The fun part with these discussions is realizing there is no "best." In fact, best is the enemy of good. Case in point, the Singer 1911 which collector pay high prices for are the few that finally made it thru inspection - Singer was commissioned to come up with blueprints (never done before, Colt worked on the sample parts the Browning Bros actually machined.) And along with that, production improvements to cut out all the mill work for massive volumes. They did - Remington Rands and Ithacas went into the millions - but their own factory couldn't. They scrapped 25,000 and got a few hundred thru.

With that in mind, what's "Best" isnt always what is good. Another example, when all the competition shooters in the 70s and 80s started tightening up the rails, bushings etc to make them match level accurate, the result was a handgun that jammed in cold weather, jammed with too much lube, jammed in dusty conditions, jammed using hollow points. Browning NEVER intended for it be a range toy, it was a field handgun used outdoors in all sorts of weather, even on horseback, and it was rattly, loose as a goose and would fire if you gave it a mud bath. But not precision accuracy - it wasn't needed at a minute of man target 18" wide out to 40 meters. Iron sights, gud enuf, ball ammo, gud enuf, idiot scratch, gud enuf. They came with cheap grips and were carried in tanned leather, nobody expected barbecue level ostentatious engraving to impress anyone. It doesn't make it more accurate and it was never meant to be in the sense of separating the top 2% of national shooters. Its a beater war gun and for the most part as much rank insignia as weapon for those in control - officers and MP's.

American makes too much of them and for all that, the Pentagon went to the point of having Army Pistol Trials in 1954 to get rid of them and couldn't. Bean counters said use your thrice rebuilt junkers in Korea and make do. But the submitted guns to that competition are interesting - the Smith auto 9mm and the Officer .45acp. The Smith was based on the Walther P38 which Command preferred at the time - and 30 years later got it on the P38 based Beretta.

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