I agree with you tex, and I too studied experimental models and statistical analysis at both the undergraduate and Masters levels. While not strictly scientific, there's a lot of valuable data to be drawn from that simple survey, which would be foolish to just disregard. Additionally, like with you, it also pretty closely mirrors my experience, having owned dozens of 1911s over the years, to include two Kimbers, and one S&W. Additionally, a friend of mine owned two Kimbers, and his experience also mirrors the results. Neither of us any longer own any Kimbers, which should tell you something, and I have never had a failure of any sort from my S&W 1911 from day one, also consistent with the survey results.
Of the three Springfields I've owned, one was unreliable out of the box, and needed to be sent back, after which it was 100%, and the other two where 100% out of the box.
Of the two "modern era" Colts I've owned, one was marginally reliable, while the other was 100% reliable out of the box.
