If you are going to use the pistol for personal defense, then there is no excuse not to get a pistol that is designed to function reliably with good premium JHP bullets designed for personal defense applications (not hunting). Unless you're in the military you have no good reason for using ball ammo for a defensive load. There are too many guns of all shapes and sizes that will function reliably with defensive JHP's, and too many very good defensive JHP loads for them, to use ball ammo.

I will not dispute that the Model 1911A1 handgun and clones are good pistols, but I've known of a great many that are a little picky about feeding bullets with large hollow points (Hydra-Shoks are a good example). The .45ACP with Hauge Convention compliant (i.e. legal for use in warfare) non-expanding JRN bullets was certainly a good man-stopper RELATIVELY SPEAKING, compared to say the 9mm Luger with non-expanding JRN ball ammo. But JRN bullets, IMO, are NOT suitable for civilian defensive use because they will overpenetrate and will not reliably stop an assailant with one hit (.45ACP JRN has a 1-shot stop rate of about 65%, compared to the .45ACP Hydra-shok with 93%)

I would say that you should stick with your notion of getting the P90. It is a good gun that will feed (most) modern defensive ammo reliably. Other good defensive handgun makers are Glock (my favorite), Sig, H&K (I used to own a USP45, great gun but a little TOO big, IMO), Beretta (don't personally care for them, but they are good handguns), and for a 1911 clone I'd go with a Kimber over any other. Also don't discount the potential of a good double action revolver. A .357Mag revolver with a 3-5" barrel and full throttle defensive loads is the best (practical) defensive handgun caliber available.

For me, I'll stick with my Glock. I keep it loaded with Federal 230gr. .45ACP Hydra-Shoks, and it is exceptionally reliable with them. I'm sure the Ruger autos are reliable too.

Mike