...It can be made right and it can be made not right. Not the fault of the design.
1911 problems are similar to IBM PC problems. No one manufacturer actually makes all their parts (with the exception of Taurus). Most 1911's are made with parts from a very wide variety of subcontractors. Depending on the manufacturer those parts are often oversized, so it all comes down to the quality of assembly.
S&W seems to have a good handle on it, as well as Colt and Springfield. S&W makes extensive use of MIM parts which are dimensionally perfect, and may go a long way to explaining why they tend to work. Colt and Springfield use oversized parts from billet, forged, or investment cast, but they have people who really know what they're doing for assembly, so they tend to work well out of the box.
