Springfield Armory 1911 DS Prodigy

Reviving this thread seeking some troubleshooting help for my kids 4.25”.

Out of nowhere, his prodigy started failing to extract. Slide cycles after the shot, extractor fails to grab the fired case out of the chamber, slide attempts to load the next round jamming everything up. When it started doing it, the gun was dirty, had maybe 200 rounds through it since last cleaning. But couldn’t get through a mag.

Unknown round count on the gun as I bought it used, I have a new egw extractor on the way. That’s about the last internal part that’s still factory, the rest of the gun has been swapped over to egw stuff. I did pull the extractor out of the slide and cleaned everything up inside there, tweaked the extractor a touch. That helped, and thought it was fixed. We test fired it before this weeks uspsa match, but mid-stage on his second string it started tying the gun up again. Would polishing the ramp and chamber fix this? I can’t help but think it would help. Other than replacing parts and polishing things up, I’m at my wits end trying to figure this one out. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Pic for entertainment and proud dad moments. He just turned 13.

IMG_6046.jpeg
 
  • Like
Reactions: M8541Reaper
Reviving this thread seeking some troubleshooting help for my kids 4.25”.

Out of nowhere, his prodigy started failing to extract. Slide cycles after the shot, extractor fails to grab the fired case out of the chamber, slide attempts to load the next round jamming everything up. When it started doing it, the gun was dirty, had maybe 200 rounds through it since last cleaning. But couldn’t get through a mag.

Unknown round count on the gun as I bought it used, I have a new egw extractor on the way. That’s about the last internal part that’s still factory, the rest of the gun has been swapped over to egw stuff. I did pull the extractor out of the slide and cleaned everything up inside there, tweaked the extractor a touch. That helped, and thought it was fixed. We test fired it before this weeks uspsa match, but mid-stage on his second string it started tying the gun up again. Would polishing the ramp and chamber fix this? I can’t help but think it would help. Other than replacing parts and polishing things up, I’m at my wits end trying to figure this one out. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Pic for entertainment and proud dad moments. He just turned 13.

View attachment 8677503

Sounds like the extractor has lost tension. Pull the extractor and then put some more bend in it for more tension.

With the slide off, reinstall the extractor, grab a dummy round... and you'll know it's tensioned right when you can slide the rim of the dummy round up under the extractor claw fairly easily, but at the same time, it'll hold the case against the bolt face strong enough to let you bang the slide down on your bench pretty solidly a few times without letting go of the case and having the dummy round go flying (this might take a couple/few tries). Getting it to hold the round solidly enough isn't the hard part; getting it so the case rim can still smoothly slide up under the extractor claw is the tricky part (especially in 9mm).

Extractor tension is critical in all 1911/2011 pattern guns, but even more so when trying to get 9mm 1911/2011s to run correctly and reliably (due to the "hotdog in a hallway" situation created by using a shorter/smaller round in a design intended for a longer/larger one).

Worn-out magazine springs are also something to look out for with these things. If the mag spring can't push the round up under the extractor fast and reliably you're screwed too lol.
 
Last edited:
Agree it sounds like an extractor and/or extractor tension, also give the extractor channel a good cleaning, sometimes a lot of crap can build up in here and cause issues.

Also you probably already know this, but I see a lot of people drop pistol slides with a round in the chamber, especially when they are having issues getting a gun to run. Avoid it, it's extremely hard on extractors, you can easily chip the claw hook, and/or bend the hook causing issues.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BJames
Agree it sounds like an extractor and/or extractor tension, also give the extractor channel a good cleaning, sometimes a lot of crap can build up in here and cause issues.

Also you probably already know this, but I see a lot of people drop pistol slides with a round in the chamber, especially when they are having issues getting a gun to run. Avoid it, it's extremely hard on extractors, you can easily chip the claw hook, and/or bend the hook causing issues.
Cleaned the channel out and it’s still doing it. Wasn’t near as bad as my staccato P was when it started doing the same thing, the amount of crap in there was amazing. New extractor is on the way. Aside from the safety, this will be the last factory mim part left.

As far as the second part, I’m aware of it, but thought it was more of dropping the slide on and empty chamber being the issue. We try to be nice with these guns, understanding they’re not glocks and need more care. Regardless, during the heat of the moment, mid-stage, things happen.
 
  • Like
Reactions: FatBoy
I believe dropping the slide on an empty chamber is also frowned upon, but for other reasons on 1911's it's hard on the trigger parts, but it's probably not good for a variety of reasons to have the slide slam home with nothing there.

The reason that slamming the slide home on a round in the chamber is bad is because the extractor slams into the rear cartridge rim and has to bend/flex much more than normal to move around it, and at full speed with nothing slowing it down. Normally when a pistol cycles the cartridge rim being stripped slides up into the slide so the rim of the cartridge slides between the gap between the breech face and extractor. So it does two things, there's a sharper impact on the thin hook of the extractor and it has to bend more than normal. Depending on the design and part quality of course that happening can be a non-issue or a major issue. It used to be the "fancy" extractors where hardened pretty high to try and retain their sharp hooks, but that also makes them more brittle and prone to chipping.

As you said though, things happen, esp. in comps.