It wouldn't surprise me that the first versions were the best. A designer makes the gun with excellent craftsmenship and the best steel he/she can, and then gives the design to a manufacturer. Eventually they get cheap, make it with not-as-good quality, use cheaper materials, and so on.
This has been happening for 100s of years. Look at the Winchester 1894. The guns built by Winchester before they closed sucked. The action is sloppy, and the gun isn't built very well. Back in 1894 when the Browning brothers built it, it was as smooth and well built as the 1892. They cheapened the 92 as well, but it still maintained a lot of its good traits.
Gun manufacturers tend to be greedy cheap bastards in the end. Just ask S&W, SIG, SIG-Sauer, Beretta, Colt, and all the other companies releasing uglier, lower quality guns for higher pay these days
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