Springfield Armory introduced the Prodigy™ in 2022, and the gun became an immediate hit! Chambered for 9mm, the 1911 featured a polymer lower and a magazine capacity of 17 + 1 with the flush-fit magazine and 20 + 1 with the extended mag. But the best part was that the Prodigy was affordable to most dedicated shooters and law enforcement officers. Now, Ed Brown Products, a firm with over 50 years of producing high-quality, machined 1911 aftermarket products, is offering a “Fueled Prodigy.”

Ed Brown Fueled Prodigy

For several years Ed Brown Products has been offering Fueled® S&W M&P’s. They are highly tuned and refined guns designed for concealed carriers and law enforcement officers.

The Fueled line of M&Ps was so successful that the company has turned its attention to another wildly successful pistol. The Springfield Armory Prodigy is a great production gun. However, its potential is almost unimaginable after having a master-class pistol smith comb through it and replace critical components.

The goal: providing a flawless shooting machine that will stand up to the rigors and high round counts of competition or defense use.

History

In 2023, it was the Springfield Armory Prodigy that took top honors for Ballistic’s Best 1911 Round-Up. Beating out high-dollar competition from Nighthawk Custom, Wilson Combat, Colt Custom Shop, and Standard Manufacturing, the Prodigy took top honors, scoring high for accuracy, trigger pull, and ergonomics.

At the time, summer of 2022, the Prodigy had a suggested retail price of just $1,499. That’s less than half the price of the closest competitor.

I did all of my testing at Gunsite, and CEO Ken Campbell, who runs the academy, told me, “Back when I was a sheriff, I judged guns based on what a 25-year-old deputy could afford. The Prodigy is definitely affordable, and any deputy would be well-armed with one in his holster.”

Word spread quickly in the firearms community, and Springfield Armory scrambled to keep up with orders. One comment frequently heard was that it provided the shooter with a Staccato-like product at a fraction of the price.

With heady accolades like that, it took Ed Brown Products to ask, “How can we make a great gun better?”

Prodigy Details

Before we examine the Ed Brown Products modifications, let’s take a look at the Prodigy’s basics. It boasts a steel subframe for the slide to ride on and a polymer grip frame to accommodate double-column magazines. The Prodigy offers shooters the 1911’s crisp, short reset trigger. Springfield Armory offers the gun in both 5” and 4.25” barrel/slide lengths.

The top end of the gun will hold no surprises for students of the 1911. It features a conventional internal extractor and a supported barrel. Bushingless in design, the stainless-steel bull barrel uses a reverse recoil spring plug, full-length guide rod, and single recoil spring.

The Prodigy Lower in Detail

But the lower part of the Prodigy is where the magic happens. Its steel subframe contains the fire control parts like the hammer, sear, disconnector, ambi thumb safeties, and beavertail grip safety. It extends towards the muzzle end of the gun and has a rail for tactical lights/lasers.

Springfield joins the polymer grip module to the steel subframe in a way that the unitized parts are wobble-free and as solid as any steel-framed 1911. Springfield Armory also went to great lengths to make the Prodigy’s ergonomics as “shooter-friendly” as possible.

In an effort to help attenuate muzzle rise, the frame was designed so the shooter could get the highest hold possible on the grip. This was accomplished by undercutting the trigger guard where it meets the frame and using a high-sweep beavertail grip safety with a memory bump. These two features help the shooter get their hand as close to the bore’s axis as possible.

Springfield also applies its excellent Adaptive Grip Texture (AGT) in a wrap-around fashion on the grip module. It is not as coarse or abrasive as checkering yet provides the shooter with a secure firing grip, even with wet hands. Also, clothes don’t hang up on it as with checkering when carrying the gun concealed.

In case you’re wondering, the Prodigy guns will accept 9mm STI and Staccato magazines and vice versa!

To support red dot optics, Springfield cuts the slide for the Agency Optic System (AOS). Machined from billet 17-4 stainless steel, the AOS plates come fitted with a rear sight designed to allow co-witnessing through the optic.

Getting Fueled

Making a good gun better sounds easy enough. However, in reality, there is a lot of sweat, hard work, and experience that goes into each Fueled Prodigy.

To make the gun carry-friendly, EBP’s gunsmiths remove all of the gun’s sharp edges that might carve expensive holsters, clothing, or the shooter themselves. Some of the notorious bloodletting parts would be the bottom of the slide, thumb safeties, light rail, and rear sight.

Each of these parts on my test sample was given a slight bevel with a needle file, but not in a heavy-handed way. In fact, I had to examine the parts closely to see that these edges had been beveled.

One modification Ed Brown Products performs on the Fueled Prodigy is to flat-top the slide and serrate it. It’s a modification I normally spec out on my custom 1911s when I’m having one built. I love the way it works, and for those very quick and close shots, the rib funnels the shooter’s eye toward the front sight. It’s aesthetically cool and functional!

A reliability package is also performed on the Fueled Prodigy. Ed Brown Products swaps out the issue extractor for its machined tool steel extractor and tunes it to perfection. EBP smiths also throat the pistol’s barrel and polish the integral feedramp for flawless feeding.

They also recut the muzzle of the barrel, giving it a deep concave crown that should protect it in the event the gun is dropped muzzle down. It’s another appealing modification based on a practical need.

Fueling the Interface

Ed Brown Products machines its high sweep beavertail grip safety from tool steel and blends it to the Prodigy’s frame. The company also replaces the ambidextrous thumb safeties with its machined parts. Both levers are extended but are not so wide that they are impractical for carry use. They snick on and off crisply and are unlikely to be inadvertently engaged or disengaged.

EBP replaces the hammer, sear, and disconnector with its EDM parts. Machined from super-hard tool steel, these parts will add superior life to a consistent trigger pull. That’s an important factor for competitors or those who train frequently.

Using my Lyman Trigger Pull Gauge, the average trigger pull was a very sensible 2 pounds 15 ounces. It breaks crisply with virtually no overtravel, and its reset is short and firm. In other words, it is the perfect trigger for competition use and experienced concealed carriers.

The Proof is in the Shooting

A decade ago, when optics started showing up on my test and evaluation pistols, I made a point to shoot groups with both the red dot and the iron sights. Back then, about half of my groups were larger with iron sights, but half were smaller.

Now, I’m ten years older and have undergone two laser eye surgeries. I have pretty good vision but know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I can shoot better groups with a red dot optic.

So, when I opened the box from EBP and saw the Fueled Prodigy came without an optic, I thought, oh boy, I hope that I can do the gun justice shooting it with iron sights. Turns out I really shouldn’t have worried.

Arriving at my desert shooting spot before sunrise on an Arizona July morning, I set up my portable DOA Tactical shooting bench and PACT chronograph. By the time I finished, I had enough light to start shooting.

I fired all groups from a seated rest, five rounds to a group, and three groups with each ammunition. I rested the Fueled Prodigy’s dust cover on a Ransom Rest Multi Cal Steady Rest to help me maintain a sight picture while adding the 37 ounces necessary to drop the hammer.

Performance Results

Nosler’s 124-grain JHP Assured Stopping Power round produced the best 5-shot group, measuring just 1.17”. I was ecstatic that I was able to produce a group this small at 25 yards. Had I not fired similarly small groups, I would have written this off as a fluke. But the average group size for the five ammunitions tried was just 1.35”! Results are available below.

Looking back through my notes from 2022, I found that I tested a Prodigy 4.25” with Springfield Armory’s Hex Dragonfly red dot optic. Though I used different loads for that review, my aggregate group size was 1.27”. Maybe my days of shooting iron sights aren’t over?

Final Thoughts

If you’re the type of shooter who takes your gear and training seriously, the EBP Fueled Prodigy makes a great deal of sense. It’s more affordable than other higher-capacity 9mm 1911s and possesses all of the upgrades needed for knowledgeable competitors and savvy defense carriers. Ed Brown Products has succeeded in making a great gun even better!

For more information, please visit EdBrown.com.

Nosler ammo

When Dave Biggers, EBP’s sales and marketing director, asked me if I had any experience with Nosler handgun ammunition, I admitted that I had not. In short order, I received a supply of Assured Stopping Power (ASP) 9mm loads in 3 different bullet weights.

The ASP rounds evolved from Nosler’s Match Grade™ line and are loaded with the same care and attention. However, they include expanding jacketed hollow points. Velocity-wise, there’s nothing gimmicky about the rounds, and their bullet weights are pretty standard. My samples came in 115, 124, and 147 grains.

The Nosler projectiles use a skived bullet designed for expansion and penetration for the maximum transfer of energy to the target. Their bullet nose profiles and overall lengths were developed by Nosler’s engineers to feed flawlessly in semi-auto handguns.

Throughout my testing of the Fueled Prodigy, the rounds fed like butter. Likewise, I experienced no failures of any sort during the 400-round evaluation. Nosler’s 9mm rounds are loaded to standard pressures—none of them are +P—and they consistently had a standard deviation under 7%.

This consistency, along with the tiny groups, has made me a believer in Nosler’s ASP rounds! By the way, those of you shooting suppressed handguns and pistol caliber carbines equipped with a suppressor will want to look at Nosler’s 147-grain ASP round.

For more information, please visit Nosler.com.

Ed Brown Fueled Prodigy Specs

Manufacturer	Springfield Armory
Model	Fueled Prodigy by Ed Brown Products
Operation	Semi-Auto, Locked Breech
Caliber/Capacity	9mm, 17 + 1, 20 + 1
Overall Length	7.8”
Height	5.5”
Weight	32.5-Ounces
Barrel	4.25″ Forged Stainless Steel, Match Grade, Bull, 1:16
Polymer Grip Module	Wrap-Around Adaptive Grip Texture (AGT)
Slide	Forged Carbon Steel, Optics Ready, Black Gen4 Finish
Frame	Forged Carbon Steel, Black Gen4 Finish
Sights	Fiber Optic Front, Black Serrated Rear
Accessories	One 17-round magazine, one 20-round magazine, Double Zippered, Soft-Sided Case, Cable Lock
Warranty	Limited Lifetime Warranty
MSRP	$2,395

Performance

Ammo	Velocity	Energy	Group
Federal 124-grain Syntech Training/Match	1197	394	1.28”
Federal 115-grain Syntech Range	1110	314	1.43”
Nosler 115-grain JHP Assured Stopping Power	1108	313	1.50”
Nosler 124-grain JHP Assured Stopping Power	1092	328	1.17”
Nosler 147-grain JHP Assured Stopping Power	852	237	1.35”
Average			1.35”