I read through all the posts w/interest & feel bad for all that are experiencing trouble. My older design Ruger LCP has never given me a problem over many years and hundreds of mixed rounds down range. Luck was on my side when I picked it up.
Bodyguard 2.0 guide rod & recoil spring....
- Thread starter Jim Da
- Start date
halfmoonclip
Member
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2003
- Messages
- 266
- Reaction score
- 241
OEM stainless steel guide rod of the OG Bodyguard 1.0... designed with quality in mind:
Fixed mine with TruGlo sights, and really like the gun. But I do shoot the 2.0 version better, and like the greater mag capacity.
Moon
I see how he was able get the front of the guide rod seated into the slide while the end of the spring is NOT seated under the guide rod cap.
By "wriggling" the guide rod side to side (can't wriggle it enough up and down) it allows just enough of the guide rod end cap to seat into the slide land. And... it does work.
The end of the spring NOT sitting UNDER the rod cap, and the end not completely flat, is a design flaw in my opinion.
With the end of the spring outside of the guide rod cap it is possible for the spring to pop off of the guide rod. I believe someone posted a description of that happening while shooting it.
By "wriggling" the guide rod side to side (can't wriggle it enough up and down) it allows just enough of the guide rod end cap to seat into the slide land. And... it does work.
The end of the spring NOT sitting UNDER the rod cap, and the end not completely flat, is a design flaw in my opinion.
With the end of the spring outside of the guide rod cap it is possible for the spring to pop off of the guide rod. I believe someone posted a description of that happening while shooting it.
Last edited:
- Joined
- Mar 18, 2025
- Messages
- 1
- Reaction score
- 1
Make sure you place the notched portion of the spring to the 3 or 9 o'clock positions. Works every time.
Bodyguard 2.0 Action
I had problems with my 2.0 also and also a friend of mines also. Firstly breaking in the slide took about 20 minutes. Take the barrel and recoil spring out of the firearm and put the slide on the frame. If the slide cant move from end to end freely or if pulled back can't slide off the frame without help you need to break it in. How to break it in is easy. Liberally add gun oil to the slide slots in the slide and put it back on the frame and just sit their watching tv or a gun tube video while sliding your slide back and forth for about 10 minutes. Add more oil if it dries out. I do not recommend using lapping oil or abrasives. In a short time you'll notice that your slide moves back and forth easily. It will literally slip off the frame if tipped. Congratulations you've now broken in the slide/frame rails!
I had problems with my 2.0 also and also a friend of mines also. Firstly breaking in the slide took about 20 minutes. Take the barrel and recoil spring out of the firearm and put the slide on the frame. If the slide cant move from end to end freely or if pulled back can't slide off the frame without help you need to break it in. How to break it in is easy. Liberally add gun oil to the slide slots in the slide and put it back on the frame and just sit their watching tv or a gun tube video while sliding your slide back and forth for about 10 minutes. Add more oil if it dries out. I do not recommend using lapping oil or abrasives. In a short time you'll notice that your slide moves back and forth easily. It will literally slip off the frame if tipped. Congratulations you've now broken in the slide/frame rails!
Bodyguard 2.0 recoil spring
See my previous thread on how to break in the slide/frame. Yes, the spring is a little tough to put in. A couple of my friends can't compress the spring at all due to age or weak hands. This is how I easily broke the recoils spring in! Take the spring and rod assembly and the slide. Use a table or wall and put the spring on the wall or table and the slide end to end with the spring outside of the slide. This takes a little bit of coordination, lol. Oil the spring/guide rod and start moving the slide up and down compressing the guide rod spring. If you're a 16 year old boy this will be second nature, lol. Get this going for 15-20 minutes and the spring will be broken in and you will feel very awkward doing this and if someone is watching you then you'll definitely feel awkward, lol. Dry off the excess oil off the assembly and congratulations you've now broken in the guiderod assembly. Now go shoot it!
See my previous thread on how to break in the slide/frame. Yes, the spring is a little tough to put in. A couple of my friends can't compress the spring at all due to age or weak hands. This is how I easily broke the recoils spring in! Take the spring and rod assembly and the slide. Use a table or wall and put the spring on the wall or table and the slide end to end with the spring outside of the slide. This takes a little bit of coordination, lol. Oil the spring/guide rod and start moving the slide up and down compressing the guide rod spring. If you're a 16 year old boy this will be second nature, lol. Get this going for 15-20 minutes and the spring will be broken in and you will feel very awkward doing this and if someone is watching you then you'll definitely feel awkward, lol. Dry off the excess oil off the assembly and congratulations you've now broken in the guiderod assembly. Now go shoot it!
Recoil spring on my Bodyguard 2.0 is super heavy. Called S&W Customer Service and the young lady was very helpful. I have heard there is an updated spring for the gun, so I figured I'd give them a call. Lady said she wasn't aware of an upgraded RSA, but she would have a new RSA sent out to me. Called about 10 days ago and received the new RSA today. Haven't had a chance to try it out yet. Hoping it's a bit lighter than the original.
Galloway Precision has a replacement RSA on their web site but has not been in stock for weeks. I am willing to try that when it becomes available. Stainless Steel Guide Rod Assembly for Smith & Wesson Bodyguard 2.0 Pistols
agksimon
Member
I got one, OEM strength and it works great, as did my original, which I now keep for a spare.
geeollie
Member
In competition semi auto firearms people have been changing slide recoil spring weights based on the various ammo they shoot. With 9mm and 45 acp ammo you can get a fairly wide range of power levels. And there is competition based on this power range... power factor. Finding a spring that is plus or minus spring power to suit your need is beneficial because it is suited to your specific ammunition. If you change ammo, you may need to change the spring weight.
In the realm of 380 there is not a lot of variation in the power of much to most of the ammo available. S&W found a spring that works in the Bodyguard 2.0 with most of the common ammunition available. It is strong but it works. When Galloway developed after market springs they had minus, standard and plus power available. They quickly dropped the minus power. Reports on this forum spoke of the minus power not working well. The standard (factory) power seems to work well. I do not recall reading of the plus power being used. Anyway, even though the standard factory weight spring is difficult, it is probably the most reliable if you want your BG 2.0 to work with factory ammo. This is especially true for self defense use. Mine has been 100 % with both the Galloway std. and the S&W factory spring.
In the realm of 380 there is not a lot of variation in the power of much to most of the ammo available. S&W found a spring that works in the Bodyguard 2.0 with most of the common ammunition available. It is strong but it works. When Galloway developed after market springs they had minus, standard and plus power available. They quickly dropped the minus power. Reports on this forum spoke of the minus power not working well. The standard (factory) power seems to work well. I do not recall reading of the plus power being used. Anyway, even though the standard factory weight spring is difficult, it is probably the most reliable if you want your BG 2.0 to work with factory ammo. This is especially true for self defense use. Mine has been 100 % with both the Galloway std. and the S&W factory spring.
Last edited:
2.0 recoil springs
I bought three BG 2.0s. With each of the three, the recoil spring is difficult to get back into place. I found that placing the front of the spring into the slide and placing the rear on the lug area, while slowly turning the assembly and applying a moderate pressure to depress the spring in, allows the spring to seat into the right position. It takes some patience to get it to go in, but there is one sweet spot that allows it to move into position. Hopefully S&W can make a design change to allow for a more normal seating of the spring. On a side note, I bought three Galloway Precision recoil spring assemblies, and all three cause each of my three guns to malfunction. I get a dead trigger with each Galloway Precision spring in each of the three guns. I'm only using the factory springs, and have a minimum of 1000 rounds fired in each gun, with zero malfunctions aside from the Galloway Precision experiment.
I bought three BG 2.0s. With each of the three, the recoil spring is difficult to get back into place. I found that placing the front of the spring into the slide and placing the rear on the lug area, while slowly turning the assembly and applying a moderate pressure to depress the spring in, allows the spring to seat into the right position. It takes some patience to get it to go in, but there is one sweet spot that allows it to move into position. Hopefully S&W can make a design change to allow for a more normal seating of the spring. On a side note, I bought three Galloway Precision recoil spring assemblies, and all three cause each of my three guns to malfunction. I get a dead trigger with each Galloway Precision spring in each of the three guns. I'm only using the factory springs, and have a minimum of 1000 rounds fired in each gun, with zero malfunctions aside from the Galloway Precision experiment.
agksimon
Member
Are you using the Galloway OEM strength spring?
Wow... there is not much that is posted about the BG2 and aftermarket upgrades that surprises me anymore.
Unfortunately for me, the Galloway -10% did not allow the slide to go into battery when manually manipulating the slide. I returned it to Galloway.
Last edited:
I had the same issue with the Galloway OEM and also returned it.Wow... there is not much that is posted about the BG2 and aftermarket upgrades that surprises me anymore.
Unfortunately for me, the Galloway -10% did not allow the slide to go into battery when manually manipulating the slide. I returned it to Galloway.
S&W sent a new spring, after two range visits it started to do the same thing. I am now looking for a third party spring assembly. Galloway Precision has one on their website but it is NEVER in stock.
If you look in the comments or Q&A section under the listing they're waiting on spring stock.
I plan to purchase that and the Red Dot dove tail adapter just to have both on hand if the urge ever hits to play around with it. The stock spring so far for me is fine and no issues with the pistol. Don't think I'll ever put a red dot on it BUT don't want to later on and not have the option to play around with it.
Similar threads
