Review: Springfield 1911 DS Prodigy pistol

Who says the 1911 pistol design is dead or even dated? If you have been moving in Action shooting competition circles in the past few years you would have seen the rise in what’s commonly called the 2011 platform. (Note: 2011 is a copyright name for Staccato brand pistols only).

Despite ‘2011’ being a trademarked name for Staccato pistols, the term is used to describe what is a dramatic change in the original and very traditional 1911 platform.

The Springfield 1911 DS Prodigy is a good looking pistol, very much the modern 1911

It features a two-part wide-body grip frame that enables double stack magazines to be used as well as noticeably changing the handling and performance of the classic 1911 system.

It has taken the Action pistol competition world by storm and at high levels of competition the wide-frame Staccato 2011 and similar custom designs have come to dominate the winners’ circles alongside the high-end CZ-style pistols.

Staccato (or STI as it was then) pioneered this design in the 1990s as a way to increase magazine capacity in the proven 1911 design, while keeping the ergonomics and safety features of the 1911 and especially to keep the exceptional single-action trigger break of that design.

As time wore on it was also shown that this new design, where the grip frame is a separate part that can easily be replaced or changed, also offered improved ergonomics and, in many cases, better accuracy.

So over the past two decades the design has become increasingly popular.

However, its popularity was held back by one big negative for most people — the cost.

Staccato 2011 pistols range from 7000 to 10,000 Aussie pesos and custom models based on that design run up to double that and more. This kept anyone except the most dedicated (or wealthy) competitors away from them despite how well they worked.

Springfield Armory decided to produce a high-quality wide-body version at less than half the cost.

A big task for Springfield — to build a pistol for less than half the cost that would still be accurate, reliable and perform competitively against the established players.

The question we hope to answer with this review is whether Springfield has succeeded. Additionally, is the DS Prodigy worth the still significant cost over less expensive designs?

In short, the answer I believe is a resounding yes!

With a couple of very small quibbles, this pistol will compete with the other wide-body 1911 and 2011 designs and it comes almost ready (you will need extra mags) to compete out of the box on day one.

A great looking pistol that combines the traditional 1911 shape with the image of a truly modern race gun, the Prodigy is supplied with excellent iron sights and fibre-optic front sight but is also set up to install a red dot.

We received the gun for review from NIOA Australia with the excellent Leupold Deltapoint Pro (2.5 MOA) already fitted and sighted in so we left it on for the duration of testing as I believe most competitors will likely fit an optic to the Prodigy to maximise results at the range.

The first thing you notice when picking up the Prodigy is how great it feels in the hand. It retains that familiar 1911 grip angle but the wider grip (to accommodate the double-stack magazine) actually feels much better to my medium-large hands.

It is not huge and no one who tried it felt it was at all bulky. It felt just right to me and enabled a consistent grip from the holster that would really help with speed and accuracy in matches.

The polymer grip frame has a stippled, pebble-type finish that is comfortable and not too aggressive on the hand but at the same time helps you maintain a solid grip even in the fastest firing scenarios.

I am a traditional 1911 guy but I admit this felt better in my hand than most single-stack frames.

The polymer grip module (it can be easily replaced with another module; even metal ones are available) has another advantage in that the polymer absorbs recoil, softening the felt recoil in your hand and helping with shot-to-shot recovery speed.

After the grip feel, the next thing that caught my attention when I racked the slide was the bull barrel. This thing is solid and because of that there is no barrel bushing as in most single-stack guns.

This no doubt helped with the accuracy results we saw and it also helps keep weight out front to speed up shot-to-shot recovery.

The barrel seems very nicely machined and fits superbly to the gun, making the slide very smooth.

The slide, too, is extremely well fitted to the frame, and it runs ever so silky smooth.

I can see where Springfield spent the money and why this is by no means a cheap gun. The level of fitting for a gun in this price range is excellent.

The trigger is very crisp and clean, and works well for both precision and speed shooting, but many competitors would consider the current 2kg (4.6lb) trigger weight a bit too heavy. I would personally like it around a 1.4kg (3lb) to really take advantage of the potential speed and accuracy of this exceptional firearm.

The safety has been as well fitted as everything else, being easy to activate or disengage with a tactile feel and click that also makes it positive. You just know every time whether it is on or off and the safety is very well shaped for a comfortable, high grip style.

The grip safety is something that sometimes is not quite right for fast acquisition out of the holster, but Springfield took extra care to shape this one perfectly for me. It’s comfortable and reliable. In fact, you forget it is there, which is the ultimate compliment.

We (I let some others at the local pistol club shoot this as well, to get their reactions) fired around 300 rounds of a wide variety of ammunition and it ran everything perfectly. The Prodigy did not even think about jamming or hesitating, even with some light handloads that have caused issues in some guns.

The Leupold Deltapoint red dot was very clear and no doubt helped make the shooting experience even more fun, it has a large window and finding the dot is a breeze. Typical Leupold quality which is consistently high. (See our review.)

The Prodigy really is a fun gun to shoot. Recoil is very mild, and accuracy is excellent even when trying to go fast.

My only two gripes are:

1. The trigger, while very crisp, is a little heavy for my taste, but this is easily fixed;
2. The DS Prodigy only comes with one magazine rather than two or three. I queried this and learned that, unfortunately, NSW has banned the Springfield 10-shot magazines (who knows why) and so NIOA is importing DS Prodigy models without magazines and then adding a high-quality aftermarket double-stack magazine here instead. These and other brands are easily available and legal in every state (even NSW).

Of course, considering you likely saved $1-3K over some brands, both these little gripes are easily dealt with and the aftermarket mags are likely better quality for hard competition use.

I was truly impressed with the Prodigy and if I was getting back into competitive Action shooting matches I would grab one today and be ready to roll.

ACCURACY AND PERFORMANCE TESTING

We quickly learned that this gun loves 147-grain rounds. It shot fine with 124gn but when we tried the 147gn we were seriously impressed, with the best groups hovering at just over the magic 1 inch (25mm) mark!

Ammunition	Velocity	Group size
Browning 147gn X-Point JHP	302m/s (992fps)	33mm (1.3”)
Federal Syntech 124gn FMJ	370m/s (1214fps)	54mm (2.1”)
Magtech 124gn LRN	348m/s (1141fps)	66mm (2.6”)
Winchester 124gn white-box FMJ	343 m/s (1125fps)	71mm (2.8”)