hi oscar!
you asked, so i'm going to offer my humble answer. if you are going to buy a 1911, and are a bit cost conscious, buy a base model kimber. they are the best bang for the buck, even among the kimber line.
as for springfield, i've said this before, but if you can find one that is nice and tight, and shoots reliably, keep it and spend the money to get a good dehorn job. to quote what i wrote on a different post, a hard malfunction clearance drill on a stock springfield will become a bloody hands drill automatically (the bloody hands drill is a great drill anyways!).
personally, i think that a gun is a tool, and if the tool works, use it. that being said, i prefer a tool like a kimber over one like the springfield because the springfield loaded models still use two piece barrels (rifled part press fit to barrel hood/barrel feet part to save money), they still use staked front sights, their frames are imported and of questionable hardness, and fit of parts seem *generally* behind kimber's quality. also, kimber makes slides and frames for nowlin custom, wilson custom, and mccormick custom (as well as most of mccormick's parts)- and while springfield makes the highly-publicized fbi gun, and sold some slides to usmc, i know of no major custom shops purchasing major components from springfield.
as for para-ordnance, my first gun was an alloy p13 which had major frame failure after only 1500 rounds. although your results may vary, my recommendation based on my experience is to avoid para alloy guns. i've put collectively tens of thousands of rounds through through kimber aluminum framed guns (ultras, pro carrys and my favorite compact al's) and never had a problem with their frames which are machined out of solid aircraft grade aluminum bricks. back to para, their steel frames are generally regarded as being soft as well. plus, they are series 80 (ick!).
but again, i'm just spewing forth my personal preferences- my bottom line is that if it shoots reliably, and you can shoot well with it, its a keeper, no matter who's logo is on the gun.
best of luck!
joe
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