GunBugBit

Key concept: people don’t declare themselves to be master gunsmiths. Other people say they are.

Acknowledgement from other gunsmiths and other people familiar with their work. Kind of like being called a virtuoso in the music world. The late Jim Garthwaite a master gunsmith? Definitely. Bob Marvel? Oh yeah. Matt McLearn? You bet. Geddy Lee a virtuoso bass guitarist? No doubt. The late Johnny Winter a virtuoso blues guitarist? Of course.

Has it run well for you?

Today I installed the Atlas X-line trigger bow and shoe.

You’re welcome, it’s been a fun project. I was hoping the thread would be useful to other Prodigy buyers. Hope you have a good experience with one!

Sorry I haven’t kept track of all I’ve spent lately on 1911 parts. But I estimate you can get the parts I installed or similar for less than $500. Haven’t shot an STI or Staccato so I can’t compare. I own an Atlas in .40 and I will say the shootability and enjoyment of shooting similar power factors aren’t that far apart between the Prodigy and the Atlas Nemesis. The big differences with the higher end gun are the looks, the silky smoothness, and the premium sub-2# trigger. Oh, and I can’t put an optic on the Atlas but I can on the Prodigy. Obviously this will never be an Atlas-quality gun, but if it’s safe, reliable, long-lasting, shootable, accurate enough, and lets me score well in matches, that’s all I can ask for.

Yes, 9#. But it’s not the one that was originally in the gun. That one was about an inch short. Weird. I put in an unused Wolff I’d had for a while. The recoil impulse at speed is nice. The muzzle wants to flip of course but when I grip with my usual tension, the gun does not feel flippy. I think the front end weight due to the bull 5” barrel and the full length guide rod are helping.

Updated complete list of parts for the gun: Competition Ergonomics and Shootability EGW ambi thumb safety (fitting was required) EGW magwell Fusion mag catch with button EGW magwell-ready mainspring housing 17# mainspring Ease of Disassembly and Reassembly Atlas tool-less guide rod EGW ledge-style slide stop (pin fitting was required) Reliability Dawson extended firing pin Wolff firing pin spring De-MIM'ing Harrison hammer and strut (checked for mating with sear) EGW short (pre-stoned) sear (checked for mating with hammer) EGW disconnector EGW (Colt) leaf spring (tuned grip safety leg to pass safety check) EGW firing pin stop (fitting was required) For competition ergonomics and shootability, the thumb safety, mag catch and magwell are the main contributors. EGW's ambi thumb safety is dead-solid and feels just right to me. The EGW magwell for the Prodigy is dandy, I have no issues with it; it served me well in the one match I've shot with this gun, and is a pleasure to work with in dry fire practice. I have to have a mag catch setup that facilitates fast mags drops, reliably, with my short thumbs. The steel mainspring housing provides a strong foundation for the ignition chain, and adds a little weight. The lighter mainspring is an appropriate weight for a competition gun. For ease of disassembly and reassembly, the tool-less guide rod and ledge-style slide stop are nice to have. The tool-less guide rod is a big improvement over needing the wrench for the factory two-piece rod. I can pull the slide stop out with its ledge-style lever without having to push on the end of the pin from the right side of the frame. I can reinstall the slide stop by pushing it directly into the notch since it has the idiot-scratch-resistant cut. The only part that is for reliability is the extended firing pin. Since I'm using a 17# mainspring, light strikes would be a possibility. My experience: the extended firing pin eliminates that concern completely. I assessed the factory firing pin spring as heavy and opted for the tried and true Wolff firing pin spring that comes with their recoil springs. Other than that, the main rationale for replacing the factory parts with the above is to have parts that are likely to last a long time (and of course maybe the MIM parts would have outlasted my lifetime). If any of the aftermarket parts break, I have spares of the same type, and most the factory parts have proven themselves to me, so they can also serve as spare parts. I could mention that I have never shot this gun with the factory two-piece full-length guide rod, plastic mainspring housing, mainspring, firing pin, or firing pin spring. I replaced all of those parts before first shooting the gun. One MIM part remains, and that's the ejector. I have a couple of extra long 9mm EGW ejectors, but I don't plan to replace the factory MIM ejector unless it breaks. If I had bought this gun for casual shooting (plinking, "target practice", etc.), I think out of the box it would have run 100%. It hasn't exhibited any functional issues at all.

I don’t shoot IPSC so I have no idea.

The 1911 ignition design is pure mechanical genius. Brilliant piece of work by Mr. Browning and I admire Mr. Kuhnhausen’s documentation very much as well.

Yes that’s a good thread. Kuhnhausen doesn’t cover the disconnector much in Vol 1, and skips it in that book’s table of contents. He does say to have a “senior gunsmith” check it, if I remember correctly. Super critical part, very much at the heart of the 1911’s function, and hard to observe what it does. One can get an idea with the grip safety off.

One facet of a safe trigger job that isn’t discussed much is the sear-disconnector interface. If the disco paddle isn’t the right dimensions and/or the sear legs aren’t, you can get doubles, triples, quadruples or even full auto, which might not exhibit itself until you do fast trigger presses. The connect-disconnect cycle has to happen just right and even some guys who claim gunsmith status don’t understand it that well. The dimensions have to be tailored to the gun due to variances in things like the gap between the slide’s disconnector track and the frame top where the disco sticks out, and it’s the competent gunsmiths who know how to do that. If you understand it and don’t claim to be a gunsmith, you have pretty advanced 1911 knowledge for a non-smith.

Today I used the older style Warner jig and a Power Series I Universal Stoning Fixture to stone a new long EGW sear and installed it with the EGW hammer and disconnector. Also fit a new left-hand half of the ambi safety. I took my time and it came out to my liking. With nothing more done to the sear spring, the pull is now a zero-creep 2 lbs 10 oz, down 9 oz from what it was with the factory sear/hammer/disco. Now the only MIM part in the gun is the ejector, which I’ll only replace if it breaks. Function check tomorrow at Cowtown range. If all goes well, I’ll install the Atlas trigger shoe and bow. Ordered an Impact Machine optic plate for an SRO. Here’s the link for the plate: https://impactcncmachine.com/icm-prodigy-rmr-507-plate/

Looks great!

Shot the Prodigy in a practice match tonight. Ran 100%. On paper I was mostly pressing the trigger as fast as I physically could. On the Texas stars I had to slow down a bit.

I found the link. https://impactcncmachine.com/icm-prodigy-rmr-507-plate/ Thanks!

Makes a lot of sense.

It doesn’t show up well in the photo, but I beveled the bottom of the FPS at 45 degrees, then rounded it. Now this surface of the FPS contacts the hammer on recoil, before the back corner of the disconnector track does. I did the same type of contouring on both so the blued one that’s now in the gun looks the same.

And a photo of the stainless one in the gun after the lower left corner was relieved. I didn’t shoot with it but I think it would work fine. I’ll keep it as a spare.

Over the last couple of days, I’ve been working to fit an EGW firing pin stop that will nearly eliminate extractor clocking. I fit a stainless one, then a blued one. The blued one turned out tighter and does lock the extractor in place better. I shot with that one today. I took photos of the factory FPS alongside the stainless EGW, before any fitting, and then partway through the fitting. If you look closely, you can see that the lower left corner isn’t relieved yet, such that it will clear the ejector. Before fitting: After some fitting. Sides and height were done but not the lower left corner.

I’ve done that, definitely works. Not everyone wants to drill a hole into their trigger guard.

Great to hear that!

Thanks!

One more thing. I have gone back to the factory strut, hammer, sear and disco. Yes, MIM parts, but I get zero creep with these parts. My TRP has similar ignition parts and has survived at least 150 matches and plenty of live fire practice. After re-tuning the sear and disco legs of the leaf spring, drawing on Kuhnhausen, old notes, memories, and gunsmithing videos, the trigger is now a zero-creep 3 lbs, 3 oz, feeling nearly identical to my .45 competition 1911s. Pre-travel could be reduced but I’m fine with it. Over-travel was tuned by me (I didn’t drill that trigger guard hole for nothing) - conservative but I think most 1911 guys would think it’s decently short.

One other thing I did was to drill a hole in the front of the trigger guard to allow easy over-travel screw adjustments. I got this idea from my Atlas gun.