sweat spot- you need RUBBER grips- seriously, the norc 1911 is good value for money in 45, but you might be better served with a revolver in 38/357- ie a gp100 or something similar- in STAINLESS- it'll teach you all the fundementals and you don't have to police your brass- plus you can discover if you flinch or any other bad habits just by leaving an empty chamber- i started off with a colt 45( the real thing) then as i got older and more expereinced, went to 9mm( yea, i know but the russians were coming) and finally got tired of policing my brass, so i got a ruger redhawk- it's a bigger, heavier gun than most like, but again, there's the brass thing- now my go to is the redhawk, and the 45 auto is mostly left behind