Not a 1911 "lover" but am a shooter, so...
I recently stopped by one of the local shops and found a 1911 clone that was rather interesting.
Its an older Essex frame with a Remington/Rand slide. The interesting part is the slide has an MMC adjustable rear sight with an Ashley Express leaf and big dot dovetailed front. The rear sight is marked with the MMC logo on the left side, but has "LBC" on the right.
The frame has very well fit Ed Brown "memory groove" grip safety, short steel trigger and smooth ebony stocks. Both the slide and frame have a high polish blue (goreous on the slide, with the frame showing only a very slight plum color), and the mil-surp barrel has the outside edge of the muzzle nicely rounded. That's just one indication of the attention to detail in the assembly of this pistol.
The slide to frame fit is, in a word, exceptional, with absolutely no discernible vertical movement and only a tiny (had to try it three times to make sure I was feeling it) amount of lateral play. The barrel, when the slide is in battery, is rock solid at both the hood and bushing.
Once I had a chance to disassemble it I was not surprised, based on the exterior, to find a good fit of barrel lugs and feet.
Whoever built this pistol knew what they were about and I couldn't wait to see how it shot. The hammer is a Colt commander model and the trigger pull is crisp and only about 3 lbs. The mainspring feels a bit light, too light acutally, but the recoil spring feels like the standard 16 pound variety.
I've bought numerous guns from this shop over the years and when I asked for his lowest price on this one, the owner said: "I can make you a great deal on that one ~ $250 out the door."
Its not really a boone & crocket-worthy deal, but given the appearance, fit, and obvious quality (as good as it can get with Essex), I felt it was a fair price.
Oh, and it shoots just fine... better accuracy than I can command off-hand, and perfectly reliable... even with my old MecGar range mags.
I gave it an extended mag release and long trigger, and that's all it really needed to fit my needs.
So, this is my version of a budget 1911... YMMV