One thing that a lot of gun owners know is that there is this horrible reality that a lot of us face. In many states, there are magazine restrictions that limit capacities to ten rounds. This makes many of the most popular firearms off-limits lest the police come knocking.
That being said, Springfield Armory has not forgotten these put-upon patriots and offer many of the company’s products in restricted locale configurations, which brings me to the Springfield 1911 DS Prodigy.
The Springfield 1911 DS Prodigy is a semi-automatic pistol that spans the gap between the designs of the 20th century and the modernity of the 21st century. The idea, and they seem to be doing a very good job of it, is to give shooters of every background the best of both worlds.
As I mentioned a little while ago, Springfield Armory is now making ten-round magazines for the Prodigy line of pistols. And true to the 1911 heritage, the ten-round versions of the Prodigy are single-action handguns that offer up the crisp clean trigger pull that you have probably come to know if you are a 1911 aficionado.
Like a good number of single action pistols, the Prodigy uses a thumb safety, which I have always been partial to. Another good touch is that they are catering to both left-handed and right-handed shooters with an ambidextrous safety lever that can be used from either side of the 1911 DS. I’ve got to say, that’s something that’s a pretty big deal.
As a lefty, I can’t tell you how many times I have gotten a firearm only to realize that the safety was designed with right-handed shooters in mine.
Another thing about the Springfield 1911 DS Prodigy is this thing comes pretty much optics-ready right out of the box. Springfield uses the Agency Optics System, which is designed to use plates to adapts a wide range of sights to the pistols.
The Prodigy pistols come ready with a steel plate that fits the Springfield Standard Footprint, meaning you’ve got a wide range of optics you can mount on it. Whether you’re running a HEX Dragonfly, a Vortex Venom, or a Burris Fastfire, you’re covered.
Now, some of you might know that many shooters tend to prefer the 1911 platform for its ease when it comes to accurate shooting. Mr. Browning’s classic design has seen more than its fair share of precision shooting and the 1911 DS follows that same path.
To start off, the single action trigger is smooth as spit on a gold tooth and as crisp as a fresh apple. You’re not exactly going to have a long drag of a dull trigger that pulls the muzzle in one direction of the other.
Springfield Armory uses match-grade bull barrels with the Prodigy and the barrels themselves are forged stainless steel. For those of you that like choice, you can chose from a 4.25-inch or a five-inch long barrel. I personally own the five-inch barrel model.
The 1911 hails from a time when steel was king. Back then, pistols were built from solid metal, and the thought of using polymers was something you’d only see in a sci-fi flick. But as material science advanced, polymers worked their way into the firearms world, eventually becoming a standard in gun manufacturing across the board.
Springfield knew what they were doing when they cooked up this handgun. It’s like they took a look at every modern accessory out there and said, “Yeah, let’s make sure this thing plays nice with all of it.” Case in point: the Agency Optic System. And let’s not forget the Picatinny rail because, really, what good is a handgun if you can’t accessorize it like you’re gearing up for an action movie?
The Picatinny rail is basically the universal remote of accessory rails—it’s got room for all the toys. Want to slap a SureFire X300 Turbo on there? Go for it. Prefer the Streamlight TLR-1 HL? No problem. Heck, throw a laser on it if you’re feeling particularly tactical. Whatever it is, the Prodigy’s ready to accommodate.
I have to admit, I was pretty darned excited when I took the Springfield 1911 DS Prodigy out to my usual range of choice. Wanting to have some kind of an accuracy challenge but not one that would require me to be a military-level sniper, I went with a reasonable distance of fifteen yards.
The trigger action on this thing is as smooth as you could ever hope for with a gun. Some guns I have owned in the past feel like the barrel is skipping rope every time you pull the trigger. Not this thing. I can safely say after firing a couple hundred rounds over the course of the day that it fired as straight on round two hundred as it did on the very first round I put through the target.
The one drawback to this pistol is that it tips the scales at around $1,499. Some of you might be thinking that this is a little bit too much to be spending on a gun but look at it this way. When you buy a television for your living room, do you buy something you got at a flea market for six dollars? Nope.
You go for the best thing that you can find. This weapon, while it might be a bit on the high side price wise is one of the better pistols out there and will last you for a long time. So I would take the plunge and buy this thing, it is well worth it.
It’s an exceptional 9mm pistol. And now that the company is making ten-round magazines for the gun, it is available to more citizens in states where the laws regarding gun ownership unfortunately laugh in the face of the Second Amendment. It comes packed with two ten-round magazines and it is a purchase that you will not be kicking yourself over.
