Having built several 1911s (I do not claim to be a bullseye pistolsmith, but have worked with a few), my take is that the "high end" 1911s in the $1250-2000 range are solid out of the box. You can pay more for the name and prestige of owning, but you likely won't realize any better accuracy or reliability. I'd say Nighthawk and Wilson are crazy to ask $3,000+ for a bland polish job and cookie cutter grips, but if people will pay it why not? At that price point I would require high end polish and bluing, nicely figured wood grips, etc. but to each their own. About 80% of the pistol's mechanical accuracy comes from how well the hood and bushing are fit to the slide. A good gunsmith can get most any 1911 to feed reliably. BTW I've seen guns that feed empty cases and jam on live ammo. Besides, never been able to get any of my guns to fire empties.