I can jump in and say go with the Springfield.
My first center fire pistol was a Ruger P91 .40. I have shot it a lot, in fact it was the main gun that I learned to shoot with.
My main carry gun now is a full size SA loaded model.
Don't get me wrong the P97 is an excellent pistol, that has addressed most of what I think the shortcomings of the 90 and 91 are. Mainly a better trigger pull. In fact the P97 is my wife's favorite pistol.
But I just find that the 1911 is much much easier to hit with, fast and accuratly. The 97 can be an accurate gun, but mastering a DA/SA trigger takes a lot more work.
You have asked about recoil, and I would have to say that the 1911 has less, but it also weighs more.
For reliability the P97 out of the box may have the edge. But I look at it this way. The 1911 is a very reliable design. They sometimes have a bad rep, because one part or another has some problem. All you have to do is isolate the problem, fix it, and then boom, reliable gun.
My gun has had a reliability package performed on it by the factory, it doesn't malfunction now. In the last couple of thousand rounds since there haven't been any problems. Just for fun I wanted to see how dirty it could get before it started to have malfunctions. I shot 800+ rounds of my lead reloads (loaded with good old dirty bullseye) before it got so gummed up that the slide didn't close all the way, once, on a single round. I cleared it and finished the match with no further problems. Cleaned it when I got home and no problems since.
Any mechanical object can malfunction. At the same match I saw a P95 choke repeatedly and these are normally some of the most reliable guns there are. There were also a couple of Glocks that jammed. If you shoot enough you will probably see just about everything jam at some time or another.
Now if $ is a major factor you are probably better off getting the Ruger. But even then, shoot both, a lot, and save up for the one you like best.
Just my opinion.
