I live in MA and own a blue SW1911 PD 4.25" commander size, and a two tone Kimber Elite Carry 4" officer size and both are great.
Even though those of us that live in MA are severely limited by the laws as to what we can buy from Dealers, if you look long/hard enough, you can find the other brands... Kimber, Colt, Springfield Armory... (I've seen these 1911 brands for sale at Four Seasons, Roaches Sporting Goods, and Zero Hour in the past).
I actually purchased my Kimber form Zero Hour. Last time I was there they had 2 Kimbers for sale... and both were 5 inchers.
Four Seasons has a few Colts right now along with the S&W's and Para's.
And if you look in our NES classified section there is a nice Springfield Armory 1911 among others for sale.
Back to what I have... my Kimber and S&W...
I love both... but I will have to say that the Kimber 1911 is "tighter" all around. Nothing rattles, nothing jiggles, none of the levers or safeties are mushy when activated...etc.
Maybe it's because it's 1 of 1200 Special Edition Kimber Custom Shop guns, hand assembled and customized...
Seriously, though... From my experience and from what I've read on the 1911 forums... Kimbers, in general, are known for being very "tight"... having tighter tolerances...where everything seems to fit perfectly...which is nice. But because of this, brand new, they will need a ~500 rnd break in period.
And even though my S&W 1911PD has a trigger that rattles, a thumb safety that is mushy when pushed up to the safe position, both common to S&W 1911's, I LOVE IT TO DEATH. It is accurate as balls, fun as hell to shoot, and just looks dead sexy. Aside from the trigger and thumb safety, everything else fits tightly and is VERY solid. I LOVE IT.
Both are very accurate... both are lookers... both have had ZERO malfunctions/failures... One is just built a bit tighter than the other.
If you go with a S&W, you'll be happy. But if you're looking for the harder-to-find brands they're out there in MA... you just have to look a bit more.
Hanwei