Rick, I haven't read all; four pages of this thread, but take it from a guy who poured that same kind of money into "fixing" a Para Ordnance P-12 and I sure wish that I would have bought a high end model to start with. I do like that Colt moniker on the side of a 1911 and have only shot a Wilson, but reading here it looks like the Les Baer might be the pick of the litter.

My other auto is a .45

The bitterness of poor quality is remembered long after the sweetness of low price has faded from memory