Certainly.
However if material A needs 1mm tolerances and material B needs 0.1mm tolerances material A will always be cheaper than B (assuming everything else equal). The difference can be reduced, but it's extremely unlikely to disappear.
That's true, however, that's relative to those materials, not to the general market. if you get your efficiencies of scale going, .1mm tolerancing becomes the average, which in turn becomes your new baseline price.
Think on it this way: levels of malfunction that were common with
bolt action rifles of the late 1800s are, today, unacceptable with
semi-automatic rifles.
once upon a time, 3 MOA was considered adequate for sharpshooting and even competition, you can buy a rifle with 1.5 to 2 MOA over the counter at your local sporting goods store for proportionally (when you equalize for inflation)
less, and it weighs less, is more reliable, and requires less active care (and in the case of modern semi-automatics like the AR-15, it's reliable under harsher conditions.)
This is the refinement that being able to leverage efficiencies of scale gets you. Your tolerances become tighter because your process becomes better, eventually the looser tolerance becomes unacceptable (quality improves).
The LESS of something you make, the less this happens. The learning process simply doesn't occur at the same rate. Ammunition from 1917 from the BEST arsenals of that era, wouldn't pass QC at even a second-rate modern manufacturer.
The same is shown in the automobile market, unless you honestly believe a 1957 [insert brand here] is a better car than a 2023 Honda.
(Hint: its not, build quality is significantly better on the newer machine, breakdowns that were common on car in the 1950s are actually pretty rare today-particularly if you compare rates with the same level of maintenance from the owner).
doing things is how you advance technology.
