re: school me on 1911's.... thinking of getting a kimber

Meh. In theory maybe but these guns aren't setup the same as a 45. Lighter recoil springs smaller chambers etc. A company like Kimber isn't going to release a gun that doesn't work most of the time. Relative reliability is overplayed especially when talking about a range gun. You can take a bottom of the barrel Taurus to a range and might see 100 percent reliability for several hundred rounds. With lesser quality parts and less craftsmanship they are just more likely to fail over time or the company ship a gun that shouldn't have left the factory. I don't care what brand or platform gun it is I don't think of it as a means of protection until it sees 500-1000 rounds without a hiccup anyways.