I live in Oregon, which is much the same way.  The Portland Metro area has all the population so they control the state.  As an example, during the most elections recently, Oregon has voted Democrat.  But when you break it down by county, it's only 4 counties in the state that typically vote that way.  But those 4 counties account for over 50% of our state population.  But outside those areas, most Oregonians are pretty conservative in my experience

On the commander length 1911's in 10mm, Dan Wesson used to make one.  Not sure if they still do.  Considered it a couple years ago when I was looking for one.  Was quoted $1600 to order it by my LGS.  Ended up finding the commander length Tac Ultra single stack RIA for $700.  Again, prices are 3 years old so no idea on current pricing or availability

It's quite possible I'm mistaken, it was a pistol I saw in a case at the very first gunsmith I went to around 20 years ago to have an ambi safety put on my first 1911.  I'm pretty sure the gunsmith said it was a Detonics that he used in competition himself.  But again, it was a very long time ago and I am getting up there a bit, so I could be misremembering.

As to lefty 1911's I have seen a Detonics from the 70's that was built for a lefty in person.  Left sided ejection, magazine release, ambi safety and left twist rifling in the barrel.  The only ones I've seen since were some customs done by Cabot Guns in a magazine article.  If I remember the article correctly, the left handed slides were originally made by Caspian, but I could very well be wrong, it was a long time ago that I read that.

I have this gun in the Tac Ultra configuration, with the rail and full length dust cover. I'm happy with it.

As far as a carry gun goes I prefer the commander length 1911's over the full size for comfort reasons.  I'm not exactly tall, well under 6ft, so the shorter barrel means a lot less digging and poking with most holsters.  With a good belt and holster, I have used this for a winter carry gun. The one thing I would probably change on mine if it was to be a regular carry gun would be the ambi safety, it's sharp.  I'm a lefty so I'd need to keep an ambi on it, I'd just swap it for something a bit smaller and smoother.

Had to have the holster custom made since I have the Tac version.  Hard to find an off the shelf holster to accommodate the full length dust cover.

I carry mine in the winter, but it is a bit bulky for concealing under lighter warm weather clothes.  Might be a bit overpowered, but I really like it. A good belt makes the weight of the pistol easy to deal with.

Another fellow lefty here.  The ambi safety is the only change I ever make to 1911's.  With the size of my hands I have no problems using my trigger finger to reach all the other controls.  Since I have zero gunsmithing skills I just take mine to one of the local gunshops here that does gunsmithing and have them install the safety for me.

The real problem I have as a lefty is finding holsters.  I normally have them made by Ted Blocker holsters since they are only about 10 miles from where I live.  I've been extremely happy with their stuff.

Formerly a member of an indoor range that allowed magnum rounds to be fired there.  I could have the place to myself after about 10 mins with a .357 Desert Eagle I used to have.   Heh, one time I got moved to the LEO only side of the range because in the words of the range officer, "That thing is scaring the old people", and no departments were training that day.

I've only put 330 rounds through the pistol so far, all of it the Sig Sauer Elite Performance 180 gr FMJ, and it has definitely loosened up from the last shooting session.  Easier to rack the slide now than when I first got it and easier to use the slide stop lever to drop the slide from slide lock.  When I first shot the pistol it took a lot of force to use the slide stop lever this way and it was definitely easier to do so this time around.

As for the sights, I'll tinker with them myself since they are adjustable.

It's the failure to lock back on empty that makes me think it needs work.

The shop I got the pistol from offers a lifetime warranty on all new firearms sold there as they also do gunsmithing, so I'd most likely have them take a look at it first and deal with RIA themselves to save me the hassle of shipping.

So I took the RI out for another range session yesterday.  I've got a work buddy that had never fired a 10 and wanted to try it.  So we put another 200 rounds through it.  In between sessions I've also picked up a couple more of the Armscor 8 rnd mags.

So in the 200 rounds we fired through the gun we had 3 malfunctions, all failures to feed with the round not fully chambering.  Bullet would hit the top of the barrel instead of just sliding into the chamber.  Slide will still not reliably lock back on an empty magazine regardless of manufacturer.  Maybe about one-third of the time it won't lock back so it looks like the previous trip with the Cobra mags was a fluke.

This was the first real accuracy testing I've done with it also.  Looks like the gun shoots about an inch left at 10 yards consistently for both shooters.  So at this point I'm thinking I need to adjust the sights a bit and have the slide stop looked at.

Any other bits of advice on improving reliability from you gurus here?

I've recently picked up one of these pistols to pack around the orchard as we've been having an issue with a cougar.  I shoot 1911's better than most other handguns and it seemed to be a handy sized firearm.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with it.  I've had issues with the slide not locking back on empty with the magazine that came with the gun but only that magazine.  Replaced it with the 9 round Cobra mags from Tripp Research and that issue went away.  I've only put 150 rounds through it so far, all Sig Sauer Elite Performance 180 gr FMJ.  Two malfunctions, both stovepipes of fired shells.  Right now I'm chalking it up to break-in period, if it continues to happen I'll look into heavier springs.  Looking at the Armscor website they did change to a heavier mainspring at some point in production.

One thing I will say is this thing is difficult for me to field strip.  The full length guide rod means I need a third hand.  Usually have my wife capture the recoil spring with an allen wrench while I hold the slide back to expose the little hole in the guide rod.  I think the only way I could manage to field strip it myself would be with a vise.

Being left handed I had to custom order a holster for it, but I'm used to that.  However, from what I did see, holsters for right handed shooters may be difficult as well.  I didn't see anything for a commander length 1911 with a rail AND a full length dust cover on the shelves of my local gun stores.