I’m going to log my vote for
this is not a clear-cut “only one answer applies and all else are wrong.”
I get a lot of pride and enjoyment from the extreme feel in the slide to frame fit of my S&W Performance Center Limited pistols and my Model 52’s which fit, feel the same way and (in the case of the PC guns) also can be seen in the fitment at the rear of the slide as it mates with the frame... the lines nearly disappear.
Now these guns are accurate as hell but I will not argue that it is due to slide to frame fit because it is the sum of MANY things. But if you haven’t handled a true PC semiauto or a 52, you owe it to yourself to experience this.
At the same time, I’m 110% certain that I am not dumb enough to attempt to somehow make a slide and frame fit more tightly LONG after the build of the pistol!
Thirdly, or wherever I am at, the guy who formely built the original Coonan pistols told us straight away that they would liked to have made the Coonan tighter than they had settled on but it simply wouldn’t work, they found that the .357 Magnum was applying enough torque with each shot that the slide would bind under the fury so the guns all shipped with a “looser” feel than many would like or might have expected, relative to the price tag.
Hell yes, the subject 1006 was absolutely abused and whoever did it was a criminal. But at the same time, I will definitely defend the juicy love that gets squished out of my 952 and 3566 when you remove the dragging magazine and just gently move that slide on the frame. It’s functional art, the result of a master craftsman.