GunBugBit

Today’s range session included finishing off the 117 PF reloads I had made. Perfect feeding, ejection and extraction. Probably just right for Steel Challenge. I also shot about 100 Winchester White Box 115gr advertised at 1,190 fps, for a PF of roughly 137. Also 100% function with those. All PFs I’ve tried (117, 132, 137) have functioned 100% with a 9# recoil spring. Accuracy-wise, I’m pleased. At 7 and 10 yards at least, the hits are going where I expect. Out of the box, the front sight was slightly off center, and sure enough, the hits reflected windage being slightly off in the expected direction. I removed the front sight and reinstalled it with green Loctite (retention compound), centered as perfectly as I could eyeball it with magnification. I prefer a smaller fiber optic, but the factory sight will do because I’m only going to use it for a couple of practice matches before I install an optic. Other than the fat dot, I like the irons sight picture pretty well.

Pic of the button side:

I received my Fusion mag catch yesterday, installed it, and shot the gun today. Pic of the screw side: As you can see, the rear portion is recessed into the grip module, and the front portion is flush. This doesn’t bother me at all, because… Functionally, it’s great. Can I easily drop mags? Yes. Does the button contact my support hand such that mags will be dropped while shooting? No. Has reliable function been affected? No. The mags are held at the appropriate height to facilitate consistent feeding, and they solidly stay in place until intentionally released, which is easy to do.

Recall this picture of someone else’s Prodigy with a Fusion mag catch: This led me to believe there was an opportunity to contour this side of the mag catch. Not the case. The fellow must have had the button depressed when he took the picture.

From what I gather, yes, as long as there isn’t a magwell that blocks the basepads. I can’t seat the Duramags in an Atlas Nemesis, for example, not that I want to, because that Nemesis is a .40. I was just curious if the mags would seat. Some 9mm guns might have similar magwells.

Will be good to compare notes after we’ve shot some matches with our Prodigys.

I’ll add to this after I’ve settled on my competition reload recipe for this gun and after a couple of matches with it, but I have enough trigger time now to give my impressions. Of course we all factor in that this gun has a vanilla unlightened slide and a spartan polymer grip. Understanding that, I’m pleasantly surprised with the comfort and adequate grippiness. I imagine I’d notice the relative sluggishness reported by those who compare the 5” to the 4.25” if I also had a 4.25”. But I see nothing holding me back from adequate split times that will allow scoring well. Having a hand size on the large side of medium, I like how I can lock in quite well with the magwell squeezing up on my hand as I bear down. With the wider EGW thumb safety and ledge style slide stop, the ergonomics and ease of operation are very good. Even the slim factory thumb safety would work for me, but I’m used to the wider EGW. I do need an extended mag catch button because the factory one is too short to facilitate competition-speed reloads, unless an individual has longer than average thumbs. The trigger is heavy from the factory, not competition-friendly, so I’ll be putting more time into getting that right. The overall experience is soft shooting and comfort, important for a gun that you’ll shoot a lot.

I’ll see if I can contour the oversized Fusion mag catch to nicely match the Prodigy grip. I’m not satisfied with the trigger yet. The EGW sear with the Prodigy kit with an EGW hammer is giving creep. It is a short sear and advertised as such, too short to stone in the old style Warner 2-disc jig. The factory Prodigy factory sear gave creep but not after I stoned it. For action shooting, creep doesn’t matter because we blow right past it with our fast trigger presses, but it means something is not optimal, usually sear-hammer interface. I want a primo trigger, even if it is around 3.5# which I find very shootable. I believe in not getting too cute with tension on the sear spring leg. My gold standards are the triggers on my PM-9s - zero creep, light, pre-travel and over-travel as I like, safe, reliable. To achieve that with this gun, there’s still work to do. On the PM-9’s, I did nothing to the sear, hammer, disco, nor the sear spring leg. On other guns, the Warner jig gave great results. I have learned over the years that just because we can’t manually induce hammer follow, a gun can still double, triple and quadruple when testing fast live fire trigger presses, which I’ve always done under the safest possible circumstances. Anyone can bend a sear leg and get a light trigger press at their work bench, but this doesn’t mean it’s safe. Some day I might learn the sure fire fine points of getting a safe sub-2# trigger, but with my current knowledge and experience level, I don’t push it. Harrison offers sear-hammer-disco sets where the sear is already stoned with the new style Warner jig, and polished. I might order that set.

I ordered the Fusion mag catch: https://fusionfirearms.com/2011-magazine-catch-big-button-extended-black There's a 25% discount going. I'll let you guys know how the part works out.

I'm not so concerned about the durability of a factory MIM mag catch. For me, the mag catch is a functional thing. I've dry-fired with the Prodigy, including mag changes with weighted plastic dummy magazines, and find that my thumb is just a little too short to get the mags to consistently drop at speed. Maybe I just need to look for a thumb stretcher.

I have seen that one installed and I gather that it works well. If one doesn't mind the screw side of the mag catch being recessed inside the grip module, it seems good.

Yes and some have gone that route.

Someone on reddit posted that this mag catch works (from Fusion Firearms): https://fusionfirearms.com/2011-magazine-catch-big-button-extended-black Pic of button side: Opposite to the situation shown in the pic from ddc, the screw side sticks out from the grip module. Seems to me one could shape that side to make it match the contours of the grip module. Pic of screw side:

A few comments on parts and what I observed during installation. The new slide stop had a pin diameter of 0.200”, different from the factory diameter of 0.1975” to 0.198”. So I fit the pin to match. EGW has a slide stop specifically for the Prodigy with a 0.198” pin, but it was sold out, so I ordered this one after asking EGW if it would work on the Prodigy. They said yes. Also, I see others have added this same part on their Prodigy. A nice thing about it is the generous ledge that allows easy manipulation and pulling out the slide stop without having to press on the pin from the right side. It comes with the idiot-scratch-prevention notch already cut. EGW is now shipping 3 hammer pins with their ambi thumb safety kit - three different lengths. Turns out the mid-length one is the correct fit. This pin is part of the key to making the safety rock solid. That and the sleeve around where the safety halves join inside the frame. Another good thing about this hammer pin is its very precise fit in the hammer hole, virtually eliminating side to side play in the hammer. For this thumb safety kit alone, I think EGW rocks. The gun is not quite entirely de-MIM’d. The ejector, the firing pin stop, and the mag catch are still factory MIM parts. I have two EGW 9mm ejectors in the event the factory one breaks, plus counter-clockwise-cut drill bits from Dawson. Would someone please make a drilled and tapped mag catch for the Prodigy! Seems there are none yet that are a good fit. I’ll probably replace the firing pin stop after my next range session. The grip safety leg of the leaf spring I received in the ignition kit is tuned so weak that it effectively disables the grip safety, whereas the factory one is close to how I like them - light enough to never cause disengagement problems but with enough tension for the grip safety to pass safety checks. I have an Atlas X-line medium flat silver color trigger, not installed yet. This trigger will allow for pre-travel adjustment and it’s the same trigger shoe/bow I have in my Atlas .40 Nemesis. I have the trigger pull set at 3.5#, with plenty of life in the disconnector leg of the leaf spring, which I find helps me with my personal fastest splits

Updated list of what I’ve added: Phase 1: - 17# hammer spring - EGW magwell-ready Prodigy-specific mainspring housing, stainless - EGW magwell for the Prodigy - Dawson extended length firing pin - Wolff firing pin spring - Atlas tool-less guide rod Phase 2: - EGW titanium strut - EGW hammer - EGW sear - EGW disconnector - EGW ambi thumb safety - EGW ledge-style slide stop

Other side:

New pictures with some new parts visible, and some on the inside:

Cool! The 9# recoil spring works and feels great on mine, even with my powder puff reloads, which I’ll be bumping up to 130 PF. The functional difference with 117 PF loads is the brass ejecting very close to my right foot, not surprisingly. But no malfunctions.

I do like some extra front-end weight, to a point. If there’s a noticeable difference, it could be worth it.

Just finished first shots (100 purchased loaded rounds from Precision Delta and 62 of my new reloads for this gun) with the Prodigy. Super pleased! It functions 100% with Precision Delta 115gr FMJ loaded rounds, 1150 fps for a 132 PF. Also 100% function with reloads using Precision Delta 147gr FMJ. The PF of the reloads is very low, just 117. Using coated bullets, the same powder load gives a 130 PF. I won’t use the coated bullets for this gun because the bullets are slightly too wide just beyond the case mouth and finish reaming did not touch that area. So little material came out during finish reaming that I believe it had been done at the factory. No biggie, the FMJs work great. I tried 17+1 and 20+1, plenty of fast doubles as fast as I could go, and the mags mixed with the two different loads. SUPER soft shooting and the ejection pattern is very good. Also chrono’d a new major .40 load for the Nemesis.

Very important to do that!

Now THAT’S a Marvel cut! Incidentally, Bob Marvel is still doing 1911 build workshops. https://www.nelsoncustomguns.com/bobclass/

Here’s what I’ve added to the gun. I’ll be shooting it soon. - 17# hammer spring - EGW magwell-ready Prodigy-specific mainspring housing, stainless - EGW magwell for the Prodigy - Dawson extended length firing pin - Wolff firing pin spring - Atlas tool-less guide rod

I believe the Marvel Cut is something different. Isn’t that where a gently sloping ramp is cut into the disconnector track?

Another thing that contributes to disconnector-induced slide hang-up is a lot of tension on the disconnector leg of the leaf spring.