Bodyguard problems

[PJR202]

I'll keep this as short as I can.

I got the BG sans laser new in July. I took it to shoot right away and only got through less than a box of shells before it stovepiped an unfired round, nose up. Ammo was Perfecta. I cleaned it, tried again, and got 4 stovepipes in the next 100 rounds and a few failures to lock back. I had the mags numbered and it happened with both. I also tried multiple grips to make sure it wasn't me.

Sent it to SW. There was no diagnosis listed in the paperwork (per the rep that's not uncommon), but they replaced the slide and barrel. That seemed significant to me.

Picked it up Saturday, went to the range with the rest of my Perfecta and three boxes of Tulammo steel (not the best choice, I know), and I got through the 45 rounds of Perfecta ok. Got a couple mags into the Tula and it stovepiped again. I ran two more mags and had two additional failures to lock back.

I've googled this and have seen some people mentioning it, but I don't know if it's a significant amount or not.

Is anyone else experiencing this, or know what's wrong? I know the Tula isn't great, but it's happened with decent Perfecta in batches purchased 3 months apart as well. I know several BG owners but none of them have put more than a box of shells through it. Anyone here have any helpful info that has put a decent amount of rounds through their BG? I've got 6 stovepipes and at least 6 lockback failures in about 325 rounds so far. I really like this gun. I shoot it well, but if I can't trust it to carry I don't have a reason to own it.

So much for keeping this story short..

 

[Ballistic147]

Some of these guns can be a little picky about the ammo you use in them. I would suggest trying several different brands and see how it goes. I've had a few friends that had problems out of the Perfecta in guns that shot everything else well. Tula as you admitted is not known as quality ammo either and steel case on top of that can cause feed problems in some guns.

Next could be shooter error. I've found that these little mouse guns can be picky about the operator too. My Taurus TCP will lock the slide back when my wife shoots it for some strange reason. Happens every 3 to 4 rounds and she is not accidentally hitting the slide lock because I've watched for that. It's never happened to me or several others who have shot it. Just something about the way she shoots it. Limp wristing is know to cause stove pipes with these guns. Not saying that's definitely it but could be you limp wristed it when the stove pipe occurred.

 

[Old cop]

I had nothing but problems with every small .380 I tried until the M&P (no laser) .380 from S&W. It's been perfect with over 600 rounds of FMJ & HP, so it gets carried daily and I trust my life to it. I could have just gotten lucky b/c from what I read some come off the line good, others not so much. If the factory cannot fix it to your satisfaction you can request a refund or replacement. It can get expensive going through all brands of ammo to see what works.

 

[PJR202]

thank you both. i discussed it with a bodyguard owning friend who is way more into guns than i am at this point. he's gonna take look at it, and suggested i try another ammo so i ordered some winchester in the white box. i'll see how that goes. i don't think it's my grip or wrist as far as i can tell, but i only started shooting two years ago and my other gun is a shield 9mm. i've got over 2000 trouble free rounds out of it with many brands of ammo.

i wish i knew what the techs at smith found, if anything. that's a couple expensive parts to replace for no reason. do they have a machine that just sits there and squeezes off rounds all day or what?

 

[KSDeputy]

You want to buy another one Old Cop? New, never fired except at factory. Trigger is way too long for me.

 

[latinracer]

You want to buy another one Old Cop? New, never fired except at factory. Trigger is way too long for me.

How much are you asking?

 

[oldiegoldie]

mine shoots the PMC fmj flawlessly. I don't think I have ever had a failure with that ammo. these small pistols can be picky about ammo. You might want to polish the feedramp. Also, I use Millcom TW25B synthetic grease on the rails. Also smoothed the rails with fine stone. Don't give up on this fine little pistol.

 

[Rickgus]

I, too, had some problems with a new Bodyguard purchased one year ago. Mine was having FTFeed/FTEject using Remington UMC FMJ. Returned to the LGS where he steered me over to the PMC Bronze FMJ rounds which performed flawlessly! Funny you should mention the Perfectas, those he also shot in the BG without failure! My BG seems to like the PMC's, they seem reasonably priced, and I have never read a bad review on them! As oldgoldie mentioned his shoots them flawlessly also, as many members on this forum seem to have good luck with them! The BG's do seem picky on what they are fed; I also have a Ruger LCP, Gen 1, which will fire anything I load in it! Give the PMC's a try, you might find they work for you!

Oh, I have not gotten far enough with the BG to fire SD loads, so I can't tell you if all will be well with those loads. I was very pleased with the results of the PMC FMJ's and haven't ventured out to the SD loads. Maybe I don't want to start seeing failures again with the BG as I really like the pistol! Some day I will give them a try! Good luck, keep us informed with your BG! - Rick

 

[db4570]

Although in general I disagree with those who suggest finding an ammo your gun "likes", because that's just too finicky for a defensive gun, I will cut a gun some slack if it doesn't like some really odd off-brand foreign ammo. Steel case Tulamo I would put in that category. Perfecta? It's supposed to be pretty good, but it's not something I'm familiar with.

I would send it back to S&W again. FTFeed issues are usually easy for them to solve. FTFire issues are more elusive.

This is not a peculiarity of small 380s; the LCP has a reputation for amazing reliability, and it's even smaller and lighter than the BG.

Let's see what is does with Win WB! That stuff was the nemesis of my 3 BGs, so I use it for torture testing now. If it will fire Win WB it will fire anything.

Good luck. If you like the gun, put the effort into getting it right with S&W, and it will be worth it.

David

 

[thewittmp]

Could you be causing drag on the slide with your thumbs?

At one point, I suddenly started having the slide not lock back on both my M&P BG380 and my M&P Shield9. Turns out, I had changed my grip and was putting pressure on the slide lock.

I can imagine that a small amount of pressure on the slide can prevent it from moving fast enough to eject rounds (I could be wrong, too).

 

[PJR202]

Although in general I disagree with those who suggest finding an ammo your gun "likes", because that's just too finicky for a defensive gun, I will cut a gun some slack if it doesn't like some really odd off-brand foreign ammo. Steel case Tulamo I would put in that category. Perfecta? It's supposed to be pretty good, but it's not something I'm familiar with.

I would send it back to S&W again. FTFeed issues are usually easy for them to solve. FTFire issues are more elusive.

This is not a peculiarity of small 380s; the LCP has a reputation for amazing reliability, and it's even smaller and lighter than the BG.

Let's see what is does with Win WB! That stuff was the nemesis of my 3 BGs, so I use it for torture testing now. If it will fire Win WB it will fire anything.

Good luck. If you like the gun, put the effort into getting it right with S&W, and it will be worth it.

David

The white box should be here any day, and the weather we're having here lately is insane. It hit 70 degrees yesterday and will again today, in far eastern KY. I should be able to go hit the range again soon. I do really like this gun but it's a carry gun so if I can't get it worked out it's either out the door or I'll just give it to my wife to fun shoot. She likes it, which is hilarious considering how hard it is on the hands. If the WB goes 100 without a failure I'll order another box and see what happens. It always seems to fail somewhere between 40 and 70 rounds in the same session. Makes me wonder if heat has anything to do with it, as I generally run both mags consecutively. If it keeps failing I'll send it back to SW or do some of the suggested actions to the slide and such. I really have no knowledge of working on guns though, so anything I do will probably be minor.

 

[PJR202]

Could you be causing drag on the slide with your thumbs?

At one point, I suddenly started having the slide not lock back on both my M&P BG380 and my M&P Shield9. Turns out, I had changed my grip and was putting pressure on the slide lock.

I can imagine that a small amount of pressure on the slide can prevent it from moving fast enough to eject rounds (I could be wrong, too).

Despite not being a short or small guy, I have really small hands and thin fingers. I've never once known another grown man with hands smaller..lol. I have no trouble gripping this gun and staying under the slide. I can even almost get my pinkie finger fully locked in place.

 

[turbo38gn]

If it only fails between 40 and 70 rds.... are you expected an extended gunfight in a self defense situation...... and will you be carrying 6 to 12 loaded magazines.... maybe you should just carry an AR15 with a couple of 30rd mags... ....

 

[db4570]

It always seems to fail somewhere between 40 and 70 rounds in the same session.

Yes! The exact same thing happened with all three of mine. The first 30 or so rounds were always fine. I always assumed that was a big hint as far as what was going on, but never figured out what it was.

The Win WB cases are several thousandths of an inch shorter than all other brands I tested. I assume that was part of the reason they would FTFire more often; they were chambering too deep and the firing pin didn't have enough throw distance.

Good luck with yours.

David

 

[Inusuit]

If it only fails between 40 and 70 rds.... are you expected an extended gunfight in a self defense situation...... and will you be carrying 6 to 12 loaded magazines.... maybe you should just carry an AR15 with a couple of 30rd mags... ....

Well, that was really helpful.

However if the failures only occur after 40 rounds maybe turbo is on to something. Try vigorous cleaning after 30-40 rounds and see if that solves the problem.

 

[PJR202]

Yes! The exact same thing happened with all three of mine. The first 30 or so rounds were always fine. I always assumed that was a big hint as far as what was going on, but never figured out what it was.

The Win WB cases are several thousandths of an inch shorter than all other brands I tested. I assume that was part of the reason they would FTFire more often; they were chambering too deep and the firing pin didn't have enough throw distance.

Good luck with yours.

David

I don't think we discussed this before, but on the SW forums someone with a lot if FTF's we t through the ringer with SW and eventually found out the throw on some BG's was too short to always make solid contact. They were working on redesigning it. I think that was a year or so ago. Mine seems to be a different issue though.

 

[PJR202]

Wait..lolol. I thought I was posting that on defensivecarry.com. I've had a thread there about this for a few months. My tapatalk feed confused me.

 

[PJR202]

Update..I got 100 rounds of white box through the bodyguard Saturday with no stovepipes. I did have one strike failure but it fired on the second pull. That's never happened. Gonna keep shooting it a while and see how it goes.

 

[Whitwabit]

Is the gun dry after shooting 30 to 60 rounds thru it .. since you say that is when trouble starts .. maybe it needs to be lathered up a bit more when cleaning it ..??

Jut a thought ..

 

[db4570]

I think you probably have an OK gun. Although I have argued against the premise that it's acceptable for these guns to be "picky" about ammo, I draw the line at steel import. So if it seems OK with everything else, especially the notoriously difficult Win WB, it looks like it is fixed.

With my three BGs and hundreds of rounds tested, Win WB is the toughest brand to get to fire consistently. If you had only one FTFire in 100 rounds, I'd say you're in pretty good shape. I'd still be slightly concerned about 1 FTFire out of 100, but not too much. Try a good clean and lube, shoot it some more, and if you get another FTFire send it back to S&W.

David