Hey all.

My brother in law picked up a nice USED Bodyguard revolver in 38. It’s the no laser version. He found it at a local gun shop for a good deal and bought it. Knowing I really like small revolvers, he brought it for me to see. He might be wanting to trade it to me.
Anyway, it’s a nice little carry piece, which I like. I started looking it over and dry firing it to see how the trigger action was. It wasn’t long until a problem showed. The trigger would start sticking in place at the end of the pull. It wouldn’t come back to the front. It seemed if I slightly rotated the cylinder by hand, the trigger wouldn’t reset in the normal position. When dry firing again, it would scant stick. I’d get it back to normal and it would happen again. There was no certain internal that it would stick on. One time it would stick on the 5th pull, the next time on the 3rd. On and on.


Is this a typical problem with this model? There is zero chance I’d carry this revolver in this condition. I have not inspected the internals at all.

Is there a fix for it? Anything I can do to get it to operate 100%? If it’s something simple, I’d consider this if it can be fixed. I’d have to put it through paces first, but I’d like to try and fix this if possible.

Any ideas, suggestions or advice? Any help us appreciated.

Thanks for your time and help.

BD

Seemed like it took FORever for them to produce that model w/o that silly laser. When I finally found one, it had failure to carry up on several chambers.

I opened it to see that it had a completely mechanism from traditional Smiths. There is no hand pushing upwards on the lug of the ejector star to rotate it. Rather, it seems like a 'male' star impinges on the 'female' star of the ejector. Totally turned me off on that model.

I hope you figure it out.

Thank goodness they're cheap.

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NRA Certified Shotgun Instr.

Advice? Sell it.

The BG 38 has totally different internals than all the other J frames and has no aftermarket support that I can find, besides a BG38-specific grip by Hogue.

If you're feeling brave, here's a Gunsmith's instructional on how to disassemble it:

Detail Strip Guide: S&W Bodyguard .38 Revolver – Apex Gunsmithing

__________________
NRA Certified Shotgun Instr.

A client had purchased one of these race-to-the-bottom revolvers and brought it out for a lesson. The cylinder would not carry up - at all - multiple times when the trigger was pulled. Brand new never fired.

She's sending it back for warranty service. Hopefully after S&W's parts replacer gets done, it works.

__________________
Retired LE Instructor/Armorer

The Bodyguard revolver also has an internal flaw in which, for unknown reasons, the cylinder will sometimes fail to rotate when you pull the trigger. Sorry, but it is a piece of junk and you should never rely on it for self-defense.

Thanks all.

I noticed after fiddling with it for 1/2 hour or so that when they rigger would stick to the rear as usual, I could use my fingers and slightly rotate the cylinder and it would all go back into battery as normal. So, like you all said, the cylinder fails to rotate completely to the next chamber for unknown reasons.

I don’t think I’ll stay with this one. Just not safe for me.

Thanks all.

One of the few "stinkers" that S&W ever designed and sold. Would take a Taurus or Charter Arms over it any day (and that's a sad statement!).