And as I said above, both my DW and my Baer required smithing to work correctly. The Baer for the failure to slingshot, the DW for case mouth smashing and feeding issues. The DW is a work in progress, and I am resolving it a bit at a time.
What Prosser referred to above re: alloy frames is the fact that earlier Kimbers had an unramped barrel, and the ramp was part of the frame (relatively soft alloy, hard anodized). Wear through the anodizing, and you have either a nicked, "bumpy" ramp (not conducive to feeding anything) or it can be smoothed with sandpaper, but now you have a dead soft ramp that will scar in the future, and far more quickly/easily. The fix for this is a stainless steel insert, which requires precise machining (and possibly frame refinishing afterwards).
I used the services of Bob Rodgers, and his work is exceptional:
http://forums.1911forum.com/showthread.php?t=146569&highlight=ramp+insert
BTW, newer Kimbers come with a ramped barrel, and as a result, no longer have this problem.
You are asking for opinions here, and you're getting lots of them.
My opinion, having owned Colts and Springfields (3 each) as well as a number of other 1911s:
You can buy a good (or bad) "insert brand here". My luck with Kimbers (mostly used, some well-used) has been exceptionally good. I'm on number eight, and there is only one reason I am still buying them: I have not bought a bad one yet.
I cannot say the same about any other 1911 manufacturer, including Baer and DW. If I had paid a bit less for either of them, I might have given up more easily (as I have with other manufacturers, although I have never given up on any gun without at least trying to fix it, and have acheived moderate success in most cases...).
When I spend over $1000 for a used "high-end" 1911 and it doesn't work correctly, I am a bit more motivated to get it working correctly. I was successful with the Baer (with some help) and plan on prevailing with the DW as well.