u/Throwaway4930320

I've been in the market for a rifle for the past bit, and the advice everyone gives for getting a good, cheap M1 is to go to CMP. However after checking for a few months it seems like they're eternally out of stock of any of the cheap grades. Are there other places to find cheap, medium-quality M1s? For context I'm mostly weighing my options between an M1 or an AR, and am willing to pay a small price premium for how cool an M1 is but not the +$500 price for an expert grade M1 compared to an AR.

Any advice for where cheap M1s are? And if they're just gone now, y'all think I should just get an AR?