Wayne, my latest gun, a stainless Series 80, I would put up against any earlier gun, and have, as for fit, function and finish. There ARE some right sloppily made guns ever since WWII, civilian guns included, but functional specs/tolerances have never changed. The stainless is about 3yrs old. 10-15yrs back, not so good (edges left razor sharp, and often a lot of slide overhang, they also did an ill.conceived attempt to copy Kimber MIM extractor about 15yrs back that was quickly seen to be a disaster), honestly depends on what time frame and crisis going on there, they are one-off hand fit/assembled and depend much on THAT guy. No assembly line. Rather like some knife companies.

About the only downgrades are the MIM safety plunger tube (which they finally figured out how to make and stake), MIM sear/disconnector (which truthfully seems to hold up as well as the old stuff), cast MSH and safeties, and MIM or cast mag release button.
Barrel still forged/machined, link, slide stop, bushing, plug, firing pin, stop, extractor, ejector, slide, hammer, frame all still made the old way.

oh, they have gone to QPR scan codes under the grip (seems the military liked that on ARs) with that requiring dot matrix to apply, and so them using same to add SN, but slide and frame other marks still roll marked.

They still use one assembler putting together one gun, who also is limited by parts supply/supplied. They had a couple of good guys running the floor there which bore much fruit , of course, currently, them now gone with current crisis, one before fruit fruited.

Late PS- regarding the Norinco steel...it has been analyzed to be of much higher grade than anything ever used in a US made firearm, more akin to a shock resistant tool steel than ordnance grade steel, and you can verify with anyone who ever tried to modify a frame or slide.

And an even later PS on Norinco...chalk it up to failing memory. When customs were first heating up, and Norincos were flowing for under $200 ea and stacks of them on gunshow dealer tables, Nowlin was a pretty hot name, and he was very picky as to what brands he would touch, with Colt and Norinco his favorites. That should give some idea as to how close most were in spec.