Girsan 2311s Shipping

[Tokarev]

The Prodigy was previously the basement budget discount pistol in the 2011 format.

I wonder how these will pan out as a whole.



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[Tokarev]

[Jim Watson]

Ooh, ahh.

I wonder how much work, parts, and money will be thrown at them to make them Nice.

[Tokarev]

Ooh, ahh.

I wonder how much work, parts, and money will be thrown at them to make them Nice.

Yeah. That's the question. Will an $850 pistol that runs off $50 mags need $500 worth of work? Has Girsan cracked the code of cheap and reliable?

[Jim Watson]

I await the other calibers.
Every new gun, the traditionalists want it in .45, the avant garde want it in 10mm.
Girsan catalogs them, let's see if they deliver.

[Tokarev]

[Tokarev]

So my desire to be the first kid on the block arm wrestled my better judgment. Guess who won?

I am now the owner of one of the 4.25" models. I haven't shot it yet but here are my initial thoughts:

The pistol ships with a cheap red dot mounted to the slide. It seems to be a real piece of junk. I would have preferred EAA lower the price $50 and let me choose my own optic. I guess EAA is wanting to compete with Springfield here and not be outdone by the Prodigy that ships with the cheap optic. The optic cut, according to some sources, is the RMSc cut. There is no rear sight. This limits optics choices to the Holosun EPS Carry and the Romeo X. Neither are probably a bad choice but EAA should probably use an RMR cut. The gun also comes with a cover plate that includes a rear "Novak" sight. The sight is part of the cover plate and is not adjustable. The front sight is dovetailed in. There is a big unsightly gap between the slide and the front sight blade.

General quality of the pistol itself seems decent. The slide to frame and barrel fit are okay. Not USGI loose and not hand fit. Something in between. The only thing I think I'd complain about here is the looseness of the barrel bushing. While I don't mind the fact that the gun comes apart without tools, I think a slightly tighter bushing would only aid accuracy.

Surprisingly the gun is not a Commander. It is a Government frame with the slide cut off three quarters of an inch. I like the idea of the Government frame and the longer slide travel for reliability but I do wonder what recoil spring may be the best fit. Will a true Commander spring be the correct length? I note with some interest that the gun uses a flat wire spring and what I believe is a .25" diameter guide rod. Maybe Glock springs will work?

The frame itself is aluminum which makes the gun relatively light. I like the idea of the light hicap pistol. 2011s can be heavy beasts especially when fully loaded with almost 20 rounds of 147 grain ammo and outfitted with an optic and light. The aluminum frame helps offset this just a little.

The plastic frame seems decent. Checkering is fairly aggressive and the gun feels good in the hand. The safety is stiff but fairly positive and may loosen up a bit with use. The top of the safety does have a bit of a sharp edge which may cause a hot spot when shooting. The grip safety fits okay and deactivates about halfway in. The gun comes with a plastic mag well that should work okay. I don't know if an STI or Dawson mag well will fit. The mag release sticks out a little on the right and doesn't look very good. It is flat on the right side. I don't know if a Gen I STI will work. A Gen II may possibly fit but would look weird since the angles would be way off.

The trigger is okay. It has just a hint of creep and a little bit of overtravel. It measures five pounds. There does not appear to be an overtravel adjustment.

Oddball stuff abounds. Aside from what I consider to be a poor choice of an optics cut, the gun also appears to use an extractor with a smaller diameter than usual. I haven't pulled it out to measure but it certainly looks smaller than a GI spec. If it is smaller this means there won't be any easy way to install a new one. The owner will have to turn down a new extractor or have the hole is the slide bored out. That's assuming there aren't other weird dimensions here. Also, the frame rail is not 1913. A Streamlight TLR-1 with the 1913 key won't fit. The TSW/99 or GL key will have to be used. The rail itself is also lower in relation to the slide. Both of these will likely make finding a correct holster difficult.

If the gun runs okay out of the box I'm sure it will be fairly popular in the marketplace. The only other gun I know of that competes in the budget hicap space is the Rock Island and it is based off the Para. So the EAA should be a better option at least as far as magazines go. But I just don't understand why EAA or Girsan would use a non-standard extractor and the unusual rail dimensions.

I'll probably shoot the gun this morning and will update with range results when I can.

[awp_101]

Yeah. That's the question. Will an $850 pistol that runs off $50 mags need $500 worth of work? Has Girsan cracked the code of cheap and reliable?

This is the first I've heard of these so I haven't watched any videos yet. Does it take a proprietary mag, a 2011 mag from the usual suspects or one from another platform (CZ, Witness, etc)?

[Tokarev]

This is the first I've heard of these so I haven't watched any videos yet. Does it take a proprietary mag, a 2011 mag from the usual suspects or one from another platform (CZ, Witness, etc)?

2011 clips. The gun comes with one Checkmate mag. My Atlas mags fit in nicely. Dura Mags also fit. I'll hopefully know later today if there are any issues with feeding or slide lock.

[awp_101]

Thanks [MENTION=13817]Tokarev[/MENTION]! I have so many more needs to focus on right now instead of a 20+ round 9mm but it's tempting if it's reliable enough to be a range blaster.