Originally Posted by semtex

Okay, I think I need to do a bit of full disclosure here. I'm a 1911 snob. I buy 1911s like Nighthawks and Wilson Combat and Ed Brown. That Kimber pictured a few posts back? That was my 'cheap gun'. Point being, take my comments with a grain of salt. On the high end, front strap checkering is standard, so it's only because I'm a high-end 1911 snob that I have this 'it's a deal killer if there's no front strap checkering' attitude. Don't take my comments to imply that a 1911 without such checkering is somehow fatally flawed in its design or anything like that.

Having said that, are there any gun ranges in your area where you can rent different guns to try out on the range? If so, maybe rent one with the checkering and one without and compare to see if it makes a difference for you.