I have a springfield range officer that i truly love and would recommend to anyone. It feels great and the adjustable sights help alot
No love for Para Ordinance?
I consider the two stainless "Loaded" Springfields I've purchased versions to have been the most "cost effective" 1911s I have. OMMV, but I've been satisfied enough with them not to have traded or sold them off for anything different.
My Champion came with Novak tritiums, bushingless "bull" barrel, Beavertail grip safety, ambi thumb safety, "Commader" hammer. etc. already aboard. Paid about $650 OTD for it from Bradi's several years back. I compared it, side-by-side, with a Kimber Pro Carry they had with many of the same features which was priced approximately $90 more but lacked the tritiums and ambi thumb safety. Fit and finish levels were very closely comparable so, being a southpaw, I opted for the Springer.
What about the ruler 1911'it looks like a nice gun
NOBAMA
I have had Colt's, and fired Taurus, Springfield, and Rock Island Armory. Of the one's I have played with I say Springfield Armory.
gregkl: Can sympathize about the sight problem. Since I had to go to "progressive" bifocals, I have the same sort of problems sometime, especially getting my sight picture acquisition time slowed down by having to adjust my head position for best focus.
A Para C7.45 LDA (OM-sized) I once had came to me with XS 24/7 Big Dots installed on it. They are exceptionally quick to acquire a good fix on and deliver good COM/head hits with fast out to about 20 yds or so. The only reason that I let it go was that somebody else offered me a pile more $ for it than I had in it.
I plan to send the slide off my Champion out to XS and have a set installed on it when the tritium on my originals gets a bit dimmer. Sort of pricey perhaps, bit about the same as a set of stock replacements would run.
I just knocked the sharp edges down a bit with a set of ceramic 'stones' and it worked out well enough to suit me. Not a true "dehorning", but I already had the set and I didn't have to shell out about $50-75 to a 'smith to do one. The round rod happened to fit the slide serrations just right and it didn't take a lot of work to get them 'ouchless' without compromising their usefullness at all.
IME, the all-stainless 4" Champion, while a bit heavy for some tastes, seems to work just a tad better for me as a daily CCW than my full-sized GMs. It just 'feels' better with a more neutral balance and the weight centered in my hand. I've come to trust it and plan on sticking with it for a while yet.