I've always favored the 1911 due to how it fit in my hand and pointed, it has the perfect grip angle for me, and is wide and narrow in all the right places IMO. I've also really like shooting the 9mm chambered 1911's I've owned. My first was a polymer framed 14 rnd cap Para Ord 1911, but I've had Commander length 9mm's from several manufacturers, and several full size from various as well. 3000$ Knighthawk 9mm is excellent, but you can get by just fine with a sub 1000$ 9mm 1911 from anyone, so long as you check it out for quality, lock up, parts quality, etc. Some 9mm may have higher "pressure" than most .45 rounds, but that isn't all that is involved in term of felt recoil, generally nearly every 9mm chambered 1911 will result in less felt recoil and muzzle flip than its .45 chambered counterpart. 556 is generally higher pressure than 762x51, yet in the same AR platform for example, 556 will always result in lower recoil and flip. Personally where I really notice a large difference in felt recoil and flip is with the Commander length 1911 in 9mm, they have far less to deal with than their 45 counterparts.
As the OP stated due to his location, terminal ballistics aren't really important to him, so the whole usual argument that is always brought up regarding "defense" load performance (I think it was post 3 or 4 this time) is irrelevant to him. This has been covered on this BBS recently already, and Rich46yo likely has the best information you can ask for. If I want to know about rifle and pistol service life and longevity under abusive conditions for example, I would seek out a rental range than pounds rounds by the 1000's through them. If I wanted to know about rifle round performance, I would seek out somebody who has recently used or seen their effects in recent wars.
Pistols - well, there aren't a lot of places in the world that see the focused use of mainly pistol rounds, not rifle, on people that Chicago does, and Rich is on the front line dealing with that. His info tracts exactly with what all the major gunfighting schools teach, as well as the few instances where I've seen handgun rounds effects myself. The further the rounds strike from the cone of vulnerability which stretches from below the belt buckle to the top of the head, and is around a 5" oval column in the vertical, the less effective they are. Anyhow, like the OP said, this isn't a concern to him, and IMO a 1911 in 9mm is a great pistol for target shooting and learning to use a pistol properly, and is less expensive to feed than almost every other caliber other than .22.