Just a newbee to this forum. Some great reads and helpful information.
My brother and I each picked up PT1911's about 2 years ago for around $500 each. After hundreds of rounds we have never had a problem. We both agree with the junk grips and after putting on a pair of Pierces' which were the best feel for both of us, we ended up with Crimson Trace grips which are game changing additions to any self defense pistol.
The only complaint we had was the trigger which was heavy (70oz),long and a touch gritty. These are Series 80 design pistols. Following the gentle use of Brownells trigger and sear jig and ceramic stones the grittiness went away and the pull dropped to 48oz. We installed the Series 80 to Series 70 plate (also available from Brownells) which eliminated the creep of the Series 80 design. We also installed a Titanium firing pin to make it 'California safe'. The final trigger is niceand crisp at 44oz.

Some of the internals are MIM and will get replaced if they ever show wear, but they are well made and I expect no problems from them. The pistolsare designed for the entry level market and don't claim to be a Les Baer, but ours both willput a clip into what I consider one large ragged hole, every time we pull the trigger with any ammo we feed them. We're very happy with them and would recomend them to any one for a rough use and practice. For $500 I don't feel bad about throwing it in the glovebox or carrying it in the fields and shops while working.

I enjoyed the comment above about the used tooling. Taurus and Imbel are both old and well established organizations. Imbel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMBEL) is state owned and arms most of South America.Neither use old tooling. Having spent a lot of time in Rio Grand Dul Sul, Brasil, I have had the opportunity to visit both. Taurus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taurus_(manufacturer)) is a huge company with a strong global presence in steel forgings, investment casting and Metal Injection Molding (MIM). They also hav a machine tool group - Wotan- which builds world class CNC equipment. The low cost for these pistols is the vertically integrated company who machinestheir own forgings on their own machines to very tight tolerances. Their quality systems meet the strict automotove requirements in the world.Parts from their foundry forge shops are in virtually every vehicleon the road. That is why they are very comfortable offerring an unlimitedlifetime warranty for thier pistols.