I am cleaning my new 1903a3 and started comparing it to my 1903. One of the major differences is the 1903 has milled parts such as the trigger guard and barrel bands. The 03A3 has stamped parts. They started using stamped parts to save time and money. In modern times we are spoiled when it comes to mass production machining. With a CNC you drop in a piece of steel and let the machine to all the work. Now lets back up 50-100 years ago, was there any kind of primitive automated machining process? Or was all of the machining done by a craftsman sitting behind a mill making the same part all day? Were the vintage parts made essentially by hand?

There were some operations that were done on machines that did more than one part at a time but by and large it was all manually done by a bunch of guys standing in front of manual milling machines all day long.

There were plenty of "automated" machining centers. They would run sequences with cogs & gears & very ingenuous mechanisms. You can see these in museums. DuPont has a series of them throughout the Brandywine valley and that is a long day trip from NJ. We went to a powder factory and they had a cool machine shop. Baltimore: Museum of Industry.

 

There was semi-automatic machinery 200 years ago. Also, check Allaire State Park.

 

Colt museum in Connecticut?