Body Guard 380 locking pin

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Sawdust25

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Has anyone had problems with the new Body Guard 380? I maybe the only one but there seems to be a problem with the slide locking pin. I cleaned mine before taking it to the range for the first time. Shot 46rounds without a hitch. On the 47th, the slide lock pin fell out and the slide, with a live round in the barrel, fell onto the shooting table. Cleaned it again and reset the locking pin as per manual. Tried it again. Pin fell out with the slide on the 7th shot. My dealer tried it and had the same problem on his 3 shot. Sent it back for repair. When returned, same problem. Locking pin keeps falling out. It's back in S&W shop for further repair.

It seems to happen more often with rapid fire. I don't think that the retaining spring is stiff enough, nor is the spring indent in the locking pin deep enough, to hold the pin in the lock position as the slide moves back and forth.

Any comments from other Body Guard 380 users?

Thanks in advance.
 
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I assure you that there are far more folks with this problem than the S&W customer service folks will tell you. If you ask them they seem to be telling people that this isn't a problem. On one of the posts here, it sounds like the CSR per said that there was only 1 other gun in for repair for this problem. Either the CSR's don't talk to each other or they are flat out being told to cover-up or down play this problem so it won't hurt their sales. Do they not think or realize that the forum community is talking about it? I would have so much more respect for them if they would just come clean and be up-front about this problem.

My BG380 is back at S&W currently for the same issue. With these reports of guns coming back "not fixed", I am almost 100% convinced that I am just going to get rid of it when it returns. Why waste the ammo to test only to find out on round number ### (take your pick of a number...maybe 50 or 100 or 250) the pin comes out again. Anyway, I know some of you aren't ready to give up on this gun. It certainly has some nice features, but unless I see a visible difference in some of the parts or get some sort of credible information from customer service that gives me a solid feeling that they truly fixed it, then it will be gone within a week of me getting it back.
 
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xzhync said:
I assure you that there are far more folks with this problem than the S&W customer service folks will tell you....... unless I see a visible difference in some of the parts or get some sort of credible information from customer service that gives me a solid feeling that they truly fixed it, then it will be gone within a week of me getting it back.
Click to expand...

You won't be selling it to me :p:) I wouldn't touch one of those. Not now.
 
Any company worth their salt has someone monitoring forums. I'm convinced Smith is reading our posts and posts on other gun sites. I think they're waiting and watching to see if they want to recall all of them. They shouldn't wait too long. Word's getting out that can really put the screws to their Body Guard sales. It's not that hard a problem to fix.

My dealer offered to return my money towards another gun. The Bersa CC and the Walther PPK are great but too heavy and bulky for a pocket gun. The Body Guard fills the space between too light and too heavy. I'll give them one more chance to repair mine. My 15 year old Smith 9 mm has never skipped a beat.
 
Unfortunately, the same thing happened to me today. I just purchased the bodyguard 380 on Thursday and took it to the range today. I was amazed on how accurate the gun is, hitting close in clusters around the target easily, but on round 35, it failed to fire. After checking it out, I noticed that the takedown lever was missing and the round was jammed and wouldn't eject. I had to field dissassemble to remove the round which was a PIA. My son and I searched for about 30 minutes and never was able to find the takedown lever in the graveled area. I really didn't want to leave without it, but it just wasn't in the cards to find it. I guess I will calling S&W customer service on Monday morning. Bummer! I really hoped mine wouldn't be one of those with issues.
 
My BG is too on the way back to the "Mother Land" for the 2nd issue of a flying takedown lever problem. I can tell that many of you folks are rightly pissed about the failures of a product from a company like Smith.

Do yourself a favor and check your emotions, Smith will fix or replace your firearms, and will make it right. THEY HAVE THE RESOURCES!....The BG 380 will turn out to be a classic!

P.S.....Can you tell I really like this gun?... ;-)
 
I have about 400 rounds from my BG380 without a problem. I'm a little concerned though from all the problems I see posted. But I've grown too fond of this little gun that I know if I do have a problem with it down the road, I'll stick with it untill S&W makes it right again!
 
New BG on the way......

Just got the call from S+W that BG 380 EAA 38XX is going to be replaced with a new gun sent to my original dealer...... I purchased that gun from the Firingline in Westland MI. , good folks, no charges on the FFL transfer........... Stay Tuned. :o
 
I am so glad you posted this. Sorry for your problems (but it SEEMS a new gun will fix them) however, this post has saved me a possible headache.

I had the hots for one of these, but none of my local FFLs have gotten one in to fondle and I really don't care to go to gun shows with the silly prices some still try to charge. Not really a fan of beef jerky or Native American jewelry, either.

I likely would have bought the first one I actually saw.

Not now, maybe later after the recall or the - or after I'm assured it's working without falling apart.

Bob
 
Update....

I happened to be at a convention in New Hampshire yesterday where Smith & Wesson had a dealer table with a wide assortment of rifles and handguns to include their new Bodyguard .380.

I asked the rep what they were doing about the problem of the takedown lever coming out when firing and he acknowledged they are aware of the problem and it has been diagnosed.

He went on to say the takedown lever is held in by a small, straight wire spring much like the Ruger LCP and they have determined that two problems exist.

#1 - the spring needs to be stiffer as the flex in the current one is not remaining seated in the groove of the takedown lever allowing it to crawl out.

#2 - the groove in the takedown lever is not cut deep enough and allows the flexible spring to let go under fire.

He was not sure if this will result in a re-call or repairs will be made as the come in. Initial repairs before they discovered this problem, was to merely replace the spring and takedown lever with the same thing, not fixing the problem.
 
I figured the problem would be something like this. The takedown pin in the Kel Tec PF-9 is of a similar design and has or had similar problems. Not sure what other models use this, I just own a PF-9. Hopefully S&W gets a 100% reliable fix worked out, and future pistols from all manufacturers use something a little more robust than a flimsy wire in a plastic groove! :rolleyes:

Now onto the trigger reset problem........
 
2K7 said:
I happened to be at a convention in New Hampshire yesterday where Smith & Wesson had a dealer table with a wide assortment of rifles and handguns to include their new Bodyguard .380.

I asked the rep what they were doing about the problem of the takedown lever coming out when firing and he acknowledged they are aware of the problem and it has been diagnosed.

He went on to say the takedown lever is held in by a small, straight wire spring much like the Ruger LCP and they have determined that two problems exist.

#1 - the spring needs to be stiffer as the flex in the current one is not remaining seated in the groove of the takedown lever allowing it to crawl out.

#2 - the groove in the takedown lever is not cut deep enough and allows the flexible spring to let go under fire.

He was not sure if this will result in a re-call or repairs will be made as the come in. Initial repairs before they discovered this problem, was to merely replace the spring and takedown lever with the same thing, not fixing the problem.
Click to expand...

This is so good to know. I should be getting mine sent out tomorrow and it is supposed to be of current production. I had told them that my take down lever seemed to be very loose in comparison to the Ruger LCP. No force was needed and it would turn 270 degrees on take down with very little resistance. Thanks for the info.
 
That's good news. I sent mine back on Tuesday and S&W received it today for the takedown lever issue. Fingers crossed. Jerry
 
Based on the design, if the spring's in place and the pin's inserted correctly it can't fall out. If the spring's not in place or the pin's not fully inserted it will fall out. This is a common problem with Kel-tec PF-9's which use a similar assembly pin. Unfortunately, it's easy to push the pin down and against the spring (rather than over it). This pushes the spring out of place so nothing's retaining the pin. The first indication of trouble would be the slide falling off.

My plan it to check the spring position every time I take the gun down...then be sure I push the pin in over the spring when I reinsert it. Once it's together I'll check to be sure the pin is flush against the frame and press down (slightly) on the lever a few times to be sure there's spring resistance pushing it back up. If there is, I'll know the spring's in place and the pin should stay in. Nothing's for certain of course... ;)

Milspec
 
Well, I received my "new" BG380 today, EAB36XX. I broke it down to look for any obvious design changes on the takedown lever/crosspin, but the only thing I noted was that maybe the slot for the spring in the lever head was deeper than the original?.... I did note that an outer extruded ring has been added around the laser buttons, for why I don't know.... A range report will be later this week.:confused:
 
Mine has been at S&W for 3 1/2 weeks. A week and half ago they told me that they would be replacing my BG380 with a new one, but last week they told me that Engineering was testing a new fix to the problem and that mine should be fixed within 10 days. What gives???? I told them that I understood that the new EABxxxxx series fixed the problem and why didn't they just send me one of those. I didn't get an answer, except for that Engineering was working on it and mine would be fixed as soon as possible. I guess I will call them again next week to see what progress is being made.
 
They are probably working on a way to fix existing frames instead of replacing frames. Replacing frames is a much bigger ordeal because it changes your serial number and essentially you are getting a new gun transferred to you when you get it back.
 
THEY FIXED IT!!!!!!!! I just returned from the range after pounding over 300 rounds (handloads=Berry 100gr. over 2.7grs. of Bullseye) through my new BG 380 EAB 36XX in 1/2 hour. The takedown lever stayed put. The gun was hot and gritty, but ran without a failure of any kind.

After good cleaning and inspection, she's going into service as my daily pocket gun.
 
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