Have owned 2 one year apart. It's little better than a toy given how the parts all break down. Laser breaks, laser housing breaks, frame pin comes out, and on and on I can go. S&W needs competent leadership to bring back the pride of manufacturing they once possessed. Ruger and SIG are cleaning their clock.

I was in the market for a "pocket-rocket" 380 a few weeks ago. I had a chance to get a used Body Guard, but decided against it when I felt the trigger pull. I ended up getting a good deal on a Sig P238.

And my BG380 eats anything I throw at it and has never had a problem. I can take it freezing cold from my truck at 0 degrees and rip off 50 rounds, then pull it from my sweaty pocket the next week and rattle off another 50.

All I've ever done is a proper cleaning when new.

I haven't had any issues in the year and half I've had my BG380 and I've fired basic wally world ammo, Hornady Critical Defense (although I'll probably switch to Corbon) concealed and carried it in lint filled pockets in hot humid and cold weather, in the console of my car, etc. I've knocked it around a bit at times, so it's good for me that it has a fairly long, heavy trigger pull and likewise an affirmative safety, which I can choose consistently whether to use or not use.

No, it's not a Sig P238 in terms of fit, finish and trigger feel, (or price) but 'it is what is'--nothing to be ashamed of and more than adequate at 15 yards or less.

While it is a bit snappy in recoil, I consider it to be at a 'sweet spot' of physics, where it's rather small and light, but it's just heavy enough and grippable enough with the pinky extension, to where you can hold on tight, fire 40 or 50 rounds and not feel it in your hand for hours afterward.

...And where there's smoke...well you know....

I had (and dutifully reported) the loose laser housing screw issue that caused the slide to stay locked back with the inability to fire.

Folks at S&W were great at shipping the new screw to re-attach the laser housing.

Bottom line: I KNOW I'll get the first shot out. The second is not 100% assured. I'm not the only one to experience this. So, there's a convergence of data on this issue.

If...IF this happens (after firing, the slide is locked back and you cannot fire), Assume that the laser housing screw has come loose and...JAM THE SLIDE BACK with your off-side hand, breaking the (itty-bitty) screw that's holding the slide from moving back. You can continue firing, if my experience is any guide.

I really like this gun, but stuff happens.

Faux Paws (M&P9c, BG380, K-LCR)

No probs with mine.

You almost always hear from those who've had problems....

none with mine either

Yes, and this is one of the most useful aspects of the Internet, in my opinion. If we assume that people with problems are one of most vocal segments of consumers, we can determine the count, nature, and severity of problems by how many people respond with issues and the frequency with which they post. I have yet to encounter a product for which this is not useful.

Regarding the S&W Bodyguard 380, nobody should dispute that it has had (and may still have) some QC issues, given the number of people who post about problems and the frequency with which they post. Were the laser screws backing out? Yes. Was there a problem with the the takedown lever? Yes. Is the gun breaking firing pins? Yes. These are facts, attested to by owners, some of whom have had multiple failures in a single gun, repeated failures in a single gun, and failures across multiple guns.

I'm a Bodyguard 380 owner and I like this information. So far, I've experienced none of these problems after carrying the gun daily for almost nine months and firing several hundred rounds through it. Whatever problems are showing up in a certain percentage of these guns have not affected mine, which has had far more use and rounds fired than a lot of guns experiencing failures.

What is *not* useful is irrational hyperbole like this:

Using the problems of a single model of gun to impugn an entire company that sells numerous guns of various architectures, materials, and sizes is nonsense. Yeah, one guy having a problem with one gun model constitutes a lack of manufacturing "pride" (whatever such nebulous soapbox language means) and clearly the whole company needs to be overhauled.

I'll echo the question of how many actually have experienced problems....

Could you find 20 people with a problem? Maybe 100?

Would 100 out of 100,000 be acceptable?

I don't know. I also like to know what possible problems there may be, but as long as S&W takes care of any problems I am pretty good with that too.

+1 for my BG... It's run 100%.

I absolutely agree that the internet in general and especially a forum basically for S&W products is about the BEST place to post about problems people have with a gun. Perhaps the way I said :

>>You almost always hear from those who've had problems....<<

sounded a bit tart, but I did not intend to insinuate that those who complain are whiners or some sort of malingerer. I just think that generally, there's more people who are quietly satisfied with most products, that don't tend to come forward as much as the folks with real problems do and the latter group is rightfully heard from loud and clear--maybe even more so outside of brand focused forums like this one, where lot of folks almost glow with happiness about S&W guns. I think by and large, we feel we're onto a good thing and we express that.

Magazines tend to give glowing reviews, mixed in with a few minor (if any) criticisms, of pretty much every new gun they 'review'. If you want an objective overview of a gun, there's not any better place to get a good cross sampling than there is by doing research on-line. The number of people posting pro and con reports--including 'complaints' about quality--people who have bought a gun from it's initial introduction and afterwards, is just too great for a wise consumer to ignore.

Re the BG380, I noted some of the problems reported early on, and made sure my gun was a ways down the pike in terms of serial number. Most guns receive a number of tweaks and modifications after they are introduced--very few are 'perfect' with the first few production sequence issues. Many guns receive improvements even years later.

I remember seeing gussied up "First Edition Boxed Sets" of the BG380 and the BG Revolver together and thinking "It's probably a good idea that the people paying all that extra money for those guns probably will never shoot them".

Case in point about new guns for me--there's a lot of good buzz (and some bad coming in) about the Beretta Nano, a gun I 'might' buy eventually, unless a new, small M&P 9mm single stack puts me on hold, waiting another year for initial production tweaks and of course, Beretta has released humble statements like:

>>The Beretta Nano is the ultimate evolution of the micro compact carry pistol.<<

Beretta after 500 years of making guns, ought to know better. I think that the words "ultimate evolution" should be reserved for a select few, well seasoned things and the Nano, nor the Generation Four Glocks aren't two of those things!

Anyways, I do think my post was a bit much in part and I thought I'd explain where I'm coming from. I scour the internet for good and bad info on particular guns and I'd hate to see objective reports discouraged, good OR bad!