Springfield mil-spec?

Well, first off, congratulations on the decision to add a pistol to your home/person and a great choice in choosing the 1911 line. John Browning's masterpiece is still the Godfather of modern autoloading pistols for a reason.

The Springfield Mil-Spec Stainless? Assuming you are talking about a 5" model - the 2008 dealer pricing is $588 and the MSRP is $784. Based on your price listed, I would assume this model is possibly a couple of years old, or it's used.

Springfield has been up and down in the world of pistol manufacturing. Lately, there stuff has been pretty good. I don't know the date they started to decline, but you will find information all over the internet that they went downhill at some point, then made a change and started taking back "their good name".

That said, you might want to check out the Taurus line of 1911 pistols. They are very well built in a CNC shop and they offer a true lifetime warranty, no matter what happens, or who you buy/sell it to/from, they stand behind their product.

Something like this, if you could find it at a local dealer, might be within your price range if you have cash.

Good luck -

JD

The Springfield MilSpec (not the G.I.) was my first 1911. It was accurate right out of the box. I had a few FTF's and FTE's on the first outing, but more or less expected that. It was a new, tight and stiff pistol.
It became 100% dependable by the second range trip, feeding 230 gr. FMJ's. I didn't run hollow points at that time.
Initially the trigger pull was a bit stiff, but smooth with no sense of "ratcheting".
I eventually sent it off to Springfield Custom and then to Novak's for some work and the result was a pistol that was almost boring to shoot, it was so smooth and accurate.
IMHO, buy it, clean it and shoot the heck out of it. It's a great sidearm.

BTW, the G.I. is also fine, but lacks a few features of the MilSpec like three dot sights and a lowered and flared ejection port. I have old eyes and needed better sights than the stock combat sights.