MA-1 recommendations?

[WolfofStateSt]

You make two good points here.
The first is that fit trumps all else. If it doesn’t look good then who cares who made it and what it cost.
The second is that not every jacket need to be fancy. It is nice to have a jacket or two that didn’t cost an arm and a leg or require a two year waitlist to acquire.
I have a blue MA-1 that I purchased from Gibson and Barnes a couple years ago. I ordered it with the Thinsulate insulation and it is super light and yet quite warm. When I got a stain on it at work, I wasn’t happy, but I also wasn’t as bummed as if it had been my Buzz Rickson

It pays to be more discerning regarding leather; cheap leather stands out like a sore thumb.

I’ve owned McCoy’s, Alpha, Rothco, and Vintage MA-1s, and I can not see a massive difference in the nylon. I bet most average people you will meet won’t either.

I have also learned to utilize the used market. I just ordered a vintage Monarch G-1 from the 50s, which was cheaper than the RMC MA-1, which cost me $600. I was surprised to see RMC MA-1s, new and used, running over a thousand.

Edit:
I wouldn’t spend more than a thousand dollars on anything other than high-quality leather.

But sometimes I get so caught up looking for the best, most accurate jackets that I forget they are just jackets. Hell, sometimes you get the original and realize the repros are improvements. I prefer the polyester knit collar of cheaper MA-1s to that of the original ones with wool collars I’ve tried.