Tag: double-stacked

Categories
1911 2011 Springfield Armory

I’m The New Owner of a Prodigy DS Compact!

I neglected to update the blog to say that I have received the gun and have shot it.

This whole transfer experience was outstandingly great. The shipper, Gunprime, was quick in shipping the gun where I needed it to go. I’d never used my range as a receiving FFL, so I was anxious to see how that experience played out. My range received the gun and notified me within 2 hours that it was ready to be picked up, which was something I’ve never seen before. In my experience, receiving FFLs typically sit on the gun. In many cases, I’d wait 2-3 days in the past to get a call from receiving FFL that the gun was ready to be picked up, and in some cases, I had to make an appointment that was usually the week after it arrived to them.

When I went to pick up the gun, the transfer experience was pretty cool. There was no paper involved. Everything was done on e-forms, on a laptop. I’d fill out the e-form, and the range employee would look it over and ask me to make any corrections (or not). I did both forms in that manner and process took the same amount of time as if I’d done it on paper. And the background check results were done 5 minutes after submittal.

To top all that off, the transfer fee was a total of $17!

So, I got home and ended up racking the gun maybe 100-130 times while watching TV with my wife. The gun is stiff AF.

As it is my first Springfield Armory 1911/2011, I wasn’t sure what to expect. The gun is clean. Fitment and finish is good. Grip texture is great. Both mags are good. I ended up ordering three more, for $37 each – note that MSRP on those mags are $60 apiece.

The gun fits in my current 2011 holsters (but I haven’t tested the QVO IWB holster since it keys off the gun light and the only gun light that I have is currently on the Ultralight).

Some things I don’t like:

The optics plate adapter that comes with the gun — I’m not sure why they insist on sticking with including the Docter plate with Prodigy handguns…IMO, that’s a seriously stupid choice of footprint, especially when most folks are going to end up having to buy another (they’re not cheap, either – $120). When I went to the SA page to order one in RMSc footprint, they were out of stock (WTF). In fact, they’re kinda scarce. I ended up ordering one from eBay (for $119).

Also, the right thumb safety is pinching the hell out of my hand when disabling the safety, unless I purposely shift my hand a certain way. I will either have to try to swap in a single sided safety, grind the stock right-side lever so that it won’t pinch me, or pay a gunsmith to sort it out for me.

The trigger measures at (an average of 5 pulls) 3 lb 8 oz but feels heavier. As with my experience with my Tisas DS, the trigger wall feels heavy.

Lastly, the gun feels seriously oversprung. I don’t want to mess with swapping springs, as I just received the gun and I don’t want to start swapping parts so soon. It may break in.

How does it shoot? I’m shooting left of most of my bullseyes – 1 inch left at 7 yards and 2-3 at 10 yards. I think it’s due to the trigger wall…as I’m negotiating the trigger, I’m inadvertently pulling my point of aim. With the Tisas DS, I waited until 500 rounds before I lost my patience and swapped in a different sear spring. I will do the same with the Prodigy, although I could just tweak the OEM spring, which may help.

The gun doesn’t feel snappy, probably due to the great grip textures – the Bul Armory Ultralight feels a lot snappier (probably due to lack of good grip texturing).

I shot 120 rounds through the gun before I ran out of range time. The gun didn’t choke or misfeed and the gun was dirty – I didn’t clean it, as I was working with limited time.

At some point, I need to try JHP through the gun, as I keep seeing folks saying that their Prodigy Compacts are experiencing feeding issues. I think that I should wait until maybe 500 rounds before I try JHP, as that will give the gun’s parts time to wear in.

Categories
1911 2011 9mm double-stack Springfield Armory

Will Be Picking Up Prodigy DS Compact This Evening

This gun came to my FFL in record time.

I ordered it from Gunprime LATE Thursday night. Gunprime processed it Friday around noon-ish and UPS picked it up that afteroon. UPS usually processes gun on a 2-day timeline, so, Monday and Tuesday were the transport days and they delivered it today (Tuesday around noon).

I was ready to wait for XCal to take a day or two to process it, but they sent me a text a few minutes ago saying it was ready for pickup. Wow! That’s exceptional, time-wise.

So, I’ll be heading out to XCal after work (maybe 6 or 6:30 PM) to do the background check, which shouldn’t take all that long to do.

As I’ve never used XCal as an FFL, I’m not sure what to expect. One thing that annoys me about FFLs is that I’ve been to more than a few that want you to process the background check without even looking at the gun. The problem with that is that the gun could have flaws (gun won’t cycle, or gun has massive scratches, for example) or might not have what was purchased (a mag, for example)…if they won’t let you see it and you do the paperwork first, it’s your gun, literally sight unseen. The gun isn’t yours until you perform the transfer (from FFL to you). Prior to that, the gun is being transferred from FFL (store) to FFL (store).

So, yeah, I’m excited. I also ordered three more mags from LockedLoaded.com, as they had them on sale for $37, vs the MSRP cost of $60 each.

I also scheduled a range visit for Wednesday evening…I’ll perform an initial assessment of the Prodigy DS then.

Categories
1911 2011 double-stacked Springfield Armory

More Details on the Springfield Armory Prodigy 3.5″ Compact

I found a picture of the Prodigy 3.5″ Compact:

The gun’s manufacture details are here:

MPN#: PH9116AOS.
UPC: 706397969073.
Description: SPG 1911 DS PRD CMP9MM 4B 15R.
Brand: Springfield Armory.
Model: 1911 DS Prodigy Compact AOS.

Model: 1911 DS PRODIGY™ 3.5″ COMPACT AOS HANDGUN
Part#: PH9115AOS
CALIBER: 9MM
COLOR: Black
BARREL: 3.5″ Forged Stainless Steel, Black DLC, Match Grade, Bull, 1:16
SLIDE: Forged Carbon Steel, Black Cerakote®, Optics-Ready
FRAME: Billet 7075-T6 Hardcoat Anodized Aluminum, Black Cerakote®
SIGHTS: Tritium Front, Black Serrated Rear
RECOIL SYSTEM: Captured Guide Rod
GRIPS: Polymer
MAGAZINES: (2) 15-Round
WEIGHT: 25.5 oz
LENGTH: 7″
HEIGHT: 5.1″

Yeah, this wrecks my plans, but this is still a good thing!

https://youtu.be/a6DRi3S-rgs?si=3zt0VgDK4oq31W7s

Categories
2011 Springfield Armory

Is an Officer-sized Prodigy on the Way?!

Is an Officer-sized Prodigy on the way? I believe it is!

There was a Reddit post of a gun shop receiving two Prodigy handguns. One was a 3.5″ 9mm handgun and the other was a 4.25″ 9mm handgun. The poster supplied pictures. Both had compact-sized grip modules (think BUL Amory Ultralight grip size).

I knew I should’ve grabbed a screenshot of the post, because I went back maybe 30 min later and the person that had shared the pics had deleted the pictures and his comments. I think the guy realized that he shouldn’t have been posting about those guns since he was probably under NDA.

For sure, these two guns are on the way, and that pretty much wrecks my gun-buying plans this year…LOL! For certain, I’m going to get that Officer-sized Prodigy when it is released to the public…it will replace my Ultralight. As well, I still need a 5″ 9mm 2011/1911, and that will probably be a Prodigy…I can afford both.

That Reddit thread is here.

UPDATE: Here’s another Reddit post of this, only it is the 4.25″ Prodigy Compact (4.25″ barrel with compact grip with 15-round mags). The UPC code is 706397969073 and the MPN is PH9116AOS. There is one store that has a staged product page that has the UPC code and MPN. I’ve seen no data on the 3.5″ Prodigy Compact, though. This post pertains to a person that actually bought a Prodigy Compact, surely a mistake on the gun store’s behalf.

Categories
1911 2011 double-stacked subcompact

Girsan Witness2311® Brat Is Now Released for Purchase

I talked about the EAA Girsan Witness 2311 Brat a few days ago. Well, it is now released for consumption (meaning that it is now actually being sold).

I’ve checked the street pricing and, as of 11/11/2024, it is showing as $540 as a lowest-price (see pricing here). That’s not a bad price for such a gun, but I’m suspecting that it will have QC issues, as the other EAA Girsan Witness 2311 variants have all had issues when being reviewed by independent YouTube channels. I’d be very surprised if the gun actually does well, especially with it being a smaller 1911/2011, as the smaller versions can sometimes be difficult to develop.

We’ll see how well it does, but I’m not holding my breath for a good review.

Categories
2011

The Fusion Firearms Ermox XP Pro 2011 Reviews are Favorable!

UPDATE (4/5/2025): I bought an XP Pro in chrome a few days ago. It’s currently on the way to the receiving FFL and will arrive on 4/7. This is my final gun purchase of 2025 (I also bought a Prodigy DS Compact). I’ll post an update and link it here once I’ve had a bit of time with the gun.

I’ve been seeing a few YouTubers posting about the new 2011 from the collaboration between Fusion Firearms and Ermox, called the XP Pro.

Usually, the first thing out of someone’s mouth is, “It’s a Turkish import that Fusion put their name on” or some crap like that. This is a true collaboration. Just as when SDS Imports worked with Tisas to improve Tisas build standards, Fusion Firearms did the same. If it weren’t for SDS Imports showing Tisas how to make the parts in the proper fashion using the proper specs, recent Tisas products would’ve been shitty. Fusion Firearms did a similar thing. The CEO of Fusion Firearms owned Dan Wesson and he later sold DW to CZ. He’s been working with Ermox, providing them with the proper specs for the parts and advising them on how the parts need to be made. He did this for the XP Pro and XF Pro firearms.

I’ve already seen the table-top video of the XP Pro by Graham Baates. This gun looks to be well-made. Yes, there are machine marks, but that doesn’t outright define a bad 1911/2011. The culmination of parts, fitment, and finish is what makes the gun a well-received product. My first thought was that the gun looks to punch way above it’s level, similar to how $400 Tisas 1911s usually matches a gun twice their price. I think this gun is equivalent to a Prodigy. Many folks think that Apollo 11s are equivalent to Prodigies. They are not. From what I’ve seen, the XP Pro looks to be over-built, which means it’s probably going to make a great 2011.

Some things that stood out to me were the fact that the gun comes with two optics plates – one for RMSc and equivalent footprints and one for 507C and equivalent footprints. The plates have irons built into them.

Another thing is that the gun is 100% non-MIM (all small parts are from bar stock).

Almost all the parts are interchangeable with other 1911s/2011s. About the only parts that are proprietary (by necessity) are the slide catch, the mag catch, and the beavertail, and those proprietary parts are necessary due to gun being built around Glock mags.

Additionally, the grip module (yes, this is a 2011) is all-metal. The gun is heavy, which means that this gun will probably be a recoil sponge.

There will be a comped version later on.

There will be a 45ACP version later on.

The grip angle is good – it’s not Glock-like, but not quite 1911-like, either, due to accommodating Glock mags.

The controls appear to cater to concealed carry.

TheHumbleMarksman has one, as well…he’s just waiting for time to begin conducting the review. [UPDATE – the video is here and his example appears to be well-engineered.]

GBGun has his but he’s leaving the country for 2 weeks, so the range portion of his review will be on-hold until he returns. [UPDATE – his write-up is here, his tabletop video is here and his range footage is here; his example appears to be well-engineered.]

I’d talked myself into not settling for another budget 2011, but I might have to buy this one this coming spring. I’ve another 4-5 months for the kinks to be worked out and for the major channels to review the gun. If things are favorable by March/April, I’ll be grabbing the XP Pro (and possible another higher-end 2011 too).

We’ll see how things play out.

Categories
double-stack double-stacked

New 2011-esque Handgun: Kimber CDS9

There was a quiet release of the Kimber CDS9, which appears to be a smaller Kimber KDS9C.

This is not a 2011, though. As with the KDS9C, it is a double-stacked handgun that is very similar to a 1911. The biggest differences are that the barrel link is more similar to a CZ handgun, and the trigger is entirely different than a typical 1911, as it is hinged. This gun is more like a Kimber Micro 9 or S&W CSX.

There is no grip safety, either, which the KDS9C also doesn’t have.

The gun is optics-ready and the barrel length is 3.19″. The gun comes with 13- and 15-round mags. There’s also a version that has a threaded barrel, which also has a reverse two-tone color scheme.

The CDS9 has an MSRP of $1075, although I’ve seen street prices of $917.

As well, the KDS9C has no MIM. I believe the CDS9 will also be MIM-less, although I’ve seen nothing supporting that claim. It would be stupid of Kimber to have no MIM in the CDS9 when the KDS9C is MIM-less.

The Humble Marksman has a great review of this handgun. It shoots well and appears to be just as reliable as the KDS9C, of which I’ve never seen a video that shows unreliability. Most folks hang onto older opinions that Kimbers are not dependable. Again, I’ve seen no videos showing bad reliability with either the KDS9C or R7 Mako variants.

I will add this to my list of To-Get guns for 2025 and will watch as others review this gun.

Categories
2011 subcompact

Girsan Witness2311® Brat – 45ACP Officer-sized Offering

A while back (maybe a year ago or close to it), I’d posted about the EAA Girsan Witness 2311 Subcompact. Well, that gun still isn’t yet for sale, but there are some changes.

Firstly, the gun will be sold as UPC 741566907081.

The gun will also be sold in two calibers – 9mm and 45ACP. The 9mm will hold 17 rounds, and the 45ACP will hold 11 rounds.

It’s barrel will be 3.4″ in length (that’s an odd length – not sure why both LFA and EAA sell odd-sized 1911s/2011s).

It will be optics-ready and will have a bull barrel.

Lastly, MSRP dropped significantly, to $679.

It’s called the 2311 Brat!

What is this gun bringing that the other 2011 variants aren’t? Well, You don’t see all that many 2011s chambered in 45ACP, especially in Officer size and while having a bull barrel.

That price is definitely attractive and offsets the fact that it’s an EAA/Girsan offering.

Categories
1911 2011 9mm double-stack double-stacked Tisas

Carry DS9 – A Good Gun But Not In Love With It

The last time I posted about the Tisas Carry DS9, I’d only recently bought the gun.

That was back in February 2024. It is now June 2024. I’ve owned the gun right at four months and I’ve right at 1200 rounds through the gun! Yeah, it’s that much fun to shoot/own! And, of those 1200 rounds, it has only misfed one time. I was also able to shoot that same round from the gun after loading it back into the mag. It’s eaten steel cased ammo, lots of JHP, and lots of JHP that is considered good SD ammo. This may well make for a good gun for training courses. It can withstand gunk/carbon/dirt, too — I went maybe 400 rounds before I cleaned it, at one point.

I’ve a running thread at 1911forum.com that has somewhat detailed updates. I’ve also been posting video updates on YouTube.

Initially, I ran into an issue with the gun that I couldn’t ignore or adapt to. The gun had a trigger that was not only somewhat heavy, but it was difficult to work around. The trigger wall itself was super thick, to the point that I was pulling the gun out of target alignment when actuating it. The goal was to not modify the gun before I hit 1000 rounds. I made it to maybe 450 rounds before I decided that I had to either pay a gunsmith to make the trigger better or do it myself.

I ended up buying a 19 lb mainspring and a sear spring from EGW. The sear spring is what I thought would solve the issue. I actually pulled the OEM sear spring and looked at it. The OEM spring was bent oddly and didn’t have a lot of spring/give. It was also difficult to remove and re-install. I believe the main issue was the sear spring and I was correct – when I received the EGW sear spring, it immediately solved the issue. The new spring didn’t require any tuning, either. The trigger was a bit over 5 lb when I got the gun. By 450 rounds, it was at 4 lb 8 oz. The new sear spring didn’t change the trigger weight but did change the trigger wall. The wall was much more crisp after that upgrade.

I installed the 19 lb mainspring just to determine if I’d like the change. Initially, I didn’t like it. It made the trigger feel sloppy (added some slack). I put the OEM mainspring back into the gun. Oh – that’s also the first time I did something like that. I didn’t think I could do it without a workbench or clamp but I was able to replace it without issue. I ended up re-installing the EGW mainspring and the gun ended up wearing in – the gun’s trigger feels fantastic now.

I also did several detailed strips of the gun, just to look at the individual parts. I can verify that the gun has NO MIM parts. Not a single part is MIM. None of the parts, apart from the weird sear spring, has fitment issues. No, none are polished, but they’re standard parts and fit well enough.

After I crossed 1000 rounds, I decided to have a bit of fun with the gun. I ordered 14 lb and 12 lb flat recoil springs (from EGW). I thought they’d fit but they wouldn’t fit around the short guide rod. I ended up having to buy a full length guide rod (the requirement was I required a 1/4″ diameter rod), which came with a plug designed for use with a FLGR.

I installed the parts and was shocked again…the gun felt even better, just racking the slide. When I took it to the range, I was shooting quite a bit faster, while still being accurate. The lighter recoil spring makes the gun feel more manageable, control-wise. It seems to shoot flatter. The Prodigy comes stock with a 12-lb recoil spring and those guns shoot really well. There are more than a few videos that state the Tisas guns are over-sprung…I believe it’s true.

Another great thing about the gun is that iron sights will co-witness (1/3rd) with the optic. I’ve a Cyelee CAT that works well with this gun. This optic has been 100% dependable.

There are a few bad things about this gun, though.

The optics cut is crappy. Tisas CS is insisting that the issue isn’t that they’ve milled the optics cut wrong, but that the optics makers have milled their optics wrong. I don’t think that’s the case, as I tried two different brands (Holosun and Cyelee) and neither would fit well. I could see daylight between both optics and the slide. As well, both optics were factory zero’d to have the dot rendering generally within the center of the glass, but when I installed both, both dots were rendering super-high. I wasn’t the only person with this issue, either, and many of those folks complained that they couldn’t zero their optics because they ran out of elevation adjustment when trying to bring the dot down. I fixed my issue by using an optic ship (bought from Amazon). The shim allowed a better fit on the gun (no daylight between the optic and slide) and also allowed a lower shifting of the rendered dot. The shim doesn’t help everyone, though. Some folks stated they had to use two shims to get their optic to properly zero.

What’s funny is that Tisas keeps trying to dodge blame. Not only that, but folks keep insisting that Holosun is a cheap optic and that makes Holosun at fault. WTF. These aren’t EOTechs but they aren’t exactly cheap, either.

Tisas has a problem with milling in general. Initially, their single stacked 1911s had (and still do have) issues fitting standard 1911 sights. Part of this is because they’re avoiding licensing Novak specifications. Later on, folks started complaining that they couldn’t mount their standard-sized lights on the M1918 rail mount. Tisas stated that the rails will only mount small lights. This mainly affected their Carry line – they installed smaller rails for some reason. This issue migrated to their new line of Carry DS9s. Now there’s mounting issues with the optics and I know for a fact that it is indeed the slide milling that is the issue.

Those issues and the fact that Tisas didn’t jump to help folks means that I won’t be buying any other Tisas guns. There’s also another reason. I bought the Carry DS9 after already owning a couple of double stacked 1911s that cost over twice as much as the Tisas. Those two guns feel better and shoot better. They feel expensive. That’s not saying that someone with a DS9 won’t be able to outshoot someone with a SAS II UL. What I’m saying is that, no matter how much they make the DS9s cheaper, it’s still a cheap (as in cheaply made) gun. There are immediate and significant differences when comparing a DS9 to a SAS II UL, whether a person is just handling both or shooting both. No, most folks won’t cross-shop those two guns but I’m not the only person that has bought a DS9 after owning a Prodigy or SAS II UL or even a Staccato.

In summary, I didn’t need the DS9 and the SAS II UL almost certainly spoiled me. The DS9’s trigger will never feel like the UL’s trigger. The DS9 rattles. It has side to side play in the slide. The trigger is a bit sloppy. The DS9 right-side safety isn’t blended (it cuts my hand – my Tisas single stacked Duty 45 does the same thing and I ended up swapping in a single sided safety to save my hand). The DS9 isn’t bull-barreled. There’s the optics milling issue. That sear spring on the DS9 was shoddy. All of those 7-8 sentences I just typed is justification to stay away, in my humble opinion.

For those who don’t already own a 2011 or nicely crafted double stacked 1911, this gun is probably for you, as long as you remember that a cheaper gun is going to be built cheaper. There’s a reason why 2011s, up until recently, were priced at mid $1000. If you already own something twice the cost of a DS9 (or other variant), you’re going to be disappointed, unless you love to tinker.

I love it but I’m not in love with it.

Categories
1911 2011 double-stack double-stacked sub-compact subcompact

EAA Girsan Witness 2311 3.4″ – My Poor Wallet!

So, I haven’t yet committed to yet another gun purchase, but I was bored last week and was perusing the EAA website and saw that they’re finally listing their Girsan Witness 2311 3.4″ (subcompact) on their product page. It’s sort of hidden, as you specifically have to manipulate their product menu to display it.

So, it’s using the same grip as their larger 2311s, which is interesting. It has that mullet look, which is similar to the Bul Armory SAS II UL. The MSRP of $999 is quite high, though, but all of the Girsan 2311s are at that price.

I’m interested, yeah. I was interested last year when they had it listed, but they pulled it off of their website for some reason and it’s only now showing up again.

Now, it has to get good reviews, too. The larger Girsan 2311s aren’t doing so hot since they were released, as they were either rushed to the market or they are just built like shit…the reviews of those aren’t really good.

LFA is supposedly releasing an Officer-sized 2011 too (as an Apollo). Now, those have been getting good reviews, although they have MIM (they’re working to make those guns MIM-free). I also remember TheHumbleMarksman showing, in a review, the failure of a slide release that was supposedly MIM-free, which is NOT good. I’d eventually like to see how well their 3.5″ gun does.

I asked the Tisas representative on the 1911Forum.com website if Tisas was planning to release ANY Officer-sized guns and they said, “No”. Later on, when folks were discussing it, someone said that they spoke to another Tisas rep and he/she said that it was being worked on! Now, if they can do one as a 2011, that would be awesome!

I’m sure there will be more news on this and when I see it, I’ll post an update!