IMHO, almost all of this ability to interchange parts is a not a direct result of CNC techniques (although it certainly does help) but the fact that the various manufacturers have free access to Army Ordnance blueprints for the Government Model M1911A1 - and usually follow them in those areas critical to interchangeability. Without those blueprints it would be up to each manufacturer (and there are dozens of them around the world) to dream up its own blueprints. As Jerry Kuhnhausen wrote, they are the only blueprints we have and the only blueprints we will ever have for an M1911A1. Or something close to that.
And I'm not talking about those custom made and fitted Bullseye and race guns - just your average run-of-the-mill 1911.
Just my 2¢ worth.
When you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind. [Lord Kelvin]
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