Prodigy 4.25" Factory two piece Guide Rod

[icestud]

  I have read 5-6 of the threads here about the SA Prodigy's and the first thing I see is the advice to change out the Factory two piece guide rods, I have not seen a reason. Is it because of the two piece design? Or the extra steps when removing and reassembling? What are the Cons of the factory guide rod?

   I recently picked up the 4.25" model and have been doing a lot of reading about what people have done to help with the issues. I have only field striped it and did a thorough cleaning of the mating surfaces of the slide to the frame and reassembled it with some Enos standard viscosity Slide Glide. I hope to hit the range this weekend.

 

Thanks Matt

[Joe4d]

because they turn into two pieces while you are shooting. STI, rock island, ed brown,, everyone I ever tried would unscrew.. Wont own a gun with one..  solution to a nonexistent problem. Never had an issue getting a GI type, or a 1 piece design to work.

[icestud]

Thank you Joe4d

[icestud]

So a follow up question, what spring weight should I start with?

[RJH]

Mine hasn't come unscrewed close to 3000 rounds. It is more effort to take apart than other stuff and that would be the only reason I would ever consider changing it. But it's really not a big deal. I don't understand why they didn't do the Rock Island thing though and just let the one piece guide rod be a touch shorter than the end of the slide so you had a solid guide rod that you didn't need any tools to take down, take down is just like on a normal 1911

 

 

Why not start with the factory springs? Same applies here, in almost 3,000 rounds my gun has ran 100%, save two issues with the one magazine that has been modified for higher capacity. That's right my completely stock gun with completely stock prodigy mags as worked right out of the box. After about 500 rounds I did get a guy to do a trigger job on the factory parts.

 

 

In other words, everything you read on the internet may not be 100% true and maybe try the gun before you start changing things around that way you'll know if the gun worked originally or if you messed it up when you replaced parts that didn't actually need it. Then, after you know the gun works if you feel something needs tweaked, get after it, because you can always go back to the way it was

 

 

One last thing, I would probably not use slide glide and just go with standard oil. Doesn't have to be anything fancy, clp, hops number 9, etc.

[Racinready300ex]

I'd change the GR solely because taking it apart it would bug me. I'd rather have a one piece with a paper clip, or a tool less GR. 

 

+1 to RJH, I'd start with it stock. I'd also ditch the slide glide. At least if it's cold there, it's okay in a few places when the weather is warm. 

[Dr Mitch]

It will eventually unscrew during a match and shoot out of the gun.  Might take 8k rounds, might take 20k rounds, but it will happen.  One piece is the only way to go.

[icestud]

Thank you All for your replies

 

Why not Slide Glide? to heavy?

 

Edited February 20 by icestud

[dtuns]

11 minutes ago, icestud said:

Thank you All for your replies

 

Why not Slide Glide? to heavy?

 

 

 

[RJH]

1 hour ago, icestud said:

Thank you All for your replies

 

Why not Slide Glide? to heavy?

 

 

I think it tends to gum up things. The stringing agent in it, while theoretically great, tends to hold gunk instead of letting it flow out of the pistol.

 

Put a few drops of normal oil on your pistol occasionally and you will be fine.

 

As far as the two-piece guide rod unscrewing at a match, if it unscrews at 8,000 or 20,000 rounds, that's on me. I am not obsessive about cleaning my guns, but I probably Field strip them about every 500 or a thousand rounds, wipe them down and reoil. Especially tighter fitted or lighter sprung guns. I do tend to shoot some dirty ammo though. I don't understand the fetish of trying to see how many thousands of rounds your gun will go with absolutely zero cleaning. I want my stuff to work, and it does. To each their own though LOL

[392heminut]

4 hours ago, Joe4d said:

because they turn into two pieces while you are shooting. STI, rock island, ed brown,, everyone I ever tried would unscrew.. Wont own a gun with one.. 

 

2 hours ago, Dr Mitch said:

It will eventually unscrew during a match and shoot out of the gun.  Might take 8k rounds, might take 20k rounds, but it will happen.  One piece is the only way to go.

Funny, I have several with a 2 piece guiderod and I've never had that happen! Thousands of rounds and not one time! I make sure the threads are clean of oil and dry and torque them pretty good. No problems ever.

[icestud]

Thank you all for your replies and Thank you dtuns for the Video

[Joe4d]

14 hours ago, RJH said:

 

I think it tends to gum up things. The stringing agent in it, while theoretically great, tends to hold gunk instead of letting it flow out of the pistol.

 

Put a few drops of normal oil on your pistol occasionally and you will be fine.

 

As far as the two-piece guide rod unscrewing at a match, if it unscrews at 8,000 or 20,000 rounds, that's on me. I am not obsessive about cleaning my guns, but I probably Field strip them about every 500 or a thousand rounds, wipe them down and reoil. Especially tighter fitted or lighter sprung guns. I do tend to shoot some dirty ammo though. I don't understand the fetish of trying to see how many thousands of rounds your gun will go with absolutely zero cleaning. I want my stuff to work, and it does. To each their own though LOL

more like 80,,,  glad they work for you, mine didnt nor will I ever own another. zero use for them anyways.

[jcc7x7]

Never had one unscrew but I do "tighten mine" probably a little tighter than average.

But with that said I like the Wilson FLGR that you and can use a bushing wrench to take the gun down with.