Update:
Thanks everyone for the replies and advice. I spent probably 12 hours total driving around to gun shops, holding, dry firing, and in some cases disassembling 1911's. I also called a couple shooting buddies and managed to borrow a 2012 XSE and a new Carry Nightmare (and one other 1911*) and put a couple hundred rounds through each.
Before I give you my thoughts, remember aesthetics and value/$ are both highly subjective. I'll tell you what I thought, and why I thought it, but as always YMMV.
Remington R1 Carry
For some reason the LGS around here price this at ~$1150. Don't know why. It seems solidly built, although the safety used feels weak and flimsy. NIB the right side lever had about 1/16" slop movement on 2 different guns. Steel frame, has front strap checkering. Finish was nicer then the Smith, not as nice as the Colt.
Colt XSE Lightweight Commander
You guys weren't kidding, XSE does stand for Extra Sharp Edges. I'd like to have seen front strap checkering, and a plastic MSH on a >$1000 pistol irks me. That said, it's well made, and finished, although all three samples I messed with had the worst triggers of the group. Gritty and heavy for a 1911. still better than any striker gun.
Smith SW1911SC
Nice and light, plus a bobtail but the finish on the scandium frame was scratched under the slide stop and safety of every one I looked at, just from gun store handling. In one case the frame was actually gouging under the slide stop. combined with an ambi safety retained by the grip panel (my least favorite kind) extra lawyer wording on the side and the steepest price it left me very eh.
Sig Carry Scorpion
The traditional is super hard to find in person, and apparently Sig makes ordering difficult, because two different shops were unwilling to order one. I'd have to make this purchase online. (no biggie) The coloring didn't grow on me in person, and I think ceracoat, while functional, is not the best finish out there. The scorpion also has the extended grips and MSH (that form a magwell) so it's the opposite of a bobtail. a normal grip frame doesn't bother me, but in the hand that gun feels longer. The small tab ambi safety Sig uses is awesome. They should sell just that part.
If I hadn't decided that my original requirements were wrong I probably would have gone for the Colt, plastic parts and edges notwithstanding.
However, and this is where it gets subjective, the real problem was every gun I picked up in this price range was clearly, and obviously a production line gun. (duh, right?) Slides moved left and right, there were gaps in safeties, bushings were loose tooling marks were abundant internally. Nothing that says low quality, or I would expect to effect function. However, it was stuff that I expected not to have to deal with after having doubled the price of my current 1911's. All the guns that I looked at were finished better than my RIA's, but that was it. They weren't made better, or machined better. they were finished better. All of the guns in the $1000-$1250 price I looked at weren't even finished better than the Ruger's I looked at. Different options, yes, but nothing done better. And that in the end was the deciding factor for me. To drop between half again as much and double what an entry level production gun costs I wanted, what in the end, wasn't a production line gun. I had unrealistic expectations of what that extra $500 would by me.
So in conclusion, while any of those four guns is a fine weapon, and will work well, I'd have to say if you have ~$1100 to spend on a commander 1911......don't. Buy the Ruger, put whatever safety and sights you like on it, and spend the rest on ammo. To my eye that first jump in price range doesn't get you enough to justify itself. FWIW, I think Ruger is going to end up deflating the cost of American 1911's. I already saw some Sig's coming down to under $900 just so they didn't look absurd sitting next to it. I'd bet that others will follow. Any of the four I looked at would be a good value in the ~$900 range.
As for my gun? That asterisk up there when I said I borrowed some guns from a buddy? It is holding the place of a Dan Wesson C-BOB that my evil, enabling friend threw in when I borrowed his Colt. "Here, shoot this some too". Yeah, that thing is what I wanted. Tightly hand fitted without being finicky, great trigger, good combat sights. Feels great in the hand, and better while shooting. Just really, really, a really well built machine.
So despite saying I wasn't going to spend the money, and saying that I didn't want to mess with the fire control parts out of the box, it turns out that what I really wanted was something just a little closer to the semi-custom guns than I thought. So I looked around online, dithered a little more, moved some funds from both my PTR and Hi-Power projects and have a Wilson Combat bullet proof ambi safety and a brand Dan Wesson Guardian inbound to me as I type. After I fit the new safety I'll be about $1550 into my $1100 commander, but I'm pretty sure that I'll have a gun that does what I want it to do and feels how I want it to feel. I'll post pics when it gets here. Thanks again for the opinions and advice, they helped me narrow down on what I wanted, even if I didn't know myself at the beginning.
