[Jeff Higgins]

The brands these guys have mentioned already are all fantastic guns; Kimber, Springfield, and the original, Colt. I'll second them on all of those.

You seem kind of leery of claimed "improvements" to the 1911, and well you should be. Most are anything but. Many of these "improvements" have trickled down from competetive shooting and have no place on a working gun. In particular, avoid the ambidexterous safety. It can all too easily swipe "off" when carrying in condition one; I can guarantee you, you will find that upsetting. The extended strong-side safety levers can be just as bad, swiping "off" up against your hip when carrying. You are better off with the standard, or at most very slightly larger, strong side only safety. Ditto for the slide release. Bigger than standard tends to snag on things.

Enlarged magazine release buttons will also cause trouble. They will bump up against your hip and release, causing the magazine to drop almost imperceptably. You probably won't even notice when you raise the gun to fire it, unless it falls out altogether. Most won't. What you will notice is that it is now a single shot. Stay away from those big release buttons.

Those are the top two "improvements" to avoid. Some others are not necessarily going to cause trouble, but are none the less of questionable merit. The external extractor (like on the new Smith & Wesson, among others) is dubious at best. The old internal one works and is well understood. Same thing with the elimination of the barrel bushing; it's just kind of "gilding the lilly" with no material gain.

"Improvements" that really are include the now almost standard lowered and scalloped ejection port; polished feed ramp (the frame in front of the top of the magazine) and throated chamber. I would not run a 1911 without these mods. Most have them now, except for the very low-end parkerized "GI" replica guns. Add to that a Commander hammer and beavertail grip safety, unless you like to pinch the web of your hand between the two. A flared magazine well is a nice touch, but not really necessary.

Next is a full length guide rod, but for a reason that may not seem obvious at first. Yes, they help "loose" guns function better, but on new, quality guns with tight rails, they don't do that much. Where they may help is when hiding behind a barricade, and raising the gun to shoot over it. Believe it or not, guys tend to "stub" the recoil spring plunger on the barricade because they are sticking the gun out fast and trying to stay low. Without a full length guide rod arresting reaward motion of the slide, it can jam and disable the gun. I used to see it a lot at IPSC matches. There, all it costs you is some time. In real life that could be kind of a bummer.

Anyway, beyond the already recommended brands, those are features to look for, both to embrace and to avoid. Even top quality guns will often include the things you should avoid; don't assume it must be an "improvement" because it is found on even a number of top shelf guns. Like any other consumer product, there is still a lot of marketing involved, and the attendant trends and hype. How else to you sell more examples of a gun that has not fundementaly changed (and really should not) since 1911, in a saturated market? Why, you "improve" it, of course... Sounds like you are on to that one already.