Standard 1911’s are pretty reliable but I have seen many failures over the years.
And the .45 is a good round but many people have been shot repeatedly with .45, in the torso, who didn’t go down.
I think we should run tests on gitmo detainees using .45 and .40 ball and see how much difference in ‘stopping power’ there is. You can stuff far more rounds of .40 in a mag than .45 cal and I would personally trade a bit of ‘stopping power’ for many more rounds.
To me - stopping power is severing the spine at the base of the skull anyway.
I think that the standard government-issued 1911A1 with ball ammo is the most reliable weapon system ever made. I’ve seen ‘em covered with scale rust, mud, and more and always function.
I have only seen five people hit by .45s but they all died.