Do NOT waste money on a Fulton Armory M1A.
If you want a competition accurate one have it built by a known smith.
Buy either a reciever or a rack grade M1A and upgrade.
FWIW the rack grade M1As we started with from Springfield, once bedded, would shoot MOA or even a tiny bit under with the right ammo...
RE scope mounting, we used scopes to test ammo for accuracy, never had a cheekpiece but if you are going to shoot scope all the time it will help.
Any mount needs hardened inserts to mate with the mounting grooves, beyond that its ok. Unless you get a new one with a rail, never shot those.
Don't recall on brass, but THINK it threw it forward, it was the early 90s when we both shot them in competition.
