For what it's worth, I was torn between some Springfield, Kimber, and Colt 1911s recently.
For any guns with 4 to 5" barrels, the general consensus I gathered was:
Colt 1991: Will shoot reliably and not fail, will have very good/acceptable accuracy as well. No frills... only thing I thought I wanted was better sights
Springfield 1911s: Pretty reliable for the most part, magazines they come with are not very good for long, but aftermarket magazines fix that. I didn't do too much research on them, but they're very good overall, though except for a few lower end ones, most are more $$ than the Colt 1991
Kimber 1911: I was looking at the $700ish Kimber 5" gun, forget the name, Custom II IIRC? Great looking pistol, built very tightly... and I shot a friend's Kimber and liked it... but I have read WAYYY too many bad stories/experiences with people who have bought a $1000 Kimber, only to have malfunction after malfunction, multiple kinds... only needing to fix it with more $ to make it right, send it back to Kimber for several weeks/months to get resolved, or sell it and buy something else. Like I said, I shot one Kimber that a buddy owns, and really liked it after I got used to it... but knowing that this may not be my experience based on LOTS of reviews(don't look at gun magazines or anything that Kimber
pays for advertising in.
Again this is basically my research in a nutshell. I shot multiple 1911s at my local range for several weeks before deciding I liked the 1911 platform. I love my Colt Commander 4.25" the most, though a close second was a Sig 1911(I think XO model)... it was nice.
FWIW I am not too keen on buying a shorter than 4" or 4.25" 1911 based on that they are not able to function as reliably.
A GREAT solution would be to build what is called a "CCO" or Concealed Carry Officer's 1911... what it is, is a 4.25" slide on top of an officer's frame... such as the Colt Defender.
I might also suggest seeing if you can try on some holsters for various sized 1911s... you might be surprised at what is concealable. I'm a bit of a larger guy(210lbs, 5'11") and could conceal a 5" 1911, but the 4.25 is just enough less that I'll be able to sit down without the muzzle touching a seat or whatever in the 4-5 o'clock position.
Most importantly, go out and shoot as much and as many firearms as you possibly can.
edit: And I LOVE my Colt Commander
All that I will be doing to it is replacing the grips(more to preserve the stock grips than anything... stock ones are comfortable if you're shooting less than 150 rounds in one session... at that point they start to dig in), and I bought a 10-8 performance plain black serrated rear sight which I'll be installing myself. It works with the stock front sight. I'm replacing it only because I found myself having a hard time focusing on the 3 white dots at the range... my vision strays to the front and rear sight back and forth making it hard to get a decent picture. The stock trigger is fantastic on it too, though I haven't put a scale on it.
$0.02 from a new guy here.
