On the lower price guns with low margins it might make sense to crank them out and go. A lot of gun owners are never going to shoot them enough to run into problems and if they do they might not send them back, especially if it has been a while since purchase. It makes no sense to put out crap for their Pro Series. People are paying a premium for a reason.
I have 2 more on the way. An M&P 2.0 I won at the Indoor Nationals and then I was able to by a gun at 35% discount for working the match. I decided on the 1911 Pro Series with the 3" barrel. The jury is out on if I will keep either of them. My M&P is decked out so I doubt I will want the M&P however my wife has been saying that she wants it so i will probably end up keeping it.
The 1911 will be the real question. I just sent in a full size 1911 Pro Series I got in December because of problems. The trigger was not good for a Pro Series and after 850 rounds it was binding some and a few wear/scuff marks on one side where it was binding. Also I had problems from day 1 with the slide locking back before the magazine was empty. No misfeed or failure to exract. The slide would lock back and you all you had to was release the slide and it would chamber and fire. I tried a few different magazines, Chip McCormick and Wilson, and it has the problem with them as well as the magazines it came with. I also ran 850 rounds through it but I figure it should have worked from day 1 and not needed a break in. I was going to have Greg Derr go through it but then I decided to send it back as it was new.
I have bought 2 Rugers in the last 3 years and both ran fine right out of the box with no problems. Some say the SR 22 is picky on ammo but I feed mine a lot of different kinds and I only had problems with some standard velocity PMC stuff I had kicking around from the mid 80s (I was trying to shoot all my old stock first).
S&W will live and die by their quality. I have been a long time S&W guy and have some of their vintage revolvers from the 70s and 80s. Due to the problems I have experienced with their recent stuff in the last 3 or 4 years I am definitely not looking at them when I am thinking about purchasing new.