A sad statement that seems to be too common these days, and the biggest reason...in my experience...is that the producers of these pistols seem to be making them up as they go.
I agree, and you need to choose guns carefully, or understand (and accept) that you'll need a 1911 savvy smith to make the gun run. Understanding that, as you have pointed out, the gun
has to run - it has no other choice, it's a machine.
Again, as you have pointed out - quality magazines help the gun function properly. I have a favorite, quality magazine manufacturer, and run that manufacturer's magazines in all of my guns. They work interchangeably between guns and I never hesitate to use magazines from one gun in a different gun as I know they always work.
Either I'm "lucky" (I don't think so) - or I choose manufacturers that make guns that run. I have six 1911's and every one of them has run 100% out of the box with no tuning or gunsmith intervention.
That includes two of them with 3-inch barrels - you know, the ones that aren't supposed to work because the 1911 design doesn't work with short barrels? The first 3-inch gun I bought was in 1983 - a Detonics Combat Master. I still have it, and it runs 100% of the time with any type of bullet shape.
The 1911 is certainly not a fire-and-forget gun, and I think requires the owner to make sure it's cleaned and lubed properly - but even that is exaggerated.
I have a gun that I wanted to test so that I was confident it would work for an entire shooting course with no maintenance. I purposely did not not clean or lube it for 1,800 rounds and it worked just fine.
I generally clean and lube at 500 rounds, field strip for cleaning and lubing at 2,000 rounds, and detail strip at 5,000-6,000 rounds. I don't think the intervals are an imposition as I also using the time to inspect the guns. Springs get changed at the appropriate times as part of the inspection.
Then again, I don't have trouble with the maintenance intervals on my automobiles, tractors, (and, apparently, unlike Larry Vickers) my lawn mowers and other power equipment. I don't get the apparent aversion of some people for cleaning / maintaining a gun and the idea that the longer the interval the better.
Every piece of equipment I have (including guns) gets maintained and inspected at regular intervals. If you want to be confident that the equipment or gun will work when you need it, you maintain and inspect it. Why would you NOT do that to ensure both equipment operation and your safety?