1911's are great, but it's not the best pistol to use for SD if it's your first autoloader.  Consider this...........lots of people make 1911's there's no set "milspec" that you would look at like you would an AR15. 

Not to drag this thread too far off topic, but that's just not true.  There is most decidedly a milspec standard for 1911 pistols.  Now, it is true that some manufacturers have seen fir to diverge from that standard.  Pretty much any feature that they advertise is a deviation, such as ambidextrous safeties, flared ejection ports, beavertail grip safeties, double-stack magazines, trigger reset adjust, etc.  But it's not really much different than an AR platform in that regard.  Major components will fit.  Little ones may or may not require fitting. 

^^^My bad you and Ren are right, there is a milspec.......the point I was trying to make is that not a lot of guys (well there are guys putting them out), but a lot of guys put out 1911's.  Way more so that AR15's.

I will disagree about minor or major parts.  Small stuff like a slide lock, no fit, sometimes the gun won't work.  My point being it's not a drop in like you would see from a single manufacturer that you can say pull barrels and they will fit.  There is almost always something you need to do to get a part to fit on a 1911 if you go between manufacturers......not so much the case with AR15s.