I was born and raised in the south and in the south we call all soft drinks “COKE” and all tissues Kleenex and all bandages Band-AIDs. That said, as of late, many people in the gun world tend to call any double stack 9mm 1911 a 2011 but that’s not technically correct, because all 2011s are essentially double stacked 1911 but not all double stack 1911s are 2011’s.
But if i’m going to be honest, I don’t care anymore because there doesn’t seem to be a unified consensus on the literal definition of a 2011.
So I’m going to make my life easier and call this a double stack 1911 chambered in 9mm. However, SpringField Armory Calls it The 1911 DS Prodigy. Yes, Springfield just made a Double Stacked 1911 chambered in 9mm.
There are two versions of the Prodigy one with a 4.25″ Forged Stainless Steel, Match Grade, Bull Barrel and one with a 5 inch Forged Stainless Steel, Match Grade, Bull Barrel. Everything else is exactly the same.
Same grip and a grip length, same Forged Carbon Steel frame, same Forged Carbon Steel Slide that is optics ready, same 2 Piece Full Length Guide Rod and they both come with one 17 Round and 20 Round Magazine.
LOOKS
If someone told me to design a double stack 1911, I wouldn’t bother, I’d just hand them the Springfield Prodigy and tell them to imagine it says NOIR on the side.
Visually, there is nothing I would change on this gun.
Ok, maybe i’d go with a gloss black barre and emboss my logo on the grip but that is literally it.
The gun looks simple or a better word is clean but there’s also subtle aggression behind the simplicity that makes the gun look badass.
The finish is a beautiful deep satin black where under certain lighting the finish almost looks like it’s glowing. The grip texture looks like they found \one of my black cashmere sweaters, wrapped it around the grip and then used my bevel clippers to create the borders.
Though the grip looks as soft as cashmere it functionally grips like that one girl you know who loves doing Kegel’s.
Yeah, i’m going to let that last line breathe for a second.
Even the Magazines add to the aesthetics of the gun. The 20 round magazine to be exact.
The 17 round magazine looks normal, the 26 round magazine looks a little goofy, but the 20 round magazine w/ the blacked out base plate a subtle U shaped notch to make stripping the magazine easier just balances out the gun perfectly.
The Slide is simple with deceptively deep forward slide serrations on the front and back, and i’m always going to be a fan of skeletonized hammers and skeletonized triggers. In Short, the Prodigy is a menacingly beautiful looking gun that just gets better once you start shooting it.
SHOOTING
Between the full size 5 inch barrel version and the smaller 4.25 inch barrel version you’d think there wasn’t much difference in the way they shot but you’d be sadly mistaken.
The 5 inch version is to the 4.25 inch what the Aston Martin DBS is to the Aston Martin Vantage.
The Aston Martin DBS is a big powerful beautiful brut of a car. When you’re not hauling ass and just cruising You feel it’s weight but the weight is reassuring and comfortable and makes the car easy to drive.
However, Smash the gas and from 50 – 100mph the way the DBS pulls is simply brutal, but it does it in such a planted, controlled and refined manner it’s like watching Derrick Henry sprinting while wearing a suit.
The slide glides so efficiently you forget that it’s a Forged Carbon Steel Framed full size double stacked 1911, that is until you realize that its hefty 33oz weight plays a big part in why the gun shoots so flat.
That said, the 5inch model doesn’t give race gun vibes the same way I don’t really consider the Aston Martin a sports, it’s a big extremely powerful GT car that can hang with the sports cars.
The 5″ version gives me over qualified home defense gun, that can run with the dedicated race guns if it really wanted to, but to me its more at home sitting at on a night stand with a red dot and surefire light and a 20 round magazine.
In this configuration, the gun is tac driver. Sure the gun in and of itself is accurate. However, what I refer to it is the ease at which this gun can be shot accurately.
In my hands at least, the grip is perfect, the grip texture is like quick sand, it doesn’t really start gripping until the gun starts trying to move. Then there’s the trigger.
Even though I can shoot this gun really fast very easily, the trigger doesn’t feel like it was meant for speed, it feels like it was meant for self defense accuracy.
It’s a very composed trigger. It’s not super light, but it’s light enough to run fast. It’s not super slick it’s super clean which makes it easy to modulate every aspect of the trigger pull.
Then there’s the recoil, which there really isn’t much in the way of recoil, that Forged Carbon Steel frame and slide soaks up all the recoil any 9mm round can throw at it so you can easily repeat shot after shot after shot after shot accurately.
The 5 inch full size model of the Prodigy is a very balanced gun. It just does whatever you want to do.
You want to go fast it can go fast, you want to go slow and accurate it can do that. You want to go long distance it can do that. You want it to be a beautiful nightstand gun it can do that too.
Then there’s the 4.25 in model of the Prodigy, which much like the Aston Martin Vantage, is a high octane, lighter weight, spitfire that want’s to go fast and wants to run hard all the time.
There’s an eagerness to the Aston Martin Vantage that you can’t help but want to oblige.
You don’t get in the Vantage and want to cruise, you want to tear the streets up. Take corners at unnecessary speeds because it can.
Just like the 4.25 model of the Prodigy. This model is just like the 5 inch model in every way except for that shorter barrel. Shorter barrel equals shorter slide, shorter slide equals less, metal, less metal, means lighter weight, lighter weight equals a faster tracking slide, which means all I want to do is this.
Don’t get me wrong it can do the other stuff just fine, but it’s just so good at shooting fast and transitioning from target to target it’s all I want to do. I love the way the slide tracks on the shorter model. By the time the gun wants to start flipping the slide is already back in battery ready to be shot again.
It’s a small difference compared to the longer model but it’s a difference I noticed and loved.
I’m almost afraid to put a red dot on the shorter model for fear it will change the way the slide tracks. Thankfully, the iron sights that come with the gun are awesome so as much as my natural instinct is to drop a leupold delta point pro on this bad boy, I’ll likely just put it on the longer slide model and leave the shorter model slick.
No light and no red dot. Granted, I’ve said this before only to adorn the gun with every accessory I can find a few months later.
Though the shorter model is a lighter than the full size model it’s not by much so calling this a conceal carry focused gun is stretch for me. The shorter model gives me outside the waist band carry more than anything or even a car gun if you’re willing to risk having you $1499 dollar double stacked 1911 stolen from your car.
That’s right, The Prodigy is going to have an MSRP price of $1499 and $1699 if you choose the version with HEX Dragonfly optic already attached. The street price will likely be even cheaper. I love my deltapoint pros so once they come out with a plate for that, I’m dropping it on 5inch model.
I’ve had the Prodigy for a while and I didn’t learn about the price until later. I think the gun is easily an $1800-$2000 dollar gun.
Truth be told, I’m pissed Springfield made this gun because I wanted to make this gun. As much as I want to deny it this is the double stacked 1911 I would make if I was were going to make a gun.
It looks the way I want it to look, it shoots the way I want it to look, it feels the way I want it to feel, hell it’s priced the way I would try to price it. As far as i’m concerned, this my Double Stacked 1911. I just forgot to put my name on it.
