I heard that the shorty Springfields have reliability issues. Does anyone have experience with these guns?

If you're referring to the Ultra Comp line, my only complaint is that mine doesn't take me out shooting as much as it should.  I wish it would be more proactive.

I had a ultra for a while. Massive problems with failure to feeds, failure to extracts, slide not locking back, safety plunger pulling away from the frame, etc. After several trips back to SA under warranty, I finally talked them into swapping it for a bigger model.

It really seems to me that the smaller you make a 1911, the more problems arise.

You might check out the springfield forum on 1911forum.com for more info.