I was in the market for a 1911.Checked out SA.Once I saw made in Brazil, I laughed at all the CGN people and bought a made in USA Colt. Take a look at how Colt 1911's are made in this video if you want to see what frame forgings look like : Forgings are pressed into the general shape of the finished part under enormous pressure. Theres a difference between machining a forging and machining a frame from a billet on a CNC machine. While I'm not doubting what you saw on your pistol, it was a result of machining a forging, not a cast frame. Springfield Armory 1911 frames are forged, not cast. Casting melts the plastic molding and cause the frame to be unevenly surfaced. If the frame were to be CNC'ed instead of cast, anywhere along the dimensions that were supposed to be straight will be straight. Also, the frame's front strap where it was radiused is also not straight. However, if you examine the upper part of the dust cover where it mates to the slide, you will see that section is not a straight line. 45 a long time ago so I cannot provide any pix.
Please tell me that Springfield didn't contract with Taurus. So are Brazilan born Springfields considered less desirable, lower quality than American made 1911s? I know enough about cars and electronics that it largely doesn't matter any more, a good chunk of my expensive Nikon lenses were made in Thailand or China, not Japan and I know that most Hondas and Toyotas are made here in the U.S., not in Japan, but this revelation left me a bit miffed, I had no idea my "American Classic" had been cast in Brazil. It's so weird that I bought this gun 12 years ago, have shot it a lot and cleaned it a lot and never noticed this before, minus points for my powers of observation. I was cleaning it for the first time in ages the other night and flipped it over and saw the "Brazil" mark stamped on the body. It is a nice gun, I think it is the Loaded model, stainless, nice wooden grips, drilled trigger, hammer, etc. I bought the 1911-A1 a few years ago because I always wanted to own a classic 1911.