Slamfire, really great analysis. Couple things come to mind.
-A really high round count is something new in handguns. We had a mixed bag of 1911s in my old Guard armory; not sure how many had been rearsenaled. The Remington Rand in my safe has not. Doubt any of them have 2,000 rounds on them. Our guys (medics, cooks, etc) qual'd once a year with their .45s, which consisted of maybe 3 magazines.
Guns were for occasional use, and for people without a spare hand for a carbine.
-The only, likely,exception to a high round count being training bases, where class after class handles them
-This was likewise the deal in Europe, with the gun more a badge of honor/authority than a serious weapon.
-High round count is a new thing, in competition shooting here and elsewhere. And, in a chicken-or-egg question, progressive presses came along to feed the guns of those without corporate sponsorship. (They even made life easier for ordinary shooters)
Back to my argument that one thing we like about guns is their long term viability. Will we ever see plastic/poly guns in quite the same light as their all metal predecessors?
Moon