I guess I am the lucky one here. When I went to buy a 1911, I found it to be heavy, wide and difficult to rack the slide. I had been reading about Ruger's KP345 and found it to be compact, lighter (29.4 oz), narrower and easier to strip down. I bought mine in 2006 for $419. I have found it to be accurate, reliable and durable. No question about it...it is a tank and recoil is easily quite manageable, so much so, as the review I read it was one that even a woman could handle, which was true as I took my wife out to the desert and she wanted to try it out and was thrilled about it. This was at a time when she was going through radiation treatments and chemo. I was happy to see her smile. In fact, in the car on the way home, she got downright giddy and said she wanted to go out again. Alas, she did not get that opportunity as she got too sick and eventually passed away. However, this gun has a special meaning to me as it not only gave her great joy in one of her last good times, but it brought about great memories which I will pass onto our son. This gun has been described as a tank, and that is true. It will probably outlast my son and his daughter. It has been described as being blocky/ugly, but I think it is a beautiful pistol. While not rare, I understand only approximately 105, 000 were manufactured. It has a brushed stainless steel slide, better than the bright shiny stainless steel. The one thing I did change on it were the sights to Mepro self illuminating dot sights, which are larger. OEM's were adjustable as are the Mepro's. I just wish I could have afforded a second one at the time, as I have read about some having a hard time getting ahold of one, even a used one.