"Target shooting" means different things to different folks.
Are you talking about competition, or IPSC/IDPA/USPSA, or punching bullseyes at the range, or plinking or....
A 'loose as a goose' GI .45 is plenty fine for home defense and/or plinking, but not the others.
A full-race IPSC .45 is more expensive than a Taylor Limited and only really good for competition.
Not picking on the OP, just need to define the role to pick the tool.
In .45 ACP, it seems like everyone is jumping into the ring.
S&W, Remington, Taurus, Wilson, Rock River, Grizzly, Auto-Ordnance, Springfield, Kimber, EAA, Norinco, Stoeger, Browning and many others are producing versions that will accept Colt parts.
Then there are others, like Para-Ordnance, that have 1911-style guns that don't share any parts. Some are bare bones military versions with rudimentary fixed sights and sloppy action (which enhances field-reliability but hurts accuracy) and others are crisp, outstanding competition-ready out of the box.
One thing you may want to consider, if you don't actually need the .45 power, is a cheap .45 1911A1 and then buy a nice .22 conversion by Advantage Arms or Ciener or any of the others. The other option (in .22) would be to get a 1911A1 style gun already chambered in .22LR like the GSG .22 (
http://www.gundigest.com/firearm-gun-reviews/gsg-1911-a-great-22-pistol ).
Even with current markups, a round of .22LR costs about 2-3 cents; the cheapest .45 ammo runs about 25-40 cents a round. (Of course there are exceptions: bulk, reloading, etc. I'm talking about the avg guy buying a box of 50 at the range.)
I really love the .45 ACP on the 1911A1 platform, but for pure cheap fun, nothing beats a double deuce.
I'm down to only one .45ACP 1911A1. I built it from 3 broken Colt 70-series guns, sandblasted it and reblued it after I replaced the sights with ones I hand cut from tool steel. (Used to work at a shop in a former life.)
It's good enough for CCW, and when I put the Advantage Arms .22 upper on it I can shoot all afternoon for under $20!
-K
