It realy doesnt matter what anybody thinks.
The facts are what the facts are, and they can be verified by a little research.
The second batch of Gunsite Sevice Pistols used Auto Ordnance guns as the base platforms. If I remember correctly Gary Paul Johnson did a review on the AO GSP for Combat Handguns magazine and he may have been the first gunwriter to notice that the slides and frames were Caspians.
Later, another gunwriter did a review of the pistols and he pointed out that the frames and slides were machined by Caspian from investment castings from Spain.
The AO got little notice in the gun magazines for one basic reason, that had nothing to do with the quality of the pieces themselves. Gun magazines are ran the same way your local newspapers are ran. On advertising. Notice that them what can afford a lot of advertizing has thier wares on the cover and them what can't don't. However there were a few reviews of AO pistols, most noticibly when the second series of GSPs came out. The first series used Springfield Armory parts, by the way.
I have handled and shot many AO pistols. I have also handled and shot many Colt pistols. My conclusion is that overall the Colts had better fitting and finishing and were a tad smoother, but that the AO pistols generally had the same level of performance in terms of being good shooters. In fact, and this pains me to say it, I ahve handled a LOT more Colt lemons than AO lemons, but then again, Colt produced a lot more pistols overall, so that probably balances itself out.
A friend of mine who was an importer told me back in the late 80s that the AO pistols at that time were generally nicer than Springfields. Of course, the Springfield has come a long way, and the last .45 I bought was a Springfield, not a Colt or Kimber.
Fact is, through most of its history up till the purchase by the folks who own Kahr arms the AOs utilized slides and frames from Caspian. After the Kahr takeover, I cant honestly tell you who makes what component, and notice that this is an industry wide thing.
At one time, Kimbers, Wilsons and others used frames and slides made by Kimber. Now, we are told that Kimbers and others use slides and frames made by Smith and Wesson and that Wilson uses Caspian frames, etc...These things seem to change more now than they did a decade ago.
All I can tell you is that in my experience the Caspian frames and slides used by AO back in the late 80s and early 90s were incredibly sturdy.
My best friend owned an AO 1911. He was a hardcore Elmer Keith style handloarder and his 230 grain ball loads averaged between 1,000- 1,100 fps from the five inch barrell. In thousands of rounds there was no breakage or cracking of the frame or slide, albiet they did loosen up a bit.