how would YOU make these?

Stamped.

They will cut to whatever accuracy you want. However when you want closer than plus or minus .003 it gets exspensive because they have to slow way down. Also they don't cut perpindicular at fast speeds and the cuts tend to have a draft angle.

That is amazing that you got away with doing that. We recently drilled a number of holes for 6-32 tap in 304 stainless and had nothing but problems until we went to 60 percent threads. Charlie

If you have a lathe, you might make a trepanning tool, rather like a holesaw, to make the holes. See

I made and used that tool for cutting a bunch of holes in aluminum. It worked great! I ran it ina mill at low speed with lots of cutting fluid. It's made of steel and case-hardened with Kasenite. It made nice smooth accurate holes surprisingly quickly -- just a few seconds to go thru 1/16" aluminum. Make the holes while you have plenty of brass to hang on to, because the stock does need to be clamped very securely. The slot is to facilitate poking out the slugs it cuts. I clamped the material to a piece of 2 x 6 lumber held in the mill vise. The cutter could then go thru the material into the wood with no harm done.

To shape the objects, I would mill a pattern out of 1/4" steel and case harden it with Kasenite. Then I'd cut the brass to approximate shape on a bandsaw or with a Beverly shear, clamp it to the steel pattern, and file to finished shape. 1/8" brass files very quickly but the pattern will stop the file when the excess brass is gone. Kasenite makes steel so hard that a file just skates on it with no effect on either the pattern or the file. It might be useful to have a disc on the pattern to engage and locate the hole previously made with the trepanning tool or whatever.