You'll be very happy with the V-10 if you have the luck I have had with mine, very easy shooting for a small .45, everyone that has shot it is very impressed with the recoil or should I say lack of recoil, I have shot several defenders and a ultra carry kimber, I wouldn't trade this v-10 for either of them, it's very easy to aquire the target on second, third, ect shot, it has less muzzle flip than my full size SA 1911, Before you buy it, make sure it has not been throated, It seems people have over throated these guns and never got them to feed right after that, mine was polished but not opened up, it feeds ball ammo perfectly, it does ok with LSWC, I carry glasers safety slugs in it for carry and have shot a couple mags of them through it just to see if they hung, they didn't, 500 is a very good price on one,
As far as the gases nailing you, I have not had one problem with that they go damn near straight out at a angle, I have shot probably 1200 rnds through mine already, Mostly outdoors, however I have shot it at a indoor range and had them turn the lights out on the range, there was only a 4 ft light on behind me, the muzzle flash was nothing like I was expecting, (I did this to see the effect it would have shooting at night or in the house) I figured it would temporaly "blind" me at night, it did not, the front sight gets pretty hard to see after about 250 rounds, after about 150 it is grey, as far as it hurting your point of aim if needed in self defense, There is nopthing IMO to worry about, unless you are going to be able to get off some 100+ rounds <grin> I notice after about 200 rounds you need to clean it and oil it, although mine was hardly broke in at that point.
Now 1 inch groups at 25 feet is something I cannot do with this pistol, not even on a bench rest, although I havn;t put it in a ransom rest, but it is very accurate for a 3" bbl, I posted my results on my web site a while back, here's a link if your interested
http://www.bikershut.com/v10.htm
also go to the sight they have some very good reviews with compact .45's here's that link
http://www.sightm1911.com/lib/review/4x45_1.htm
