RIA's are rock solid (pun intended). If you bought another 1911 and didn't spend at least double you'd almost certainly be wasting your money, most Springfield's, Kimber's, Taurus' within $300 of the RIA's $400 price range will only be more expensive and my not be even half as good.
The important thing to remember is that 1911 parts are ubiquitous and relatively cheap too, there are plenty of know-it-alls on gun boards who will attach value to a name brand instead of realizing that what counts is the sum of it's parts and how it shoots and runs. Some guys will tell you things like: "a cast frame is crap" when they've never even gotten anywhere near close, let alone met anybody alive or dead that's ever shot one out, "MIM is junk" when most guys don't even know what it means, what parts are even made through MIM, and think the extra $1K they paid for their boutique pistol they shine more than shoot was totally worth it to get a $35 safety on it instead of a $25 one.... Basically, there is so much BS floating around regarding 1911's make sure you don't get any on you.
You can buy an STI trigger for $25, an Ed Brown grip-safety for $40, and just about any other small part for less than 25 bucks as well... short of in-depth trigger work like cutting sears and hammers, with help from the forums, google, and youtube you could turn that RIA into a piece that would tower above any other mid-line 1911 out there and probably still have enough cash left over for your first case of ammo. A guy can make his 1911 "his 1911", meaning soup-to-nuts, grips, sights, safeties, mag buttons,etc., change whatever suits you. Craftsmanship is another story, and does have it's place and it's price, but I currently own 1911's by STI and Wilson Combat and have owned Brown's, Baer's, and Springfield's... a RIA in competent hands will be damn near as accurate for most humans and properly-tuned will run as well or better than any of them, it's the Indian not the Arrow, anyone who tells you different is probably more collector than shooter IMHO.
The 9mm RIA Tactical for around $425 is a steal, the STI Spartan which uses the same frame and slide is also pretty great for $625 with nothing that needs changing. Neither are ramped barrels, but I've owned a few 1911's in 9mm and even with a ramped-barrel anything but round-nose bullets compromises reliability too much to be worth it or fun so it's not the deal-breaker I once thought it was.
Buying quality mags and springing the gun properly with usually a 9lb or 10lb recoil-spring are the main things, for mags you want either Tripp's, Wilson ETM's, or the Metalform "springfield" ones, then just shoot the crap out of it.
