I had to give this some thought before writing a reply. I disagree a little bit. Let me explain. Computer control of metal machining processes (CNC) has had a dramatic impact on the tolerances and repeatability of metal working. This is the main reason for the inherent accuracy we enjoy today from rifle out of the box. As an example take a look at Savage rifles. most of them are easily capable of 1.5 MOA. A good percentage are capable of better than one MOA.

Add to these facts the incredible advances that have been made in metallurgy over the last 40 years and I have to argue that the "quality", meaning tight tolerances and repeatablity, of the metal parts is much better than days of old.

However when you consider the craftsmanship part of building a rifle, we definitely had it better in the old days. Not only was the quality of the hand work better, but the pressure to cheapen the materials (low quality wood or plastic) was not as it is today. No one 40 years ago would dream of a plastic trigger guard on a rifle. Well maybe Remington did with the Nylon 66 etc., but I digress. Also back in the old days our society was much more interesting in maintaining our culture and industry. We valued American made products and wanted to buy American all the time.

Today we suffer from the Walmart mentality of getting it cheap. This change shows in the cheap materials and lack of craftsmanship in our firearms. But they sure are accurate!