Advice on Bodyguard

[gtk]

Hi all. I have a S&W Bodyguard .380 that I purchased in February of this year. Shot it a few times and had a few misfires (light primer strikes). It seemed to happen on all kinds of ammo (winchester, tula, blazer).

Well, I finally got around to sending it in to S&W, and they promptly "fixed" it and sent it back to me. I was impressed with their speed, and they included a note that said they brought the "firing" pin up to specs and "test fired" it.

So, I took it out this afternoon, and loaded some Tula shells. (I know, cheap ammo).. The gun used to chamber these shells fine, but now the gun will not even chamber these shells!!!! For whatever reason, S&W did something to my gun that causes the slide to not close all the way with these shells, and thus not fire. I tried probably 30 of these shells, and only one time did I get the slide to close enough to fire.

I had three or four Hornady shells left over, and all of them chambered fine.

I never had a problem with my gun chambering Tula ammo before, I just had problems with light primer strikes.

SHould I send it back again? Or just stay away from the cheappo ammo?


thx!

[Shuz]

Send it back! Again and again and again! On my 380 Bodyguard's 4th "sendback", I asked for, and rec'd a check for a full refund,sales tax included. Smith's a great company and I still have 6 of their revolvers, all .44 magnum, but when it comes to mouse guns like their 380 Bodyguard., I found that Ruger LCP and a Taurus 738 are much,much more reliable in the field. Never hadda misfire or FTE on either of them, but had about 1 outta 5 FTF or FTE on the Bodyguard.
Good Luck!

[Old cop]

I had problems w/my LCP and after Ruger replaced it w/a new one I sold it (lost confidence) and returned to the tried and true J frame.

[patbelly]

I recently got a bad batch of Tulammo .380 ACP. I had never had problems with it before in my BG380, but it locked up the slide, wouldn't chamber correctly, etc. I bet it's the ammo. Try some different ammo before you send it in. Mine was fine with other ammo. There have been other bad reports of Tulammo in .380 ACP. I personally like to use Tulammo, but I won't use the .380 ACP anymore. I reported the problem to Tulammo and they sent me a check for the bad box of ammo.
Now, if you try other ammo and it still malfuncttions, then don't hesitate to send it back.

[jack the toad]

Sounds like it may be the ammo and I hope thats all it is.
A little off topic and not to start anything with all the satisfied LCP, BG380, Keltec, Kahr, etc, etc owners (I've tried 'em), but I agree with old cop.
Good luck

Originally Posted by Old cop

I had problems w/my LCP and after Ruger replaced it w/a new one I sold it (lost confidence) and returned to the tried and true J frame.

[dereksfl]

Stay away from cheap ammo especially if carry daily. Had a LCP the first time I shot it the take down pin fell out. Didn't like the feel and didn't trust it. Sold it. Friend talked me into it. The Bodyguard 380 I have has never given me any trouble, or any of my S&W handguns. But I use only my decent carry ammo even when practicing to keep the skill levels high. Practice with the ammo that you will use when your life depends on it.

[gtk]

I only shoot the cheap ammo when plinking in the back yard. There is no way I'd carry cheap ammo for protection! But with a young son who loves to shoot, I easily can go through two or three boxes every time we shoot.

I had two and a half boxes of the TulaAmmo left over from before I sent the gun in. Like I said before, it chambered the Tulammo fine before I sent it in for the light firing pin strike problem.

I love my bodyguard and its my daily carry piece, especially in the summer (shirts/polo), but I am loosing confidence in it

What could they have done to make it not chamber the cheap ammo?

[gtk]

I found another box of Tulammo that I had in my gunsafe, tried chambering a few rounds and everyone of them loaded fine! I compared the the lengths of the bullets and they were the same.

However, the bullets that chamber correctly, are smaller in diameter than the bullets from the two boxes that will not chamber !! Both bullets are 91 grain, but you can see an obvious difference in the very end.

THe bullets that will chamber/fire are tapered ever so slightly, and the bad bullets are not..