My only experience with a short .45 is my wife's Kimber Ultra CDP. Her first handgun, and I must say I think she chose wisely.
Despite the idiot salesman at the gunshop trying to make her afraid of the light .45's recoil (she's an experienced deer hunter, and basically rolled her eyes at the thought of a .45 "hurting), this has been an excellent gun.
We've fed a variety of ball ammo through it, and had no failures to feed, no failures of any kind and she's already trusting it as her daily CCW.
The gun just handles and shoots beautifully, right out of the box.