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  #51  
Old 08-10-2012, 11:08 PM
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Hi patbelly,
The elevation screw adjusts the laser in the up and down position! Its on the bottom of the frame!!
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  #52  
Old 08-10-2012, 11:36 PM
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Gotcha. Wow, that's a new one for the BG380.
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  #53  
Old 08-12-2012, 12:16 AM
doxdozer doxdozer is offline
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Default Another one bites the dust!

Hello, new member here.
I was researching why my 2 month old BD had a piece of metal fall out of the back tonight??
I have around 250 live rounds & about 300 laser trainer pulls on it.

I pulled the slide back to remove the trainer cartridge & from what I am reading here, broke the firing pin. As others pointed out the video on this problem is long gone but sounds like the same breaking point.

I purchased it at Cabela's but am wondering if I am better off contacting S&W myself?

If Cabela's will just be sending it in & not fixing it in house?
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  #54  
Old 08-12-2012, 12:34 AM
patbelly patbelly is offline
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That's up to you, but S&W will send you a pre-paid label to ship it to them FEDEX. Won't cost you anything but the time it will take to fix it and return it to you. My BG380 had a broken firing pin also and S&W made it right.
You can request it on-line, but might be quicker if you give them a call???
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  #55  
Old 08-12-2012, 01:08 AM
doxdozer doxdozer is offline
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I applied for the online warranty label. I'm not a fan of Cabela's, no bad experience just personal preference I guess. Plus it is an hour drive one way.

I picked up an XDs last week but haven't received my IWB Whitehatholster in the mail yet. I have IWB Crossbreeders for my
XD-40SC, FN57, & BG380 but thought I give this company a try.

The BD380 has been the lightest, easiest to conceal & most comfortable gun I have ever carried so this is frustrating.

Anyway, looks like i'll have to carry old faithful for awhile... My 10+ year old 649-3. if (5) 357 magnums is not enough to get it done I can always throw it, it sure is heavy enough lol
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  #56  
Old 08-12-2012, 09:36 PM
doxdozer doxdozer is offline
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I made a short youtube vid of the piece that broke, is it the same as the others?

Smith & Wesson Bodyguard 380 Broke Firing Pin - YouTube
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  #57  
Old 08-12-2012, 11:39 PM
patbelly patbelly is offline
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Sure looks that way.
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  #58  
Old 08-17-2012, 04:55 PM
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Default elevation screw

Quote:
Originally Posted by patbelly View Post
I'm glad you like the BG380 and also sorry to hear about the broken firing pin. My BG380's firing pin broke exactly like yours. S&W will send you a FEDEX label to send your gun in on their dime. Mine was fixed and returned in about 2-3 weeks, of course you might have to wait a bit longer since they are on vacation.
Just curious, what is an elevation screw?
The screw to align the laser sight up and down its on the bottom of the frame!
Called S&W they have my BG and will advise when they can repair it I would prefer a replacement!
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  #59  
Old 08-17-2012, 04:58 PM
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Default Oh by the way!

I never had these kinds of problems with my PPKS or my Glock 26! Or any other handguns I have owned! S&W please fix the problems them you will have an excellent product! Problems are hard laser buttons, hard and long trigger pull and the firing pin breaking!!!!
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  #60  
Old 08-18-2012, 05:13 AM
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I have an BG380 with a EBB serial number. Was great for the first 500 rounds, now I get a failure to feed just about every magazine and the slide will not lock open when the mag is empty. No way it's gunked up as I thoroughly clean it after each range session. Been using Remington UMC's all along, never had a problem with them until now.

Decided to call S&W CS and let them take care of it.......I have full size M&P 9, a compact 9c, an MP-15, and an MP15-22 rifles and never had any problems. Very disappointed with this gun thus far.......
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  #61  
Old 09-05-2012, 06:19 PM
ekrauos ekrauos is offline
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Update:

My wifes bodyguard (serial # earlier in thread), has over 700 rds through it and still running OK. Have not shot any more euro ammo, only winchester and gold dot. Only malfunction so far is slide fail to lock back on two occasions, but that was probably finger placement.

I no longer carry my BG380 (serial # earlier in thread), it is backup nightstand gun, and could serve as a temporary carry gun (for me or wife) if my new carry gun ever fails. It now has the laser removed and the safety stays off. Anyway, I dry fired it maybe 50 pulls when i got it back, put a box of 50 winchester through it with no problems, and have maybe dry fired it another 100 times since then, and no problems yet. I still do like it as one of the better options for super compact 380 platform.

I went old school, and now pocket carry a LCR357 with XS sights and gold dot short barrel 357 ammo, I am very accurate and efficient with it and confident in my ability with it, and fully trust it's reliability. It has over 500 rounds, runs 100%. I have also really come to like the original point and click interface, the 1911 is now retired to the safe and bowling pin duty.
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  #62  
Old 09-05-2012, 08:22 PM
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Got mine about 3-4 weeks ago, EBS----. About 150 rounds so far (Gold Dot, Silvertip and hardball) and I like its accuracy for a pocket gun. No malfunctions to date, but I'm crossing my fingers. LOL. Hopefully, they have it worked out. LEOSA qualifications coming up in the next few months and I'm planning to get checked off on it. I have a model 37 and a Glock 26 on my list of approved weapons so far, but plan on adding the little .380 to my "approved/carry" stable for those dressy occaisions when it's harder to hide the others.
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  #63  
Old 09-06-2012, 07:06 PM
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Hmmm. I dry fired my BG maybe 3-400 times the first night when I got it two years ago. Used a drop of oil/polish mix at the base of the hammer and sat there pulling the trigger till it smoothed out an hour or so latter. ( The action and blister on my finger.) I have maybe 250 rounds through the gun since. No issues.
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  #64  
Old 09-18-2012, 05:22 PM
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Default 2nd firing pin broke

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Originally Posted by Hiflyer141 View Post
I bought one a week ago and found the trigger pull to be long thats not a problem but for it to break has been estimated at 12lbs!
I took it to the range and fired close to 100 rounds, during firing the elevation screw fell out, took it home and started to clean it and the firing pin fell out? Last 1/3 broken off!
Never mind the difficulty in pressing the left side laser activator!
Going back to the dealer tommorow and see what happens because of course Smith is off on vacation till Aug13!
I really like the handgun and already bought holsters and XS sights for it so I have alot invested! Would like to keep it but we will see!
Oh I did dry fire many times with snapcaps to loosen the trigger pull!
Well I got it back from Smith and dry fired with snap caps and the firing pin broke again! What Gives!! Its going back 2nd time let see what happens!!
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  #65  
Old 09-23-2012, 07:59 PM
AlexII AlexII is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by edenney View Post
Does anybody know roughly what the newest SN's are that have been produced for this gun to date? Obviously there have been a lot of problems with this gun, most of them resolved early on except obviously for the firing pin related issue, and I really want to make sure that I buy one of the newest possible SN's if I buy one.

From what I understand and have read, the SNs started with EAAxxxx, and proceeded to EABxxxx, EACxxxx, and so on. This makes sense, but I've seen EAXxxxx SNs posted, and if each letter represents 9,999 produced, that's almost 250,000 manufactured in the last couple years. That seems ridiculously high to me for this model and over that period of time, so I presume this logic isn't entirely correct. Does the 3rd letter change every time there's a revision or something? If that were the case it would mean there have been almost 25 revisions since productions started, which also sounds high. If someone could clarify, and perhaps clue me in on the highest known SNs produced that would be great. I've tried to find this information elsewhere including on S&W's site to no avail.

TIA!
Eric
Just bought mine today, 9/23/12. Factory test fired 2 rounds 8/20/12. S/N EBSXXXX
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  #66  
Old 09-29-2012, 07:20 PM
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Default 2nd firing pin broke

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Originally Posted by sdcromer View Post
My serial number starts with EAZ and my firing pin broke Monday. I had just got it back from S&W that very day and now it looks like another trip back up North.
Same here how many times do they need to break before Smith makes a revision or returns our money!
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  #67  
Old 10-22-2012, 09:53 PM
Col_Cotton_Hill Col_Cotton_Hill is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Fastbolt View Post
When I called someone I know at the company, he told me he thought he'd heard the firing pin had recently been revised to incorporate a radius at a spot that was previously a sharp corner (where some firing pins are reported to have been broken).
Fastbolt.

At this point in time, do you know of a more "CONFIRMED" firing pin revision. Or is it still a thought he had heard type of deal. I sure hope it is a for sure thing now. I have a new BG on the way and wasn't aware of this issue.

So what happened to all of the youtube vid's.
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  #68  
Old 11-21-2012, 04:23 AM
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Don't want to resurrect an old thread, but has anyone heard about a recent Bodyguard breaking? I purchased one before reading this thread (will not happen again) and it has not arrived yet. I am worried about the screw on the laser and also this firing pin breakage.
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  #69  
Old 12-18-2012, 08:33 PM
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Default 3rd firing pin breakage!

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Originally Posted by Fastbolt View Post
Make sure you point out to them that it's the second firing pin, then hopefully they'll make sure one of the new revised firing pins goes into the gun (since those may not have entered the regular spare/repair parts chain, yet).
Well after the 3rd time of the firing pin breaking Smith will be sending me a new weapon! Lets see what happenens!
Well it will take 3 weeks since they are backorderd!

Last edited by Hiflyer141; 12-18-2012 at 08:57 PM.
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  #70  
Old 04-03-2013, 06:49 PM
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Just to keep readers updated on this issue.

Firing Pins still breaking when dry fired.

BG380 purchased 3/16/13

Serial # EBZxxxx

Test fired by S&W 2/20/13

Pin broke just like all the rest.. currently at S&W for repair.
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  #71  
Old 04-03-2013, 08:15 PM
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I'm tuned in, Boris, and anxious to see the results and what they send back. You know, they don't have to do a recall, just machine a pin and mail them out. It's not rocket science!
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  #72  
Old 04-04-2013, 05:44 PM
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I have a EBYXXXX BG380 - this was/is my summer ride! I hope I can trust it. I have north of 600 rounds through the little guy. Only a laser issue thus far.
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  #73  
Old 04-22-2013, 02:31 PM
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Default Broken Firing Pin

My BG is less than a week old, shot about 20 rounds through it and the firing pin broke and fell in my hand while holding it at home. I did do a significant amount of dry firing, but can't imagine I made it to even 200 trigger pulls. Called S&W, spoke with two people who both told me they haven't heard of this and that dry firing should be perfectly fine. Initially I was going to send the gun back, but was told the shipping label would reach me via mail in about 5 days, and then after they received the BG, another 2-4 weeks could go by before it was returned to me. After reading through this and other forum threads, looked up the replacement of firing pin instructions which is very simple to do from what I saw, and called S&W again to cancel the shipping, and asked them to ship me a new firing pin instead for my own installation, I paid for expedited shipping $15 for 2day. My serial number is KAC#### and the casing date was from Jan of 2013. I thought the gun would be flawless in design and issues by now, but was proven wrong within a week. I am glad though that it broke in my hand and not when in a situation I really needed it. What's scary is that this firing pin can break and the small piece fall right off anywhere you are and you would never know until the day you tried to fire it. Do we know if there is an aftermarket firing pin that is made with better material to prevent this breaking at the end of the firing pin where the hammer strikes?

Update with added info:
I took the slide off and carefully took a look at the firing pin safety and how the gun works when pulling the trigger. I put the small piece that fell off of the firing pin back in the hold and pushed it with a small screw driver while looking at the other end inside the slide where the firing pin head comes out through and see that I can move the firing pin back and forth but not all the way through without pushing the small silver looking piece of metal where the back of the firing pin is under the slide and then saw the firing pin goes through entirely and I see the tip of the firing pin come out the slide to hit the primer of a casing. I think the problem really is with that safety that moves up so the firing pin can be pushed through all the way by the hammer when the trigger is pulled. I assume it must not be going all the way up every time and causing this extra pressure on the pin, eventually breaking it which also means the pin is of poor quality metals because the strike really isn't some great force. Has anyone though of removing this safety and using the gun without it? I know the safety is there to prevent the firing pin from going forward unless a trigger pull is executed which I can fail to see that actually happening when I pull the trigger. I see a little lever that sits inside the housing and right under where that little guard button is but I don't see it actually move when I pull the trigger and watch it push the button up or anything. I can't imagine this hammer going back by itself and striking the firing pin unless you actually pulled the heavy trigger, so maybe removing this safety will prevent the breaking of the firing pins? Obviously not something S&W intended for you to do, but maybe their design was poorly executed and they're causing the FP to break because of this "Safety". I'd like to hear what you guys may have to say about this.

Update again: found that the safety for the FP is pushed up all the way at the end of the trigger pull by that metal piece in the housing. With your BG fully assembled, put a flashlight to the back and pull the trigger all the way and hold it then barely let it go and pull it multiple times while you watch the back, you'll see the FP safety "plate" move up and down and on the right you will see the lever being pushed up each time you pull the trigger and go down when you slightly release it.

Last edited by maspingu; 04-22-2013 at 03:09 PM.
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  #74  
Old 04-22-2013, 03:12 PM
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I am sorry for your troubles. I guess I am fortunate. I have two. I bought one new and one used. I have has zero problems with mine.
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  #75  
Old 04-22-2013, 04:27 PM
maspingu maspingu is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by carlson1 View Post
I am sorry for your troubles. I guess I am fortunate. I have two. I bought one new and one used. I have has zero problems with mine.
Thanks, glad to see that at least some people don't have all these issues. I am curious though, do you or have you dry fired the gun? If so, how much would you say?
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  #76  
Old 04-22-2013, 11:35 PM
JDP530 JDP530 is offline
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I have run about 200 rds thru my new BG purchased a couple of weeks ago. I have only dry-fired it two or three times. The gun fired flawlessly with the Remington and Monach brands of ammo. But I used some other imported ammo purchased at the ranges recently and had many fail-to-fire rounds.
I will be back at the range, possibly tomorrow, and will run some Remington again. I may have caused some fouling of the fire pin by oiling it that could have caused the FtF. I have cleaned up the gun and hope to run some ammo again w/o any issues.

Guess I am using the wrong terminology for the misfires by calling it a fail-to-fire.

Last edited by JDP530; 04-24-2013 at 04:48 PM. Reason: add
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  #77  
Old 04-23-2013, 10:02 PM
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The firing pin issue must be hit and miss. Like I said in another thread,we have about 400 rounds down range and we've only had one fail to fire,I said in the other thread that I haven't dry fired it,but I actually have just a couple times.Serial #ebwxxxx,I hope we don't end up with a firing pin problem but so far so good.I would like to say that this gun is as accurate as any I have,very good shooting gun,we like the long trigger too,its my wifes CCW..it just takes practice shooting to get comfortable with it..jmho
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  #78  
Old 04-23-2013, 11:33 PM
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I took my cleaned gun to the range today and ran about 75 rds thru it. Didnt bother to finish the second box because of all the fail-to-fire issues (misfires) I had, sometimes two or three pulls to fire off a round. So I called S&W and they are sending a shipping label so that I can return it. I just hope they get the problem resolved. I took time to clean the firing pin as best as I could, tried four or five brands of ammo, and still had the FtF (misfires) problems.

Last edited by JDP530; 04-24-2013 at 07:16 PM.
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Old 04-24-2013, 10:05 AM
Boris B Boris B is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by maspingu View Post
My BG is less than a week old, shot about 20 rounds through it and the firing pin broke and fell in my hand while holding it at home. I did do a significant amount of dry firing, but can't imagine I made it to even 200 trigger pulls. Called S&W, spoke with two people who both told me they haven't heard of this and that dry firing should be perfectly fine. Initially I was going to send the gun back, but was told the shipping label would reach me via mail in about 5 days, and then after they received the BG, another 2-4 weeks could go by before it was returned to me. After reading through this and other forum threads, looked up the replacement of firing pin instructions which is very simple to do from what I saw, and called S&W again to cancel the shipping, and asked them to ship me a new firing pin instead for my own installation, I paid for expedited shipping $15 for 2day. My serial number is KAC#### and the casing date was from Jan of 2013. I thought the gun would be flawless in design and issues by now, but was proven wrong within a week. I am glad though that it broke in my hand and not when in a situation I really needed it. What's scary is that this firing pin can break and the small piece fall right off anywhere you are and you would never know until the day you tried to fire it. Do we know if there is an aftermarket firing pin that is made with better material to prevent this breaking at the end of the firing pin where the hammer strikes?

Update with added info:
I took the slide off and carefully took a look at the firing pin safety and how the gun works when pulling the trigger. I put the small piece that fell off of the firing pin back in the hold and pushed it with a small screw driver while looking at the other end inside the slide where the firing pin head comes out through and see that I can move the firing pin back and forth but not all the way through without pushing the small silver looking piece of metal where the back of the firing pin is under the slide and then saw the firing pin goes through entirely and I see the tip of the firing pin come out the slide to hit the primer of a casing. I think the problem really is with that safety that moves up so the firing pin can be pushed through all the way by the hammer when the trigger is pulled. I assume it must not be going all the way up every time and causing this extra pressure on the pin, eventually breaking it which also means the pin is of poor quality metals because the strike really isn't some great force. Has anyone though of removing this safety and using the gun without it? I know the safety is there to prevent the firing pin from going forward unless a trigger pull is executed which I can fail to see that actually happening when I pull the trigger. I see a little lever that sits inside the housing and right under where that little guard button is but I don't see it actually move when I pull the trigger and watch it push the button up or anything. I can't imagine this hammer going back by itself and striking the firing pin unless you actually pulled the heavy trigger, so maybe removing this safety will prevent the breaking of the firing pins? Obviously not something S&W intended for you to do, but maybe their design was poorly executed and they're causing the FP to break because of this "Safety". I'd like to hear what you guys may have to say about this.

Update again: found that the safety for the FP is pushed up all the way at the end of the trigger pull by that metal piece in the housing. With your BG fully assembled, put a flashlight to the back and pull the trigger all the way and hold it then barely let it go and pull it multiple times while you watch the back, you'll see the FP safety "plate" move up and down and on the right you will see the lever being pushed up each time you pull the trigger and go down when you slightly release it.
No No No ... Didn't you get the memo. The issues with the BG380 have been fixed. The MIM firing pin is as good as any other and is not a significant problem. I know this because I have been told by those in the know that assure me this is so. End of story..

lol... The fact that you "Called S&W, spoke with two people who both told me they haven't heard of this and that dry firing should be perfectly fine."

That's the biggest joke of the day.. Of course maybe the persons on the phone were hired yesterday..

And to answer your question about an aftermarket Firing Pin YES.
Galloway Precision is working on fixing some issues that S&W ignores.. link below.

Bodyguard 380 Performance | Galloway Precision

S&W fanboy's to the rescue in 3..2..1..

.
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Old 04-24-2013, 01:25 PM
Boris B Boris B is offline
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Oh I forgot this.

maspingu,
I sent my BG in to S&W earlier this month, my total round trip time for the gun was like 15 days total.

Of course it will depend on their current work load and work that you require to have done... but they are pretty efficient in that respect, imo.
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Old 04-24-2013, 08:41 PM
maspingu maspingu is offline
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Thank you very much for that link. However I am confused by your statement of the fact all the issues have been fixed. I have seen no such official statement, unless that was some sarcasm . I can't wait for this stuff to come out, and I understand the workload affects turn around times, it's common sense and I run a business so I am definitely understanding in that aspect. I just couldn't afford to wait that long, for that I go out and buy a new one or alternative handgun for carry (this bg380 is my first and only gun which I want to carry). Also both of the guys who helped me said they've worked there for 5+ years, which of course could be a lie as part of training to give customers the sense of knowledge and trust over the phone. Found out today by a call I received that my order was shipping ground after an earlier call to check on the status of shipping as I had not received the pin today as I should have. Their reason was FedEx doesn't ship to P.O. boxes which isn't correct, but they alerted my order anyway prior to calling me and I have to wait until it's delivered via USPS. Also prior to this order I confirmed with the rep that it would be ok to ship this to that po box and was confirmed it was ok, obviously not or someone messed up. They wouldn't have called me anyway unless I had called them today. What do you think about my idea of removing that safety pin that covers the firing pin?
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Old 04-24-2013, 09:41 PM
edenney edenney is offline
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Can't believe S&W still hasn't put such an inexcusable issue to bed after all this time, and it's shameful that they don't admit to their customers that a widespread problem exists when people call them. The latter issue discourages me from giving them my money almost more than the firing pin problem. I was really excited about the BG380 when I first saw one 12-18 months ago and I was just about to buy one....., until I read on here about all of the firing pin problems. I put off buying one and monitored the situation for many months, but I never felt comfortable that S&W had resolved the issue (particularly since they sometimes don't admit there IS a widesread issue). In the end I just didn't have the confidence that the BG380 would work reliably when I needed it most, so I purchased a Ruger LC9 Lasermax. Now if I could only find some 9mm ammo.... .

P.S. Boris' comment was definitely dripping with sarcasm
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Old 04-24-2013, 09:50 PM
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First let me say I have two BG380 and have not had a single issue.

Second I am very disappointed in S&W. I have always felt like you could trust them since they turned back a round from the Clinton years.

Finally I would not be personally fixing issues on my carry guns. They would be sent directly back to the factory.
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Old 04-24-2013, 11:26 PM
maspingu maspingu is offline
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Thanks for the recent comments. I'd like to point out I won't be doing the change fp swap anymore, the shop I bought it from said they will be doing it free of charge due to the unfortunate circumstances from a recent new handgun purchase. If I were to have done it myself however, I know I wouldn't have an issue as I have disassembled and re assembled many different types of devices that are far more complex than a handgun so I'd feel very safe if I were to. I will say this, as soon as that steel after market firing pin is released, I'm buying and installing it. I'm sure eventually this replacement firing pin from SW will break even with normal use as others have reported. Don't want to trust my only carry gun to a known issue that will render it useless when I know there's a stronger and much less likely replacement that will break.
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Old 04-25-2013, 03:01 PM
maspingu maspingu is offline
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Got on the phone today with S&W again to check on status of delivery and asked the rep on the phone about the firing pin. This rep did say he has received several calls for broken firing pins on the BG380 but he said it hasn't been something overwhelming, it's been very small numbers. I asked to get a better understanding of why the firing pin is breaking when dry firing and he said the firing pin may be coming out too much since it has nothing to make contact with "a bullet primer" and may cause added stress to the pin, causing it to possibly break or become damaged. It makes sense because when I push the firing pin out manually and watch the other end, I see the small tip of the pin come out but I haven't taken the entire FP out to look and see it entirely to determine if this is accurate or not. I still think it has to do with the FP safety flap that goes up and down.
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Old 06-04-2013, 07:16 PM
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So is that 100% the cause of the firing pins breaking? Dry firing? Because some have reported breaking them even with snap caps in place.
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Old 06-05-2013, 07:02 AM
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I have dry fired mine thousands of times and I have never had a problem. This is why my trigger is broken in so nice. I would suspect its a bad batch of improperly heat treated fireing pins. I have seen this with other manufactures. My philosophy is dry fire the **** out of it and see if you have one of these defective firing pins. I would want to expose any defects in a controlled environment.
All center fire guns should safely be able to be dry fired without snap caps. The aftermarket has a way of making a buck with potential issues with factory parts so a aftermarket fireing pin should be comming along any time now.


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So is that 100% the cause of the firing pins breaking? Dry firing? Because some have reported breaking them even with snap caps in place.

Last edited by TheMystro; 06-05-2013 at 07:07 AM.
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Old 06-05-2013, 12:18 PM
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Galloway has a aftermarket firing pin listed as coming soon on their site along with some other interesting products for the BG380.

Bodyguard 380 Performance | Galloway Precision

When I first bought mine, I disassembled the slide to figure out what's going on. From what I could see, the firing pin safety block may not be out of the way before the hammer strikes the firing pin. What I did was relieve,angle and polish the edge that contacts the block just enough so that if the block wasn't completely out of the way, the firing pin would just push it up the rest smoothly.

Everything still works perfectly and it's not something I'd want to try and describe on here in a step by step tutorial due to modifying a safety feature even though it doesn't disable anything.
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Old 06-05-2013, 12:43 PM
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That's great information, Nak, thanks for the post!
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Old 06-21-2013, 01:24 PM
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So dry firing the gun a few thousand times should reveal if there is an issue? There agreement on his?
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Old 04-24-2015, 06:56 PM
Georgia Yankee Georgia Yankee is offline
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This is the kind of thing that really, really hurts S&W. They have some truly great designs, but they need to institute modern statistical process controls and turn their quality around.
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