I'm considering a new hand gun... HELP!

Are you looking for a 1911 because that's a favorite of yours, or because you think a .45 is necessary (all the current lit suggests that, with modern bullet design, the 'good for girls' 9mm is a great stopper, and you get a lot more in the magazine to increase the number of chances to get meaningful hits).

Low end 1911s will probably need smithing (a 'reliability job') in order to reliably feed anything but FMJs - that (used to be) a couple hundred bucks and a few (a lot?) weeks. Kimbers were a great package until people found out and the raised their prices.

Something changed in my grip over the years, and I finally need a beavertail on my 1911 (it just started biting me - never a problem until recently). They're heavy (so they make a good club when you run out of ammo ;-)).

If you're open to other-than-1911s, try a Glock. They're ugly, and the trigger isn't as nice, but they go bang every time (I've had two misfeeds in 25 years, and both were with remanufactured ammo that I bought in bulk, and, upon examination after the jam, the bullet was seated cockeyed and the case was crumpled on one side - nothing would've fed them).

Which leads to a point - somebody (Mas Ayoob maybe?) recommended that you get all your serious ammo (carry, home defense whatever) out and roll them all (to make sure you don't have any cockeyed bullets), then weigh them all on a precise scale (to check for powder problems - although that part sounds more like something the bench rest crowd would do).

Make sure you run a couplathree boxes of the actual 'serious' ammo you want to use through the gun to make sure it feeds reliably, and change the 'serious' stuff out every few years.