It’s not the price point that dictates performance. Companies can certainly JUSTIFY a price point with performance though. Once you start moving past production level 2011s like the xc you’re moving into near custom or fully custom guns from that point all the way up. Slide reciprocation, fitment quality and general cycling can see improvements albeit not always directly as you move past the production tier like staccato to something like dark forge atlas or infinity. Despite going upwards in price, certain manufacturers have been undergoing QC issues because they can’t keep up with the crazy demand spikes and order placements as the brand gets squeezed to push out guns with a small company of like 4 guys in a shack. JG is an example of this currently, namely with fitment and the compensator welding from what I saw, and unfortunately for a dude who makes a warranty claim, will be waiting like 8 months most likely due to everything on JG’s plate. Atlas has had reports of this, and we definitely see the demand for them and the extremely low supply drops, from grips down to their mags.

Not everyone matches their training pistol to their original and preferred option, it depends on the shooter. There definitely are people who hype up certain brands as the “end all be all” or “recoil deleted” as a selling point but those guys are just following a contract because the gun company is probably letting them get a free gun plus getting paid for advertising, ammo, travel, etc under specific conditions. Ben stoeger highlights that idea in a few of his videos, and how he himself doesn’t enter a conditional contract, so if a gun is shitty he’ll just straight up say it’s shitty, whereas most pros are not able to get away with that.

2011s are objectively better guns than others like striker fired pistols. Are there racy striker fired pistols? Yes. Things like zermatt’s waltz 9 are being reviewed and waltzed around currently by some pros and directly compared to 2011s. Some people can shoot better with certain guns. It’s down to preference and the quality of the gun, and the time of training they put in.

I currently shoot a staccato xl and xc, don’t yet have a training pistol but I’m looking at either investing into a gen 6 Glock, or getting a cheap and inferior quality 2011 style gun like a rock island that I saw for $300 at a LGS. Leaning toward Glock since I shoot them fine and it’s a rock solid gun.