It all depends on which bells and whistles you're talking about. Generally,it's cheaper to buy a factory pistol with the bells and whistles than it is by buying a plain jane model and adding/building as wanted. There's a few items among bells and whistles that's almost universally desired. One thing is a good set of sights. Good sights/sight picture is a MUST,as are a decent trigger. No matter HOW good the rest of package is,if it has a charles atlas trigger,nobody will be able to shoot it well. One thing I HAVE to have is a good beavertail grip safety. I have fairly large,meaty hands,so without a beavertail grip safety,my hands get slide/hammer bite badly. By the time you add all the little things up,you're well over what a decent factory loaded sells for,plus you have the costs of gunsmith installingfitting the parts. A good example of this is the (IF you like that brand) taurus pt1911. It comes from factory loaded so you won't have to change very many parts out. Other brands that's reasonable is springfield armory and (my personal favorite) para ordnance. Of course kimbers are good if you can swing it. Just my .02 Neil