I have a fairly new (2 months, 150 rounds) M&P Bodyguard 380 (no laser) that I am trying to like. It is going back to S&W for a few issues, one of which is the slide hold-open latch. It releases the slide when I smack in a mag. The book says not to slam a mag in too hard or the slide can release, so I am careful to just smack it in hard enough to be sure it connects. About half the time the release lets go and the gun chambers a round.

If it were a feature, it might be kind of cool, but it's not.

The first time I called S&W the guy said to put more rounds through it and call back if it still does it. So I did, it didn't seem to get any better, so I called back. The guy I talked to this time said they pretty much all do this. So I'm getting a couple different responses from them.

It appears that the hold-open lever doesn't go up all the way into its notch when it goes up automatically, but goes further when I latch it manually. And about 20% of the time it doesn't hold open the slide at all at the end of a mag.

Does your BG 380 do this? Did you get it fixed?

Other issues:

Occasional failure to feed. Maybe once every 4-6 mags.

One or two light strikes, failed to fire.

I have cleaned it after each range session, stripped it and cleaned it, and lightly oiled it per the manual.

I want to love this gun, but I'm getting a little discouraged. I switched from a Ruger LCP to this gun, and am thinking maybe I shouldn't have. The LCP was 100% reliable.

Thanks for any help,

David

Mine is the same age as yours with 350+ rds thru it and it at S&W now for all the reasons you mentioned only more frequently than yours. Hope to have mine back in another week or so. If it is not fixed it will be gone since an EDC has to be 100% reliable.

Db4570 - I own both the LCP and the Bodyguard 380 (non-laser). I have not had one issue with the LCP but have had some with the BG on the first trip to the range.

1) When we purchased the BG, the LGS said not to slam the magazine in. While still in the new stage, push the magazine release button and gently slide the magazine in. As the pistol breaks in, so will the ability to push the slide in without having to press the mag release button. Slamming the magazine is not needed, more for the movie stars!

2) Slide open on the last round has always worked on our BG. From what I have read, some say that has something to do with the magazines and not the pistol.

3) Had 3 FTFeeds on 3 separate magazine loads. Rounds were towards the middle of the magazine. We were using Remington UMC 90 grain FMJ rounds. We returned the pistol to our LGS and we could not get the BG to act up again on the Remington nor the ammo the LGS sells. The LGS did point out a very pronounced lip/edge on the round where the head meets the casing. He also pointed out that the BG was throwing an excessive amount of sparks from the ejection port which I never noticed at the range when my wife was shooting it. I did see it once he continued shooting our Remington rounds. He then reloaded the magazines with Perfectas (inexpensive Walmart brand), PMC Bronze and some reloads a friend of his loads, all with no issues and no sparks from the ejection port. He, along with many forum posts, feel these smaller pistols can be very finicky in the ammo they are forced to digest! He could almost guarantee that the 3 FTFeeds were ammo related and also the fact the gun being new. We have since then moved on to PMC Bronze and have had no issues since.

Mind you, on the same trip to the range, we also shot my new Ruger LCP with the same Remington rounds, no issues, no hiccups at all! I believe that bad boy would eat anything I would feed him. Very satisfied with his first outing!

Good luck with your BG. I hope you get your problems resolved. If you have any doubts, I would send the pistol back to Smith and let them work it out for you! I think they are a well built pistol and I have "high hopes" in ours becoming a keeper! Still haven't graduated up to the defense loads which will be the final test!

Good luck trying to resolve those issues. My friends Bodyguard does exactly what you described. He returned it once to S&W, and it still has a few fail to feeds, light strikes, failures to lock open and slide closing when installing mag.

I really hope they can fix it.

I have been shooting brand-name ammo in it, BTW. Win and Rem white box, a little Hydrashok.

Interestingly, when the guy at Smith was giving me instructions on how to send it in, he said to not send the mags. I asked if what if it was a mag problem, and he repeated not to send them. But then, on the printed instructions I got with the return label, it said do send the mags. So I'm a little mystified.

I've owned several pistols, and never had one that I couldn't slap the mag in. Again, I am gently smacking it, NOT slamming it. I always understood that a mag should be positively inserted with a bit of a smack so make sure it is seated.

To keep it in perspective, though, the mag release issue isn't that important as far as CCW reliability. The failure-to-feed is more of a concern, and the failure to last-round-hold-open to a lesser extent.

I really don't want to go back to the LCP because I don't like the action style. But dang, that was a simple and reliable gun!

David

Are you guys disasembling the magazines & cleaning them as well?

I have shot over 400 rounds thru my M&P 380 (no lazer model) with out a single issue or failure but I have noticed that its likes to stay clean...

When I first bought mine, inserting the magazine was difficult. Instead of just jamming it in with my hand I looked to see why first. The magazine wall is straight, not beveled like how the Shield is. If you keep the slide open, slowly insert the mag and look thru the top and see what I'm talking about...the mag catch hits the top side of the magazine. So what I do is the press down on the mag release when inserting a magazine, I insert the mag about halfway then take my thumb off the release and slide it in fully & it clicks in place..

Second... look at the slide release while inserting a empty mag, the follower pushes up on the release. Now try the same with a round in the mag, It stays down.... the magazine spring helps apply tension on the slide release and if you guys dont clean the magazine, then that problem may persist. Disassemble the mags & clean them should help solve most of your problems.. A sticky mag may keep the follower from going up all the way and engaging the slide lock.

I hope this helps... I also hope you guys registered either online or sent in that warranty card as soon as you got your pistol. In order for S&W customer service to better assist you, you must register with their warranty dept I think within the first 30 days after purchase...

autoforwarding is pretty normal for m&p's especially when you really send home a mag.

and you shouldn't be "smacking" a mag into the well. There actually is a correct way to reload a pistol. your pointer should be on the front of the mag, you find the well, the back of the mag contacts the back of the mag well, and your palm rams the mag home. At no time should you lose contact with the palm of your hand on the mag.

if you ride the front of the mag well pretty much any pistol will auto forward. metal framed pistols are even easier to get to auto forward.

basically in all the combat pistol classes i've taken, instructors have always said that you shouldn't be trying to induce auto forwarding, but if it happens then you've just received a gift and just roll with it.

If the slide stop is not extending fully after the last round (but does so if you do it manually), then that would indicate to me that either: the spring in the magazine is not strong enough to lift the slide stop quick enough for it to extend fully; or the follower in the magazine may have too much clearance in the magazine and rocks forward too much when under pressure by the slide stop...so it doesn't push the slide stop up all the way. If either of these situations are happening, it's a fault with the magazines and not with the pistol.

If you can push the slide stop up further manually, then that's further confirmation that the root cause is with the magazines. Whether yours are faulty or whether "they're all like that", I don't know (I don't have a Bodyguard).

I will say that I can't get my Shield to auto forward under any circumstance. I had a CZ P-09 that I could induce an auto forward every now and again. My new CZ 75 BD will not auto forward yet (but may as it breaks in).

I seem to recall a number of video reviews of the Bodyguard having light strikes, or otherwise failing to fire. A second hammer strike often sent the round down tube. I don't know if that's more to do with the gun or with the ammo, but it gave me pause about the gun.

OK. I'm learning a few things here.

First, the term "auto-forward".

Second, I didn't realize this was a not-uncommon event for pistols. I don't think it has ever happened with my Beretta 92 or S&W CS9. I'll practice being a bit more gentle inserting mags.

The auto-forwarding is actually the least of my concerns. The failure-to-feed and failure-to-fire are the biggies. The failure to hold the slide open after the last round (is there a handy term for that?) is less of a concern, although in a self-defense situation I could imagine it could throw me off.

It certainly seems like the mags might be suspect, which is why I am mystified Smith doesn't want them back, too.

Thanks for all the help. I appreciate it.

David

If you never cleaned your mags and the problem recently developed then I say take those things apart, it only takes a second, and clean them, clean the red plastic follower & the inside of the mags, wipe dry and reassemble..... I clean mine after every outing at the range and after 400 some odd rounds, no issues with the pistol.

Thanks to all that posted here, I'm still on the fence re: this .380 vs. the little Taurus. I had an LCP that gave me fits and a Glock 42 that was horrible. That leaves the Kahr CW and the Taurus, and the Taurus seems to fare pretty well. From what I gather when a company introduces a new product it seems to go through a few problems before the model gets reliable.

__________________
Old Cop
LEO (Ret.)

Lots of people say that semi-autos don't have break in periods, I disagree. Get a pile of the cheapest crappiest ammo and reloads and shoot the hell out of it and see what happens. My M&P used to auto chamber but now it doesn't. Really miss that. One cool feature.

Mine behaves as it should. KBR prefix.

I hear a great many more complaints from BG owners than I do compliments, and probably more than any gun in the current S&W line. I think a new model with the bugs fixed is in order.

__________________
"He was kinda funny lookin'"

Could it be that .380 ammo is more hit-and-miss than other types of ammunition? It seems that .380s seem to be more finnicky than other guns. Maybe it's due to the relatively large caliber in a super-small gun.

My .32 Kel-Tec P-32 shoots like a dream. Never a failure to load or fire or anything like that. It just runs like a clock. The .380 P-3ATs seem to have more issues, which makes me wonder about the .380 round in general.

I think most of the complaints come from newer/inexperienced gun owners IMO.

I love my BG380 and its fun to shoot at the range and its even more fun to see the look on peoples faces after I'm conststantly hitting 5" groups at 10 yards while they're all over the paper on their 9's & 45's...

You can tell who's new & who isnt....

Like how?

Please point out in this discussion exactly who is so inexperienced that somehow their gun isn't feeding or firing correctly?

David

My BG would not raise the slide release high enough either. I solved the problem two ways. I cleaned the mag, inside and out. I noticed that the spring had very little tension in it. I stretched it slightly. This helped lock the slide back more frequently. Then I noticed that the slide stop was a metal stamping. the edge of the slide stop was not cut square, but rather had a little metal edge. I very carefully stoned the edge down square. Now it fully raises and locks the slide back, and not just barely locking it back. BTW, mine is a KBUxxxx serial number.

__________________
handlebar-proud to be American

Someone in another thread said that a BG380 seems to either be a lemon or a peach. It does seem that users report either zero issues at all, or the same problems I am experiencing. I am hoping that Smith can fix it.

The only other option is to work on it myself. I saw a post a while back where a guy detailed how he carefully polished a lot of the operating parts on his BG, and it made a big difference in smoothness. I wonder if those same tweaks could iron out the reliability issues with mine.

I'll see if I can find that guy's post.

David

I have one of the older, BG .380s, with the built-in, Insight laser, and it has been 100% reliable.
I've been considering getting the newer model, without the laser, so I could put a Crimson Trace, green laser on, because I'm color blind, and can only see the red laser in very low light, and would like to be able to actually practice shooting, using the laser, but, from all of the complaints I've been reading on the newer models, I'm a little leery of getting a lemon, even though I know S&W will make it right, the best warranty is one that never has to be used.
My only complaint is that I don't like double action, revolver triggers, and the S&W .380s have the worst, but, I knew that when I bought it. I am HOPING to never to have to use it in a self-defense situation, but if I have to, I know I can put the whole mag in to the "A" zone on a USPSA target at 15 yards, as fast as I can pull the trigger.

This is with my M&P 380 at 10 yards, is this good enough?

No. You never got one in the bulls eye. Send it back

Here's a follow-up. I got the gun back from Smith. They replaced the slide stop/firing pin, and polished the feed ramp.

I took it to the range and shot a box of 50 through it. It still auto-forwards if I smack it hard enough, which isn't a big deal. I had one failure of the slide to stay open after the last round. Fed and fired perfectly.

I guess I'll have to live with the possibility that the slide may not lock back on an empty mag. In a tense self-defense situation I could picture this throwing my rhythm off, but at the point I'd probably have other distractions to deal with.

As long as it feeds and fires properly, I guess I'll trust it as my CCW.

What do you guys think? Is an occasional failure-to-lock-slide-on-empty-mag (is there an abbreviation for that?) a deal breaker for you relying on a carry gun?

I really do like this gun. It's good to have it back.

David

I will say this much, the pistol is sensitive to any build up of soot from repeated firings at the range.
The only time I've seen a BG380 not lock the slide back after the last round was due to the red plastic follower sticking in the mag. Not popping up all the way after that last round.

Clean very thoroughly and wipe dry, I use a foaming gun cleaner and I hose it down everywhere inside and I work the trigger & move the slide lock up/down & work the cleaner in, using a small toothbrush I scrub anywhere & everywhere it can reach & wipe dry with paper towels, cotton patches & Q-tips. I use q tips over the trigger spring, the top portion of the trigger inside the pistol, I work it back & forth drying it off with the Q-tip... It will amaze you how much soot is in there... shake excess cleaner out if you have too and make sure the entire pistol frame is bone dry. The same goes to the slide. Apply ONE drop of gun oil to the lube points and NO more... If you overdo the lube its possible that excess oil can wick down into other parts of the pistol and soot from firing at the range can stick to it and that my friend can and will cause performance issues such as this... Not saying you're doing it, but I have seen it before...

The BG 380 IS ammo sensitive. I know that certain brands have a harder primer, brands such as PPU, Wolf, Tula, are a few that come to mind... If you or any of you guys experience light strikes, IE, round not going off after you pull the trigger, but maybe goes off if you pull the trigger again, then change ammo brands. I've been using Monarch which is found at the Academy, its made by PPU but after hundreds of rounds, I havent had a light strike, not once. WWB flat point, Hornady american gunner JHP & federal american eagle all fed well in my M&P 380.

Abbreviation for occasional failure to lock slide on empty mag? sure its, "make sure you dont forget to take apart your magazines & clean them real good"

Hmm. I might be a little guilty of that. I'm re-thinking my lubrication methods.

Thanks for the suggestion, CaptRon956.

I did finally get around to cleaning the mags and they were filthy. They seemed really smooth once they were clean. I lubed them with Lubriplate oil recommended by Grant Cunningham, who I learned a lot about lubrication from by reading his Lube 101 article. I'm assuming it's acceptable to lube a mag. I put it on as light as I could, but I still tend to be a little lube-happy.

Now I am thinking about tearing the whole gun down and cleaning all the guts. Maybe polish a little something here and there while I'm in there...

David

I must concur with CaptnRon. Small guns need a lot more cleaning than bigger guns. Regarding slamming a mag it's up to you if you want to do it. Forcefully inserting the mag will not cause an auto-chamber but slamming it probably will. You either like it or you don't. It's not a defect as explained in the instructions.