I've been shooting 1911s since the mid-70s. All I ever owned prior to my Remington R1 have been Colts. To me the Colt has always just summed up what a 1911 is.
I picked up my Remington off of Gun Broker for $539 a couple of months ago. At the time I bought it, I just thought it would be neat to own a Remington. This is the first time in over 90 years that Remington UMC has produced a handgun, couple that with the 100 year anniversary of the model ~ I was sold.
Now the performance: I have shot between 4-5 hundred rounds so far. My Remington R1 has been flawless. It has performed with the Remington, Colt, and other after market mags I own. Accuracy is tops, the gun is capable of much tighter groups than I am. That said, I can still chew one big hole at 15 yards.
Standard features on this gun are a match barrel, SS bushing, lowered ejection port, beveled magazine well and three dot Novak sights.
Out of the box my Remington has outperformed all my other 1911s in their stock configuration. However, in fairness, it does come with standard features that were after market on my older guns.
The only negative I have is the Novak sights. The newer ones have a set screw. This stripped out on my front site. Remington Customer Service was great. I had a new sight in less than a week.
Initially, I was not too impressed with the trigger. It had a "gritty feel" and was not as crisp as what I have been used to. It has since smoothed out with shooting and cleaning. The jury is still out on whether or not I will change it out. For now, I'm just enjoying the gun.