Springfield Armory has a lifetime guarantee on their rifles. Yes, some things break, but generally I don't see it very often and they are few and far between. Now, the older M1A's with the GI parts in them are not known for this. Anything can wear out. About 2004 is when Springfield was running out of the GI surplus parts to fill M1A's with. The original M1A we bought was in the late 90's and everything is GI on it; it is running 15k rounds though it and everything is fine. The GI parts definitely bring a premium on the price now because of their limited amount. There are a few companies that are matching the GI quality but they are very pricey, LRB is one of them.
It just depends what you want to do with the rifle and what your price point is. Fulton Armory makes some excellent models as well and very accurate if you get the Peerless.