First Look: Coyote Brown 1911 DS Prodigy Comp

By Justin Opinion

The legendary 1911 design has perhaps never been more popular in its 100-year-plus life than in the past decade. However, the one limitation that often steers buyers in other directions is the inherent limited capacity of the century-old Browning design. Thus, the innovation of the double-stack 1911 was born.

Chambering the pistol for 9mm and expanding the magazine to hold twice the legacy capacity was the core change of the design. The concept was a hit with both 1911 aficionados and competitive shooters — the latter group appreciating the precision and unmatched trigger of the classic gun with the capacity to match other models at the match. In addition, these characteristics could just as easily apply to a self-defense user.

[Check out Massad Ayoob’s article about the Springfield Armory Prodigy as a competition pistol.]

Enter the Springfield Armory 1911 DS (which stands for “double stack”) Prodigy. This design puts the impressive power of a double-stack 1911 chambered for 9mm into your hand, and all at an affordable price.

Within Reach

The problem with the earliest offerings in this form factor from boutique companies was that they were far more expensive than most could afford, and there were some performance and support concerns. The Springfield Armory Prodigy was the perfect answer to this dilemma — providing a solid pistol made by a top-quality 1911 manufacturer and putting it in your hand at a very affordable price.

To enhance the performance of the Prodigy, Springfield released the 1911 DS Prodigy Comp in July of 2024. Available in 5” and 4.25” versions, the Prodigy Comp was integrally compensated to reduce felt recoil and muzzle rise.

Now available in Coyote Brown, this newest pair of Prodigy Comp pistols is ready for the desert climate duty kit, or blending in with your existing color scheme of gear. As a fashion statement, it speaks for itself. The finish of the Coyote Brown Prodigy is darker and richer than many “tan” finishes on the market.

[Don’t miss Joe Woolley’s look at the Coyote Brown Springfield Prodigy.]

The earthy tone is embodied in the highly reliable and durable Cerakote finish for which Springfield is so well-known. This means that it will look as great years from now as it does the day you buy it. The match between the polymer grip module and the Cerakote-finished slide and frame is great. Additionally, the use of black small parts — such as the ambidextrous safety switches, grip safety, optics plate, etc. — gives a very aesthetically pleasing two-tone quality to the gun. The match-grade, bull barrel is also black, with a diamond-like-coating (DLC) finish.

Like its stablemates, the Coyote Brown Prodigy is available in both full-sized 5” and slightly smaller 4.25” models. The new Coyote Brown 1911 DS Prodigy Comp AOS pistols wrap all of the fantastic features and options of the Prodigy handgun in this new color offering. There is a lot to unpack here, so let’s get started.

The Details

It all starts with the base 1911 foundation. The tried-and-true John Browning design continues to be the benchmark by which all handguns are measured. The Prodigy line-up is the natural evolution for Springfield Armory, which makes a plethora of top-quality 1911 models of all sizes and option levels.

The significant change with the Prodigy is, of course, the capacity of the pistol. This is achieved by widening the grip enough to accommodate a double-stack magazine — allowing for the standard 17-round magazine and an extended 20-round magazine (the pistol comes standard with one of each, and 26-round mags are also available for purchase).

That wider grip module is a polymer component that is molded with the Hellcat’s “Adaptive Grip Texture,” and is nicely married to the forged carbon steel frame. I like the feel of the grip surface, and appreciate that the texture is the same everywhere — the side panels, backstrap and front strap all feel the same and keep the pistol planted firmly in your hand. The polymer grip module includes the trigger guard, which has the same molded texture on the front edge and is nicely undercut.

The feel of the ambidextrous safety is ideal for my tastes. The levers are just wide enough to ensure a clean swipe and even serve as a thumb rest, but not so wide that they dig into you when holstered. The “touch” is just right — easy to swipe on and off, but with sufficient resistance to avoid accidentally doing either. The grip safety with memory bump operates smoothly and resolves to a nice beavertail.

The forged steel frame of the Prodigy has been slightly widened from the dustcover area to the manual safety, making for a clean transition from the frame to the slide. My favorite result of this widened frame is the recessed fit of the slide lock lever. The feel of the Prodigy in the hand at the range is quite comfortable, even for a gloved hand. The fact that it’s a double-stack gun has little effect on trigger reach.

At the top rear of the Prodigy slide is the Agency Optics System (AOS) slide cut — the optics-ready component of the Springfield Armory pistol that uses a series of plates to fit all major red-dot footprints to the gun. Far from just an adapter plate, the AOS plates each come with a rear sight mounted, which is designed to co-witness with the majority of optics that fit that specific footprint. Each of these sights is an anti-glare blackout with the U-notch.

For superior mounting, the plate slide into a dovetail-style rear mount before the screws are fastened. This gives the optic mount a strong, stable platform that helps hold your optics’ zero. Whether or not you are co-witnessing through your optic or using the iron sights, the tritium front sight gives you the benefit of a night sight. The pistol comes standard with a cover plate with rear sight and one HEX Dragonfly mounting plate with rear sight. Additional plates are available from the Springfield Armory Store.

And of course, this Prodigy is a Comp — which stands for compensator. The integral compensator is made up of a single port near the muzzle. The match-grade barrel itself is a bull barrel, and the port is fairly large and located at the top center of the barrel. It is paired to a corresponding opening in the slide. Its purpose is to direct hot gasses straight up to counteract the natural recoil impulse that causes the muzzle to rise. Reduced muzzle flip means the sights return to target faster, which allows for faster follow-up shots.

[Learn more in our article about the different types of muzzle devices.]

During my testing at the range, I enjoyed several rapid-fire sequences where triple-tap style shooting was easy and the shots easily stayed on the target. This Prodigy is one of the flattest shooting guns I have ever fired. Springfield wisely made the compensator port a direct upward venting port and placed it forward of the front sight. This keeps the carbon and particles that are mixed with the hot gasses from fouling the sight and making it harder to see.

Down Range

I spent nearly equal time at the range with both the 5” and 4.25” Prodigy pistols, and the porting provided great results with both. Normally, an attentive shooter will feel more recoil impulse from the shorter barrel version of the pistol, but this difference was virtually indistinguishable with the Comp pistols.

For accuracy testing, I used the 5” Coyote Brown 1911 DS Prodigy Comp AOS mounted with the Vortex Defender-ST red dot. I shot three different quality ammo loads that represented a good breadth of bullet weights and designs. Three five-shot groups of each were fired from 15 yards using a CTK Precision pistol rest. The table below shows the best of each of the three groups for every load, along with the overall averages of all three groups.

Ammunition	Velocity	Group (best)	Group (average)
Federal American Eagle 115-gr. FMJ	1,180 fps	1.912″	2.161″
Hornady Critical Duty 135-gr. FlexLock	1,110 fps	0.862″	1.301″
Winchester Defense 124-gr. JHP	1,200 fps	0.898″	1.037″

Easily achieving 1” groups with two out of three ammunition loads on a cold windy winter day is a testament to the inherent accuracy of Springfield’s 1911 DS Prodigy. Relying on the Prodigy to win a match, defend the home or serve as a duty weapon seems like a sound investment to me.

The ability to have increased magazine capacity levels in the legendary 1911 pistol design without sacrificing any of the design’s classic benefits is something to celebrate. Springfield Armory has taken the double-stack 1911 from the boutique to primetime production, and as a result the consumer wins big.

Summing It Up

With enough models offered to make a variant of the Prodigy that fits the needs of many — and more being added all the time — we not only have the variety and choice we need, but that also ensures marketplace compatibility. Holsters and related accessories are plentiful and will continue to become more so.

The 1911 DS Prodigy rocks the market with its attention to detail and a bevy of standard features that include an ambidextrous safety, full length two-piece guide rod, tritium night sights, generous Picatinny mounting rail, forward slide serrations, skeletonized hammer and trigger, the AOS mounting system, and more — and all at a price that doesn’t take food off the table.

Springfield Armory is already famous for its vast selection of high-quality 1911 models that appeal to a broad range of shooters, from entry-level buyers to elite law enforcement operators. This 1911 DS Prodigy Comp AOS model in Coyote Brown is a perfect addition to the family — in either length.

The list of applications for a 1911 is as long as a tall man’s arm — previously limited only to capacity considerations. The 1911 DS Prodigy family removes that concern and turns the classic pistol into a modern marvel.

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9^mm

1911 DS Prodigy™ Comp AOS

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1911 DS Prodigy™ Comp 4.25" AOS

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