I prefer S&W for both bottomfeeders and roundguns. I hit pretty well with their revolvers, fair with their semiautos. Mostly I target shoot with my 45 year old S&W K22 Masterpiece. Glocks never shot as well for me, and Rugers are terrible in my hands. The re-curved grip backstrap on the S&W is the most comfortable fit in my hands for a semiauto. The Glock has a barrel closer to the frame, which is supposed to be an advantage, but didn't help me at all. I hear very good things about H&K and Sig, but they are $$$$, and many of the serious shooters I know use their Smiths at matches despite having these other brands to choose from.
Cool that S&W makes both the 40/10mm and 45acp as a wheelgun (with moonclips) as well as semi-auto pistols. They have a real nice 45 acp stainless revolver, also available firing both 40 and 10mm rounds. For serious competition, the Performance Center shop at S&W has some nice custom work at decent prices. They have a new 1911 45acp SA that is loaded with custom features at a less than custom price. Most of their autos are TDA or DAO. The factory also has a lifetime warranty on their products, and does custom gunsmitting at the factory. Their firearms are available as blue or stainless, or in a more pricey range, Scandium/aluminum alloy with titanium cylinders. They make several plastic/steel models as well, in conjunction with Walther of Germany.
The S&W web site is
http://www.smith-wesson.com/
The unofficial discussion group is at
http://www.smith-wessonforum.com/cgi-bin/sandwcgi/Ultimate.cgi?action=intro
It is broken down into sections on gunsmithing, Autos, revolvers, tech help, etc. Don't miss the classifieds, as a lot of revolvers and semiautos of all brands are offered for sale by members (legal sales, FFL to FFL only - these guys are mostly Law Enforcement Officers.
By the way, the rapid fire speed and accuracy record was set with an 8 shot 357 S&W revolver, not with a semiauto, and holds to this day.
Practice does indeed make perfect, but for many a semiauto is more difficult to shoot accurately, especially with a standard factory trigger pull. My best semiauto work was with pistols that had custom springs, barrels, bushings, and action jobs - adding about 50-75% to the cost of the weapon. Log on the forum and the friendly group there answers questions freely, including what to inspect when buying a used firearm.
Good luck on your selection.
PS.
Ceiner makes a 22 conversion for your 1911A1 45 that will make practice a lot less expensive.