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Not to hijack the thread or anything, but I'm in a similar position to the OP - I've been thinking about picking up a 1911 for a while, and now seems a good time to go ahead and pull the trigger: I mean, it is 2011, and I haven't spent my tax refund yet. I've been shooting pistols since I was a kid, but I don't have much experience with the 1911; that said, I've done a little bit of research and I think I'm closing in on what I want to look for.

Specifically, I'm looking for something along the lines of a Series 70 - full size, preferably steel-framed, no firing pin block (I don't want to derail things into an argument over these sorts of details, but in my experience, the addition of more moving parts is never good for the reliability of any mechanical device. Plus, I know that they're different things entirely, but the magazine disconnect on my dad's old Hi-Power and a couple of college years spent shooting Glocks were enough to make me wary of any safety device that could even potentially impact trigger pull). A lot of the other usual points of contention (cast vs. forged frame, MIM vs. milled internals, full-length vs. two-piece guide rod, etc.) don't really make that much difference to me - I'm an engineer, which means two things: I have experience indicating that general craftmanship and material choice is more important than manufacturing techniques in most cases, and I'm a compulsive tinkerer, so most of the internals are probably going to be replaced somewhere along the line anyway. Heck, probably even some of the "externals." In fact, that's one of my reasons for investing in a 1911 in the first place - seems like it would be a good long-term "project gun." This also means that all of the tacti-cool bells and whistles aren't important, since I'll add any of them that are important to me later. Of course, it still needs to run good stock until my gun budget can recover enough to pay for aftermarket parts....

Price is a concern, but one that I can be flexible with (you do tend to get what you pay for with this sort of thing, after all); still, I'd like to stick to below $1000, preferably more in the $600-$800 range. Right now, I'm trying to keep a lookout for a for-reals Series 70 (possibly used, since that's probably the only way to find one in my price range), one of the low- to mid-range Springfield models, or an "entry-level" STI. The SR1911 also sounds intriguing (and Ruger's always done right by me), but I don't know what availability is going to be like. Any other suggestions?