. You are preaching to the wrong crowd.

AS far as seing people with the semiauto syndrome- I' ve seen alot of those in the woods also. Its alot like driving- you can teach someone to shoot or drive properly, but when you leave them to their own, they might speed along at 100 mph or feel the need to empty their magazine at the first running deer they see. Both are bad behavior, one is illegal in most places, but you wouldn' t ban a semiautorifle from hunting or a car that could do 100 mph, would you?

Can' t say I could tell you the difference between a tuned Garand and M1A, but I would prefer the Garand just because its a nicer looking rifle (in my eyes at least), I' ve shot the garand many times in the past and really like it, don' t care for the cheesey looking fiberglass handguard on the M1A, though I' m always aware of trying to keep my thumb intact when loading the garand.
I personally shoot an as-issued Smith Corona 03-A3 in matches, its as accurate as either of the semi-autos,shoots way better than an as-issued garand, didn' t cost me much, though the rear sight leaves a bit to be desired on the elevation adjustment.[8D]