Friend of mine just purchased one of the M&P Bodyguard 380 pistols for CC. He finds it VERY hard to rack and is thinking of ditching the gun. Can any safe modification be made--spring replacement/shortening or other--without impairing reliability?

Also the gun has had a couple of failures to feed in the first 40 rounds. Will more break-in likely cure this ill or is there some burr or roughness I should be looking for at the feed area?

Any advice would be appreciated. Regards, Ralph Boineau in central South Carolina

Try holding the gun(receiver) with one hand halfway away from your body, have the other hand on the slide. Have the receiver hand push away and the slide hand pull back at the same time. That can make a "racking job" much easier

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14 S&W Revs none with locks!

I'm just a beginner but have told a new pistol will need a few hundred rounds to break in , use quality ammo , clean and lube before firing.

Most small blow-back autos are somewhat hard to rack due to the required strength of the recoil spring. A revolver may be the answer. DO NOT try to modify the RSA.

She'll loosen up over time.

How many rounds threw firearm? Is the owner fee from any disabilities,that could cause it to be difficult to rack it ? If the 1st. question is below say 500 rounds It will loosen up a bit to be more manageable. If its a weak strength issue might. wanna think about a revolver.

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Spin The Wheel

I dont find mine hard to rack at all so that is interesting to me. Even when it was new it seemed reasonable. Is it hard compared to larger guns? Sure, but "hard" at all, not to me. Especially after a good cleaning and lube and of course breaking in like others have mentioned.

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Smith all the things

when choosing a ccw for my wife this past Christmas, the bodyguard was at the bottom of the pile for that very reason, she had trouble with the slide , and I was trying to steer her to the micro kimber or colt mustang, but she chose the Glock 42 as soon as she put it in her hand, she loved the feel of it, in her hands and the slide was not an issue for her since it racked much easier than the bodyguard,

and she has no trouble with it at the range, hitting what she wants to.

New guns should have the packing oils wiped away. then lube with some kind of gun oil swab the barrel ,some fact ammo should be good to go . fire about 100 then wipe it clean reoil here and there you are good

Any female I have spoken too about carrying I almost always suggest a revolver. It somewhat depends on their experience level, but women have purses so a revlolver works well. Not many women I know personally are willing to sacrifice wardrobe options in favor of carrying a pistol IWB or ankle. But that is just women I know.

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Smith all the things

I have a Bodyguard and have no trouble. Mine was easy to rack right out of the box. I did a good clean and oil. Have shot about 250 rounds and never miss fired. Tell him to oil and shoot,shoot,shoot.✌

Just a bit of information you might find useful. In Semi Automatic handguns there are two modes of operation that are predominate today.

One is Blowback. On this type of pistol the barrel is typically attached to the frame by a fixed method and the case is retained in the chamber until the pressure is relieved by the Mass of the Slide and the Strength of the Recoil Spring. Because of this Blowback Semi's will either have a rather massive slide (resulting in a heavy and bulky pistol) or a Recoil Spring that is quite strong. There can also be a bit of a sliding scale between Slide Mass and Recoil Spring Strength, so designs can fall anywhere between something massive like a Highpoint or something with a very strong recoil spring such as the Astra 300 my Dad brought back from WWII.

Then there is the Lock Breech mode of operation, where the barrel is mounted in the slide and moves back with the slide during part of the slide cycle. Once back far enough for the pressure have been relieved the barrel is then typically cammed downwards while the slide continues to the rear. This mode of operation will typically have a recoil spring with much less power than a Blowback pistol. However, because the timing of the slide cycle is controlled by both the mass of the slide itself and the strength of the recoil spring there can be considerable variation between pistols of this type in regards to how strong a recoil spring is used.

My point here is that you friend may have no choice other than trying out some other small carry pistols if he wants to stick with a semi automatic. Note, I have found that both the Sig Sauer P238 and P290 feature slides that are very easy to manipulate in spite of both pistols being hammer fired. I'll also note that as an owner of the P290 that this pistol is only reliable with ammunition that is at the very top of the energy chart for the caliber, with mild range practice ammo it's a constant battle with jams due to poor ejection. I suspect the cause for this is that the slide Sig Sauer uses has a bit too much Mass to allow a complete full stroke of the slide with ammunition that is a bit "weak". Good news it's perfect with +P loads and it actually is a real powder puff to shoot with +P ammunition. I'll also report that the Ruger LCP has a slide that is stiff enough to tweak the arthritis in my thumbs if I attempt to cycle the slide using thumb and forefinger.

I have put strips of electrical tape [the type that has a rough backing] on each side of the slide in front of the ejection port and gripped the slide in front of the ejection port to rack. eventually the slide should become easier to rack and you can peel the tape off. I cannot rack my .380 BG gripping the back serrations. An age related issue for me. Also I've had serrations cut in front of ejection port, but this is expensive and not worth it for a cheap pistol. you will find something that works.

I find small automatics like Bodyguards and LCP's easier to rack by pushing with the non-trigger hand, left for us right handers. With my hand ABOVE the slide I pinch with forefinger and thumb and push rearward. If your fingertips have reasonable purchase on the slide serrations the geometry of your fingers will tighten the grip and let your arm muscles do more work, as opposed to pulling rearward which forces finger muscles to generate all the friction on the slide. It also helps to think of the movement as a blow as if you were trying to suddenly pull the slide off the frame instead of a controlled pull with increasing force to overcome the recoil spring. This technique demands more careful attention to keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction.

My dad has a weaker grip due to age and a life of hard use, he loves his bodyguard but also had problems "racking" it, I placed a couple small patches of grip tape on his slide and showed him the push pull method and now he has no problems, his is also starting to "break in"

Grip tape over the serrations works every time.