Outlaw Action Pistol Match - 06/21/2025

Outlaw Action Pistol match (IDPA Scoring) at the Amarillo Rifle and Pistol Club. I was shooing my V6 ported Bul Armory TAC 4.25" from concealment (AIWB) in the Optics division. I was planning to shoot my new Springfield Prodigy Carry Comp, but one of the optic plate screws sheared off during a practice session, and I am waiting for replacement screws to arrive. 😕 Due to how long it was taking us to get through the first two stages, we decided to combine the last two stages into one large stage so that we could get done before it got too hot.

Stage 1: A little mandatory running back and forth, with a tight squeeze through a narrow "doorway" to get to the final shooting position. My performance was pretty good on this one. I finished in 2nd place with 4 points down.

Stage 2: Start position was kneeling with your hands behind your head, retrieve your unloaded gun and magazines from a gym bag full of clothing, stow a spare mag, load the gun, then engage all of the targets in a very specific order with a total of three shots per target. Unfortunately, I loaded the gun with a magazine that wasn't fully loaded. It had enough rounds to get me to my intended reload point, but the chamber was empty when I reloaded and had to rack the slide after I got a click without a bang. I finished in 3rd place with 7 points down.

Stage 3: With two stages combined into one, we had five shooting positions, a lot of targets (some with a very specific engagement order), and three reloads (minimum of 47 rounds total). No way to go really fast as everything was just far enough away or small enough that you had to really hold yourself accountable for every shot. I finished in 3rd place with 7 points down.

A lot of really good shooters showed up for this match, and it was great to shoot alongside them and verbally harass them when they made mistakes. 😜 The V6 Bul 4.25" ran perfect and fast all day. I ended up in 2nd place Overall out of 22 total.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KluV7zc9r4M

USPSA Action Pistol Match - 06/07/2025

USPSA Action Pistol Match at the Southwest Shooting Center in Clovis, NM with the Southwest Performance Shooters club. I was shooting my non-ported Springfield Prodigy from concealment (AIWB) in the Limited Optics division. This non-ported Prodigy has become my favorite gun to carry, practice, and shoot matches with.

Stage 1: A fast stage with up close targets and some shooting on the move. I ran it pretty fast (for me) and managed to come in 3rd place with three C-zone hits. 

Stage 2: Another fast stage, but with a few longer distance shots. All was going according to plan until the last target. I let my grip get a little loose and threw four shots at the last target and still managed to not hit the A-zone on that one. 😣 I still placed 3rd and again had only three C-zone hits.

Stage 3: "Quickly II" classifier stage.  This one had mandatory reloads and strong-hand and weak-hand shooting. I had six C-zone hits and ended up in 6th place.

Stage 4: A lot of fast and up close targets on this one with a couple of good leans. I placed 4th with only two C-zone hits.

Stage 5: A short and sweet stage with no reload necessary. I went a little slower than I would've liked on most of the targets, but I only had one C-zone hit and placed 5th.

Another fun match with great weather. I ended up in 4th place Overall out of 15 total, while continuing my "forever stay" in B-class. 😜

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKMAph5rizE

Springfield Prodigy 1911DS 3.5" Compact

With the three Springfield Prodigy handguns that I currently have, I felt like I needed a 3.5" Compact to round out my collection. I have been patiently waiting for a used one to become available, but they have been very scarce. One finally popped up on Gunbroker and I was able to snag it for under $1000. This one was still in really good condition, with no obvious blemishes or wear on the slide and frame, but the grip module's textured area had some flat spots from rubbing up against something. That was no biggie for me, since I obviously planned to do my RFV Tactical Prodigy specific grip texture work on it.

Photos from the Gunbroker auction

Other than the grip texture work, the only other change that I made was to swap out the ambidextrous thumb safety levers to a thinner EGW single sided thumb safety lever that I already had. As part of my normal reliability and performance tuning for a Prodigy 1911DS, I changed out the undersized and over-sprung firing pin with an EGW firing pin and ISMI spring. As with my 4.25" Carry Comp, the firing pin hole in the slide measured 0.064", so I had to turn down the tip of the 0.068" EGW firing pin to just under 0.064". I didn't even bother test firing the gun with the factory firing pin because it measured 0.060" and I knew there would be light strike issues caused from primer shearing. I also tuned the sear spring for a 3 pound trigger pull, which also eliminated any disconnector hang-up on the slide, tuned the extractor for reliable feeding and extraction, polished and radiused the barrel's feed ramp, trimmed down and radiused the top edge of the hammer to reduce the friction on the underside of the slide during cycling, and adjusted the engagement point of the beavertail grip safety so that it doesn't have to be fully depressed to disengage it. The gun now cycles very smooth and passes all of my reliability testing.

I did the grip texture on this one a little bit different than what I normally do. As an experiment, I tried to mimic the factory texture by using a fine point tip on my iron. The texture is slightly more aggressive than the factory texture, but less aggressive than my normal Concealed Carry texture. It looks and feels good, but it was very time consuming to make it look consistent, and was honestly not worth the effort once I finally finished it. I haven't done my normal dehorning, blending, and Cerakote work on this one yet, because the original Cerakote finish is still in really good condition, and the dehorning and blending that I do to make the gun more comfortable in hand is not really necessary for a gun that is not used frequently for training and/or matches.  I may do all that work to it in the future with a two-tone color scheme or a custom color mixture if I find myself carrying it frequently (or I get bored and need a new project), but I'm just going to leave it as is for now as I view this gun mainly as a shop gun for holster fitment that I will probably only carry occasionally.

I installed a Trijicon RMR that I pulled off of another shop gun and mounted it with a Dawson Precision mounting plate that positions the optic at the very back of the slide and eliminates the rear iron sight.  I thought this configuration would look really good on it's shorter slide and the RMR's small window doesn't get blocked by a tall rear iron sight. I also installed a Streamlight TLR-7A compact light which fits flush with the end of the 3.5" slide/barrel.

The gun carries and conceals really well with it's lighter weight aluminum frame and short grip, but it is a little less snappy compared to my two Bul Armory Ultralight guns which are both extremely lightweight. It's a really great carry option for when I want to go a little lighter or more minimal than normal but still have a similar feel to my larger 2011-style carry guns.