John Browning’s 1911 pistol design might be more than a century old, but that doesn’t mean the design is archaic—or obsolete. In the 11 decades since his pistol made its debut, there have been plenty of subtle changes over the years. However, Springfield Armory has moved in a bold new direction with their latest take, in a design called the Prodigy.
That might sound like quite a statement for a single-stack, hammer-fired pistol chambered in .45 ACP—except the Prodigy is chambered in 9mm with a double-stack magazine, hence the DS designation in the product name.
The concept isn’t new. We’ve all seen pistols by companies like STI (now Staccato) and Cosaint Arms with this profile and even the older Para Ordnance 1911s. Yet the Springfield Prodigy DS offers a little something more.
This pistol is equipped with a single-slot Picatinny rail on the dust cover, ambidextrous safety, magazine funnel, optic and ingenious mounting plate system if you want to upgrade that optic. So, let’s look under the hood, so to speak.
