Came to say the same thing.
Never equaled, never exceeded.
Yes. You have expressed it perfectly. There are nice compact versions out there, if that is what they decide on.
Following on my previous post (#23), compact 1911s have some of the highest number of malfunctions. Many self defense trainers have gone to the extent of not recommending compact 1911s at all for serious self defense as the smaller pistol simply compounds the problems that even larger 1911-style pistols have. Take the issues raised in the links in #23, and now add the following issues for a compact 1911: slide speed issues for the shorter slide, spring weights and the need for adjusting them for the compact 1911, extractor tuning, and hammer spring/firing pin stop geometry. Issues significant enough that even 1911 forums speak on some of the main changes that need to be done to make a compact 1911 a 100% reliable self defense weapon, changes that do not make sense for a large organization like the military to do when there are many modern firearms available that don't need that.