I think one of the biggest impediments to more S&W 1911's being sold is their starting price points. Just looking at Bud's, the cheapest S&W 1911 is the E series at $770. And while the quality may very well be excellent, that price point is just high as compared to all the imports being sold for well under $500 for basic 1911 pistols.

I've been contemplating getting me a 45 Auto 1911 style pistol for a while. And now that I've collected as many model 27's as I plan on getting, I'll probably look for a 1911 before the year is out. And since it will just be a knock around and range toy, I doubt that I will want to spend as much as an E series starts at. That is the main drawback for me. I have a friend that has a S&W 1911 he bought quite a while ago; I guess it's a 945 from looking at the manual pictures on the Smith& Wesson website. And it shoots just fine too, the few times I've shot it. But that high price point is the main thing I think holding back their sales figures. Heck, just looking at Bud's 1911 offerings, they have a couple of Magnum Research 1911's and even a Colt 1911 listed cheaper than the E series. And many, many imported 1911's being sold by ATI, RIA and others.

As for the external extractor, that doesn't bother me any. My Coonan Classic is a kind of hybrid 1911 with some Hi Power features and it uses an external extractor.