Capt. Ron, I really appreciate your advice, but I can tell you with confidence that my Ruger LCP ate everything I fed it without a single incident. This also seems to be the overwhelming consensus about that gun. So the cheap, homely little Ruger eats anything you put through it like a goat, but the iconic S&W can't figure it out?

You also said:

I'll be d***ed if I start rebuilding my defective brand new pistol with aftermarket parts at my own expense to try to achieve what the S&W experts can't do.

And, no, I don't think sticky mags are causing it to stovepipe or light strike.

Capt. Ron, it seems like you are unwilling to consider that there is actually something wrong with this gun. Sometimes one has to admit that maybe their favorite brand might have a flawed model.

David

Hey, first off I dont know how old your pistol is, the # of rounds it had, how you take care of it etc. All I know is there are thousands of happy BG 380 owners out there that dont need to get on a forum to complain about their pistol and the ones who unfortunatley do have a issue come online looking for a solution and it gives the impression of a large scale issue, there is no mass problem with these guns. I carry my BG380 every day and I would stake my life on it.
S&W makes thousands of BG380's each year. Like anything else that's mass produced you're gonna find a few lemons... jeez, if you're not happy with the pistol send it back & they will fix it, that is what a warranty is for. Use it. But it's not going to magically fix itself by lowballing S&W on the foums.

Just my 2 cents. I've had the same problems with my BG380 and several trips back to CS. Seems to work now and I'm confident with it. Don't know if shooting it more could make it more reliable or worse.

I've shot 380's back to the early 80's and never had any problems after thousands of rounds of everything. Didn't have special self defense loads back then, just hardball. Earlier 380's though aren't as small as the ones now. Maybe it's not possible to mass produce these small 380's and just put 10 rounds through them for a test and expect them to work. If that's the case, they shouldn't sell them as people are depending their lives on them.

Looks like you, failed to read original post, he sent it to S/W and it still is malfunctioning.

Always a laugh to get someone who states "Mine works great and therefore represents the thousands out there therefore yours should work. " Or the famous "Don't come on a S/W forum bashing S/W products" even though the product is not functioning as intended.

Please do explain how his direct experience with a pistol is somehow negated by your lack of evidence with a statement like " There is no mass problem"

OP: I have had all the same problems as you - I never posted about them, and bought the gun based on glowing internet reviews, so the theories about only people with problems posting is bull. Otoh, on recent more specifically worded google searches the light primer strike issue with this gun is all over the web.

I unfortunately went down the path you wisely rejected, and had a reputable armorer do some work, primarily because I wanted to change out the sites and trigger set anyway. I had to bring it back to him after testing, because the problems remained, and he said he has found that often times the firing pin block is not adequately cleared by the striker, and he retouched those parts, and I believe the light striker issue is now solved. This was covered under warranty.

Now the other issues, ftf, stovepipe, slide autoforward had to be fixed separately, at my expense, because they are things S&W will not address under the warranty. They are indeed ammo dependent, which does not excuse the issue. My armorer offers a "performance package" which is $110, and includes throating the barrel and a couple of other adjustments, and results in pretty much 100% reliability with regard to cycling (they tested it with a variety of ****** ammo, including some with known hard primer issues, and claim it is good now -- I have yet to get it to the range to confirm).

There are two excellent and experienced armorers at this shop, and they have a lot of knowledge about the SW BG380. They say it is BS that this performance package is frequently needed on this gun, but that is the state of things in the production gun world these days. While it is not unique to S&W, this model has more problems then many others. Especially, according to them, LPS, and it has to do with the design of the gun, being very light, with a tiny hammer, it just does not have the physics to perform reliably without aftermarket adjustments in many cases. Just replacing the springs does not always work, because the design of the firing pin block and associated parts is faulty.

My experience with this gun was so annoying that I will never buy another S&W. I know these types of problems are not unique to S&W, but I also have and S&W 1911 that has a minor issue (won't cycle properly with 7+1 - only 7 in the mag and 0 in the chamber), and I have so many other guns that perform 100% out of the box.

As far as 380's, my sig p238 is a much better shooter, eats all ammo and is 100% reliable, out of the box. More expensive (but not after all the work I did to the BG) and a bit heavier, but a MUCH better gun in all other ways.

After my own experiences and a bit of google-fu, I conclude the SW BG380 sucks. It does not matter that it works well for most people, because it is completely unreliable for many, many people, even after sending it back to S&W for warranty service. Sure, the issues are fixable, at considerable time and expense to the consumer. S&W is not the great company it once was, and should not be selling this gun in it's current configuration, without addressing these issues in a more competent manner - particularly in a gun that is so specifically meant to be a SD carry gun (not a range or competition piece).