2nd bodyguard 380 broken firing pin DONT DRYFIRE

[maspingu]

Thank you very much for that link. However I am confused by your statement of the fact all the issues have been fixed. I have seen no such official statement, unless that was some sarcasm . I can't wait for this stuff to come out, and I understand the workload affects turn around times, it's common sense and I run a business so I am definitely understanding in that aspect. I just couldn't afford to wait that long, for that I go out and buy a new one or alternative handgun for carry (this bg380 is my first and only gun which I want to carry). Also both of the guys who helped me said they've worked there for 5+ years, which of course could be a lie as part of training to give customers the sense of knowledge and trust over the phone. Found out today by a call I received that my order was shipping ground after an earlier call to check on the status of shipping as I had not received the pin today as I should have. Their reason was FedEx doesn't ship to P.O. boxes which isn't correct, but they alerted my order anyway prior to calling me and I have to wait until it's delivered via USPS. Also prior to this order I confirmed with the rep that it would be ok to ship this to that po box and was confirmed it was ok, obviously not or someone messed up. They wouldn't have called me anyway unless I had called them today. What do you think about my idea of removing that safety pin that covers the firing pin?

 

[edenney]

Can't believe S&W still hasn't put such an inexcusable issue to bed after all this time, and it's shameful that they don't admit to their customers that a widespread problem exists when people call them. The latter issue discourages me from giving them my money almost more than the firing pin problem. I was really excited about the BG380 when I first saw one 12-18 months ago and I was just about to buy one....., until I read on here about all of the firing pin problems. I put off buying one and monitored the situation for many months, but I never felt comfortable that S&W had resolved the issue (particularly since they sometimes don't admit there IS a widesread issue). In the end I just didn't have the confidence that the BG380 would work reliably when I needed it most, so I purchased a Ruger LC9 Lasermax. Now if I could only find some 9mm ammo.... .

P.S. Boris' comment was definitely dripping with sarcasm

 

[carlson1]

First let me say I have two BG380 and have not had a single issue.

Second I am very disappointed in S&W. I have always felt like you could trust them since they turned back a round from the Clinton years.

Finally I would not be personally fixing issues on my carry guns. They would be sent directly back to the factory.

 

[maspingu]

Thanks for the recent comments. I'd like to point out I won't be doing the change fp swap anymore, the shop I bought it from said they will be doing it free of charge due to the unfortunate circumstances from a recent new handgun purchase. If I were to have done it myself however, I know I wouldn't have an issue as I have disassembled and re assembled many different types of devices that are far more complex than a handgun so I'd feel very safe if I were to. I will say this, as soon as that steel after market firing pin is released, I'm buying and installing it. I'm sure eventually this replacement firing pin from SW will break even with normal use as others have reported. Don't want to trust my only carry gun to a known issue that will render it useless when I know there's a stronger and much less likely replacement that will break.

 

[maspingu]

Got on the phone today with S&W again to check on status of delivery and asked the rep on the phone about the firing pin. This rep did say he has received several calls for broken firing pins on the BG380 but he said it hasn't been something overwhelming, it's been very small numbers. I asked to get a better understanding of why the firing pin is breaking when dry firing and he said the firing pin may be coming out too much since it has nothing to make contact with "a bullet primer" and may cause added stress to the pin, causing it to possibly break or become damaged. It makes sense because when I push the firing pin out manually and watch the other end, I see the small tip of the pin come out but I haven't taken the entire FP out to look and see it entirely to determine if this is accurate or not. I still think it has to do with the FP safety flap that goes up and down.

 

[checkmyswag]

So is that 100% the cause of the firing pins breaking? Dry firing? Because some have reported breaking them even with snap caps in place.

 

[TheMystro]

I have dry fired mine thousands of times and I have never had a problem. This is why my trigger is broken in so nice. I would suspect its a bad batch of improperly heat treated fireing pins. I have seen this with other manufactures. My philosophy is dry fire the **** out of it and see if you have one of these defective firing pins. I would want to expose any defects in a controlled environment.
All center fire guns should safely be able to be dry fired without snap caps. The aftermarket has a way of making a buck with potential issues with factory parts so a aftermarket fireing pin should be comming along any time now.

So is that 100% the cause of the firing pins breaking? Dry firing? Because some have reported breaking them even with snap caps in place.

 

[Nakanokalronin]

Galloway has a aftermarket firing pin listed as coming soon on their site along with some other interesting products for the BG380.

Bodyguard 380 Performance | Galloway Precision

When I first bought mine, I disassembled the slide to figure out what's going on. From what I could see, the firing pin safety block may not be out of the way before the hammer strikes the firing pin. What I did was relieve,angle and polish the edge that contacts the block just enough so that if the block wasn't completely out of the way, the firing pin would just push it up the rest smoothly.

Everything still works perfectly and it's not something I'd want to try and describe on here in a step by step tutorial due to modifying a safety feature even though it doesn't disable anything.

 

[3dots]

That's great information, Nak, thanks for the post!

 

[checkmyswag]

So dry firing the gun a few thousand times should reveal if there is an issue? There agreement on his?

 

[Georgia Yankee]

This is the kind of thing that really, really hurts S&W. They have some truly great designs, but they need to institute modern statistical process controls and turn their quality around.