Your 1911 should pitch the cases anywhere between 6-10 feet away. Any shorter and your spring is perhaps a little too stiff, any longer and it's probably not stiff enough. With most standard loads, this is generally somewhere between 16.5-20lbs on a standard government model, and 18.5-22lbs on a Commander. For standard 230 grain loads, I like 18.5 on my government and 20 on my commander; but that's just me.
