go with a COLT
i dont like kimbers (personal thing)
with springfields ive seen the tip of the beaver tail broken off (tactical model), 2 piece barrels ..eck. seen pics of broken slides.
the slide is made to mil-spec (which is fine), which means looser tolerances or "breathing room"(for reliablity when dirty), but some of the barrels ive seen are not mil-spec, they are made larger around the chamber to fit tight into a loose mil-spec slide(no more breathing room), i guess to make them more accurate.
IMO, doing this is a waste of time, they lose the "when dirty" "breathing room" reliablity.
they might as well start out with a tighter spec slide (like most 1911 makers) and standard barrel, and get the same result (no breathing room).
except then they wouldnt be able to call it "mil-spec".
and if they used a standard barrel then it would be totally reliable with "breathing room", but could/would loose accuracy.
some of the SA barrels ive seen would not fit in any other manufacturers slides because of the enlarged chamber area.
but it would fit into a USGI slide and brazilian mil, because of the "breathing room", which it no longer has because of the stoopit enlarged barrel.
this is just my personal assesement of whats going on with SA, i could be wrong.
what does a $350-400 accurizing job consist of?
if its just a action job then that seems pretty steep. my smith did a action job, beavertail and some other stuff for under that price, and hes very well known.