I've put roughly 450 rounds of an assortment of ammo through my Bodyguard (purchased in 2010). After firing WWB, PMC, Remmington, and Herter's here are my results:

Failure to Feed - Zero Issues

Failure to fire:
WWB - 5 % require a second pull of the trigger
PMC - zero issue
Remmington - 5% require a second pull of the trigger
Herter's - 100% Require a second pull of the trigger (I went 0 for 8 and packed up my things and left the range)

Is anyone else having this issue. And yes, I know Herter's isn't the best ammunition on the market but come on 0 for 8 in a row for target practice.

Is there something to be fixed on my gun? Or should I just get rid of it and try and find a new one I can trust.

If it's steel case it's Tula ammo. Tula uses hard primers. Not unusual for any non combat pistol to require a second strike and sometimes even those require a second strike. Even in my Glocks and HKs one out of a 100 or so requires a second hit

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It does seem a bit picky. Obviously Herter's is no good for your pistol.

My BG 380 had a couple of light strikes on the first box I shot when it was new. Since then it has gone bang every time I pull the trigger with over a thousand rounds of a variety of ammo through it.

Mis-fires, mis-feeds, mag-drops, trigger pull complaints. They go on and on, as do all the positive excuses and praise. A great pistol idea, yes, indeed. I got fed up and, with concern about what might happen in a crisis situation, sold mine and bought a 9mm Shield and changed my Massachusetts compliant trigger with a replacement kit done by the gun store for cheaper than the Apex kit. 'nough said.

What you SHOULD do is stick with PMC for the range, and find a similar jhp for defense...and call it a day. Who cares if it doesn't feed EVERYTHING? I just need it to feed what I'm shooting!

OK, I just was thinking about this. I have noticed that mine is perfect with some and just doesn't get it with others.

WWB - zero issues (about 200 rounds)
Remington - zero issues (50 rounds)
PMC - zero issues (200 rounds)
Hornady Critical Defense - zero issues (only 10 rounds)
Herters - about 40% FTF (most fire on 2nd strike)
MagTech - about 20/25% FTF (most fire on 2nd strike)

For now I'll stick with the ones that work but maybe do a little something with the firing pin and spring, down the road.

The first 350 to 400 rounds were only with the zero issue ammo so I thought I had it made. Just recently I got the Herters and the Magtech and ran into problems. Went back to WWB, yesterday, and went through a box of 50 without a hiccup.

I was about to buy some Herter's until I saw this post, as I also had extreme problems with Magtech (can't even get through 1 magazine).

Aside from Magtech, I've shot:
Freedom Munitions reload 380: 300 rounds, 0 issues
Remingtom UMC: 100 rounds, 0 issues
Hornady Critical Defense: 40 roudns, 0 issues
Speer Gold Dot: 5 rounds, 0 issues


I guess no Magtech or Herter's for me.

I have put more than 500 rounds through mine...mostly Fiocchi and Independence...two of the Independence I had to double strike...won't be buying anymore of that....I use Hornady Critical FTX for my SD load and have had no problems with that...I think if you are using your .380 for SD that you make sure the brand you use for that won't give you problems...jmho

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I am glad to see this topic, my wife got me a bodyguard for Christmas. I have only had a few opportunities to shoot since then but I have had one round not fire. Reloaded and it went bang on the second try. It was 23 degrees outside and the first time firing but have had no other issues since. WWB, bought some boxes at Walmart, they had boxes of 100 for $42 so I thought I would stock up. Guess I will avoid Herters and Magtech... P.S. Thanks for the topic, hopefully it is helpful to others as well...

I also received my Bodyguard for Christmas. The first time to the range I shot 50 PPU and 50 Remington without a hitch. Sunday I went to the range and shot 100 Blazer Brass with many failure to feed , fire, and ejects. I guess the BG380 doesn't like that ammo neither. Too bad, because I have a lot of it. On well, at least my wife's LC380 likes it...

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I took my M&P Bodyguard to the range for the first time yesterday and had a horrible time with what I first thought were light-strikes. I started with a few Federal Premium Personal Defense, but was mainly using Remington HTP.

Some of the times, the trigger would not engage at all, others the hammer only came half-way back. Manually ejecting these rounds took a lot of physical effort, just to rack the slide.

When I got home, I found the issue was that the ammo was not going fully into the chamber, and was catching on the bullet. This was causing the slide to be not 100% seated. This condition can be reproduced by pulling the slide a fraction of an inch back and pulling the trigger (empty chamber or snap-caps please!). The hammer will either not engage, or only come partially back before releasing.

I have to wonder if this is why so many people are seeing light-strikes on these.

I have attached a couple images showing my issue. The first shows the place on the ammo that is catching in the barrel. I removed the barrel and inserted the ammo and rotated them in place to see where they were catching (each had a black mark drawn on them to make it easier to see). The second image shows the barrel sitting vertically on the table with the ammo inserted to show how far from flush each was sitting.

Smith and Wesson have requested I return this gun for their inspection.

Attached Images

	bullet_scratches.jpg (76.2 KB, 262 views)
	ammo_seat.jpg (36.4 KB, 264 views)

I feel the pain. I am currently on my 2nd bodyguard. S&W eventually replaced the first one after I shipped it back the 3rd time. On the new gun I wanted to make sure I had 500 rounds through it before complaining. I have found it to be very finicky. Numerous failure to feed, especially on the final round. Lots of stovepipes.

It was especially tempermental with Remington target rounds. I couldn't even get through a complete clip. Even Hornady Critical Defense aren't working properly.

One employee at the target range said that he does NOT like Remington, and prefers only PMC or Federal.

I am curious as to what ammo do other Bodyguard owners like and dislike with their gun?