Depends on what you want to use it for in my humble opinion. The .45 is a great round but frankly it's expensive to practice with and I think the lack of round capacity REALLY hurts in terms of survivability, especially when first instinct upon drawing is to tense up and yank the trigger until the gun is clicking... that's, of course, assuming you're doing this for some sort of self-defense carry. I have a full-framed Taurus 9mm: And it is fantastic. Easily controllable, holds 15 rounds + 1 in the hole if I decide to get gangstawidit, accurate, and reliable. I have a lot of respect for the worksmanship that goes into the 1911, though, and in terms of collectability and ballistics results, there's a reason why the design has survived for nigh-on 100 years now. If you want to get yourself a 1911 the Kimbers and Kahr Arms are really nice. My last experience was a Taurus 1911 chambered in .38 Super... now that was a lot of fun! Thing would blow fire a full eight inches out the muzzle . Completely ridiculous, but it was great. Go to a range to make sure it's what you really want. For the price that some of those pistols are going for these days, it's not a small investment - make sure that you're getting exactly the gun you want because that $800 will buy a LOT of nice stuff these days.