I remember reading many years ago that John Browning was really impressed with the workers at Colt, Winchester, FN etc.
The workers all liked him because he was a gun smith and like them worked with his hands.
While no one could equal Browning as an inventor of guns, Browning was impressed with the workers ability to produce finely finished pieces.
The workers at Colt and Winchester in the era from post-WWI to the 1950’s were at the very top of the game. Both of these companies turned out premium products as a regular catalog item.
That came to a close at Winchester in ‘64, and in Colt in the mid-80’s.
The knowledge to reproduce this level of work is not gone, but gun buyers won’t pay for it. Most gun buyers today have no appreciation (or knowledge) of the finest levels of gun making, and therefore no willingness to pay for it. Most guy buyers think that magnesium phosphate is a “good” firearms finish, because it’s “mil-spec.” What they don’t realize is that the military buys their material from the lowest bidder. Phosphate finishes came about because they’re cheap, not because they’re good.
As a result today, you see the level of fit and finish that used to be an “everyday” catalog item from US gun companies available only from custom gunsmiths/gunmakers. The “custom shops” of the big gun companies don’t even pretend to offer the level of product they used to carry in their catalog as an everyday item.