A 5" Prodigy Project

[GunBugBit]

Since I acquired a new 5" Prodigy and have been discussing it on another thread, I thought I'd open a new thread to discuss what I've done to the gun so far, what I'm going to do, and eventually to wrap it up with whatever else I do, with some pictures and range reports.

 

I'm doing nothing to the gun that will prevent going back to factory parts, but I doubt I'll ever do that.

 

As soon as I got it home, I detail stripped it, except for removing the extractor and ejector.

 

Checked the gun over for all hang-up points that I could think of.

 

Trimmed off plastic flashing in grip module hole openings and smoothed the trigger track and shoe opening just enough to let the trigger move smoothly, which it didn't initially.

 

Filed the grip module screws down so their ends are flush with the T-nut openings facing into the magwell, doing away with the "feature" of leaving marks on magazines.  Checked for contact between magazine tops and the ejector.  With the Duramag base pads, there is no contact even if pressing up hard on the magazines.  I was pleased that the weighted plastic dummy mags I use for reload practice stay clear of the ejector, and they insert and drop free easily.  The holster and mag pouches I use for the Atlas Nemesis are also nicely compatible.

 

The disconnector engagement corner where the breach face meets the disconnector track had been radiused at the factory in a rough way, and the disconnector was capable of holding the slide back, so I rounded that corner more evenly and polished it to a high shine with a fine white stone.  Now there is some resistance but the slide doesn't hang up.  The gun can be loaded from slide lock by depressing the lever with no hang-ups.  I'll see if that holds true with a lighter (9#) recoil spring. 

 

Polished the breach face with 2000 grit sandpaper wrapped around the flat blade of a 10-8 1911 armorer's tool.  It was not super rough to start with, but there were some brass marks (which I know will reappear after shooting it), which along with brass deposits on the ejector tip, plus powder residue on the breach end of the barrel, showed that the gun had been test fired.

 

The trigger had major creep.  The Cerakote definitely created some high spots (now gone) in areas where parts rub together.  The sear nose was rough and almost made me shriek with horror when viewing under magnification (thought I'd throw that in since tomorrow is Halloween).  I polished the sear nose to a uniform shine with a fine white stone using the original-style Warner two-disc jig.  I made a conservative secondary surface with the Power Series I Universal Stoning Fixture.  I dressed the hammer hooks also with the white stone, and polished the sides, as well as the Cerakote-heavy sides of the sear.    I don't expect this trigger job to last a super long time as the parts are MIM.  However, I'll get service out of it as long as it does last.  Other Springfield 1911s of mine have MIM ignition parts with the same procedure done to them, and have held up with no issues.  Any breakages and I'll go to EGW ignition parts.

 

After reassembling today, the trigger creep is gone.  The wall is dead-solid.

 

I'm not overly concerned with trigger weight since I've done well in matches with triggers anywhere from 27 oz up to 4 lbs.  But I'll probably settle on something in the 2 - 3 lb range.

 

The barrel had a couple of small burrs around some sharp corners on the bottom feet, so I knocked those down, and lightly broke some of the sharp edges.

 

As far as parts on order, here's the list:

Will install before first test fire:

- 17# hammer spring

- Dawson extended length firing pin (will use Wolff firing pin springs, not the extra-power Prodigy firing pin spring)

- Atlas tool-less guide rod for a 5" 2011-style gun (recommended for the Prodigy by Adam at Atlas)

 

Will install after first test fire:

- EGW ambi thumb safety, stainless (love these, have them on 5 1911s)

- EGW magwell-ready Prodigy-specific mainspring housing, stainless

- EGW magwell for the Prodigy

- Atlas Vario X-line trigger, flat medium length, silver color

- More 20-round mags from Duramag

 

The gun could be test-fired now, but I'll wait until I install the 17# hammer spring, extended firing pin and spring, and a 9# recoil spring with a new home around an Atlas tool-less guide rod.

 

The last phase will be adding a Trijicon SRO, making this a Limited Optics gun.  I'll order the optic when I order the SRO mounting plate from Optics Planet.

 

I'm not hung up on aesthetics, but this will be a two-tone look.  I prefer stainless, one reason being I won't feel the need to cold-blue any parts I contour to my liking, such as the thumb safety.

Edited October 30, 2023 by GunBugBit

[motosapiens]

Appreciate the interesting reading. It sounds like you like to play around with 2011's, which is cool. These prodigies seem like a decent place to start for handy folks like yourself who want to do a little customizing.

 

Not to hijack your thread, but I went a slightly different direction for LO. I won a staccato P in the raffle at A1. When I got it 2 weeks ago, I slightly tweaked the leaf spring to my liking, mounted an old DPP, zero'd it, and then I shot it in 2 matches. After the first match I switched to the light spring from dawson (my gun only came with 1 spring, and it was ejecting brass about 18").  After 600-700 rounds with zero malfunctions, the trigger is at 2 1/4 lbs, and I kinda like it. Last practice I was able to put 4 shots in a row in the upper a-zone (head box) in under 3 seconds 3 times in a row.

 

The one thing I'm not thrilled with is the stock mag release is not drilled for a button, and it's not compatible with normal 2011 mag releases, which is entirely lame. I'll eventually drill and tap it, but in the meantime i'm returning to my production roots and slightly breaking my grip to reload. Other than that, I'm awfully impressed with this gun, especially considering I made fun of staccato for the last couple years after they stopped honoring warranties and went after the cop market. We've had 7-ish STI's (and still have 5), and they have varied in quality from pretty good, to amazingly tight, but we also had 1 gun that was meh, 1 with a poorly fitted barrel link,  and an edge that was a rattly POS when new and shot 3" groups at 10 yards.

[EvilNuff]

Thanks for sharing, I look forward to hearing your progress and the results!

[GunBugBit]

The Atlas tool-less guide rod and the Dawson extended firing pin safety arrived in the mail yesterday, so I installed those last night.  I kept the original guide rod plug because the Atlas one doesn't fit.  So much nicer to not have to mess with that two-piece god rod and a hex wrench.

 

Also for ease of re-assembly, I cut the little notch into the slide stop that allows pressing it straight in when reassembling.  Here's a pic of one, nicely done.

 

My cut looks like this:

 

As I started typing this, some EGW items were delivered to my front porch.  The items are the ambi thumb safety, the magwell-ready stainless mainspring housing, and two magwells (I didn't mean to order two, but now I have an extra in case I get a 4.25" Prodigy).

 

I'm glad I ordered 1911 pin sets from EGW years ago -- three sets of blued and three sets of stainless.  They are coming in handy for this project.  For now I'll just need the mainspring housing pins once I get the 17# mainspring and put it in the new housing.

Edited November 2, 2023 by GunBugBit

[GunBugBit]

Last pics of the gun before the outer appearance starts to change.

[dtuns]

If you don't mind me asking what have you spent on parts so far? I'm thinking about going this route.

[GunBugBit]

$70 - Atlas Tool-less Guide Rod

$60 - Atlas X-Line Trigger

$140 - Ambi Thumb Safety

$45 - Mainspring Housing

$50 - Magwell

$8 - 17# Hammer Spring

$15 - Extended Firing Pin

 

$388 - TOTAL

[EvilNuff]

Are you planning on any kind of re-coating for the whole gun or just dealing part by part?

[GunBugBit]

Everything I’m doing is for reliable function and ergonomics/feel to my liking.  No refinishing.

Edited November 3, 2023 by GunBugBit

[ddc]

You mentioned a 9# recoil spring...

 

I just got done with testing a 9# recoil spring in my gun and the return to battery was slow enough to be annoying.

I've gone back to the 10#.

 

But after fiddling around with two different Prodigies I'm getting the sense that the way they behave out of the box and how they respond to modifications is appropriate for that particular gun only. Just a sample size of two but that's my gut...

[GunBugBit]

Is your disconnector slowing down return to battery, do you think?  Mine still gives resistance, but doesn’t cause hang-up.  I’m thinking I might notice it when I shoot it.

 

I was even considering 8#.  I have all the poundages to try from 7# up to 12#.  I also have 14# and 16# but definitely wouldn’t go that heavy.

 

Yes every gun is different and we have to find out what works for each particular one.  But it’s good to know others’ experiences with the same model.

Edited November 4, 2023 by GunBugBit

[392heminut]

Besides polishing the tip of the disconnector there is one other thing you can do that I haven't really seen mentioned on the board here. You can disassemble the slide and then file a bevel at the bottom of the breachface where the disconnector hits, and then polish it with a stone.. There is a very slight bevel there already, but putting a bigger bevel there definitely helps.

[floater]

2 hours ago, 392heminut said:

Besides polishing the tip of the disconnector there is one other thing you can do that I haven't really seen mentioned on the board here. You can disassemble the slide and then file a bevel at the bottom of the breachface where the disconnector hits, and then polish it with a stone.. There is a very slight bevel there already, but putting a bigger bevel there definitely helps.

The Bob Marvel Cut.

[ddc]

the disconnector, lol...

 

more than once I've thought "hey I should check out the disconnector..." and then it goes away.

 

I will now make that a priority, thanks for reminding me.

[GunBugBit]

18 hours ago, 392heminut said:

Besides polishing the tip of the disconnector there is one other thing you can do that I haven't really seen mentioned on the board here.  

 You can disassemble the slide and then file a bevel at the bottom of the breachface where the disconnector hits, and then polish it with a stone.. 

I discuss it in the first post of this thread.

Edited November 4, 2023 by GunBugBit

[GunBugBit]

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

[GunBugBit]

21 hours ago, floater said:

The Bob Marvel Cut.

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

[GunBugBit]

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

Edited November 5, 2023 by GunBugBit

[sharko]

7 hours ago, GunBugBit said:

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

Yes, I stone the bevel on the bottom of the disconnector and stone the tip on the center leg of the spring so it isn't sharp.

[floater]

14 hours ago, GunBugBit said:

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

This is one from Bob himself.

[GunBugBit]

4 hours ago, floater said:

This is one from Bob himself.

Now THAT’S a Marvel cut!  Incidentally, Bob Marvel is still doing 1911 build workshops.

https://www.nelsoncustomguns.com/bobclass/

[GunBugBit]

15 hours ago, sharko said:

Yes, I stone the bevel on the bottom of the disconnector and stone the tip on the center leg of the spring so it isn't sharp.

Very important to do that!

[GunBugBit]

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.

 

 

 

[sandflea316]

Don't want to take away from your project but I just finished building out my recently acquired Prodigy.

 

On the slide I replaced the guide rod with an Atlas tool-less.  9# recoil spring.  The Cheely extended firing didn't fit.  Kept getting caught up in the breech hole.

 

On the lower I put in an SVI ignition kit.  Added a red dirt trigger.    Just like you I had to clean up the trigger track.  Fitted an Atlas ambi shielded safety.  Added a 17# main spring.  Total trigger pull averaged 1- 3/4 lb.

I had an older SSI Nitrofin and had to do some grinding for it to fit.

Lastly I also had an Akai stainless magwell so I took to grind the poly grip to fit.

[GunBugBit]

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.