Bodyguard 2.0 Hollow Point Problem

FWIW my BG2 has been trouble free with the exception that the 10 round mag would not lock open on empty. An e-mail to SW and I received a new mag in 4 days that works perfectly.

I am currently carrying Federal Premium Hydra-Shok Deep for a defensive ammo. No issues feeding after running nearly 100 rounds through the gun. Does not expand as much as a traditional HP from but what I have found it is a good compromise between using a HP that won’t penetrate and expand from a short barrel and just using FMJ.

Thanks for the input. I’ve been compiling a list of EDC ammo that people here and elsewhere have reported works well with the BG2 and I will post it when it is complete. That may help owners avoid problems in the future.
 
I am seeing what looks like some burrs on the feed ramp.
I would really polish it and use a wire bore brush on it to clean it up and then lube it...also would try a different type ammo....

One more thing that I just determined that I don’t think has been mentioned here is that the BG2 has a two piece feed ramp design. One part is on the barrel, and the other part is on the frame. This unique design may cause certain flat nose ammo and hollow point ammo with deep serrations to catch and not feed well. The BG2 definitely works best with ammo that is rounder and smoother.
 
I can't afford to test every brand of self-defense ammunition out there, so I watch all the gel penetration videos available and try the ones that I think will give the best overall effect if the situation arises. I'm carrying my BG2.0 with Federal Hydra-Shok Deep which funtions very well in it. As a matter of fact, I haven't found any ammo that doesn't run perfectly except Underwood Xtreme Defense.
 
One more thing that I just determined that I don’t think has been mentioned here is that the BG2 has a two piece feed ramp design. One part is on the barrel, and the other part is on the frame. This unique design may cause certain flat nose ammo and hollow point ammo with deep serrations to catch and not feed well. The BG2 definitely works best with ammo that is rounder and smoother.
That gap between the two ramps is exactly where the Lehigh Xtreme Defense rounds would hang up. They would nose right into that gap. But after several episodes of polishing (2000 grit sandpaper wrapped on a 3/16" dowel followed by compounding with my Dremel), it's looking like they might just work after all. Not ready to call them reliable quite yet, but I just went through three ten round mags of the Lehigh Xtreme Defender 68gr without a hiccup.
 
This is an apples to oranges comment, but I have the same problem with a Colt Special Combat Government model-----an eight round magazine (.45)----that doesn't like eight rounds. Seven is a magic number, so seven it is!

Ralph Tremaine
 
That gap between the two ramps is exactly where the Lehigh Xtreme Defense rounds would hang up. They would nose right into that gap. But after several episodes of polishing (2000 grit sandpaper wrapped on a 3/16" dowel followed by compounding with my Dremel), it's looking like they might just work after all. Not ready to call them reliable quite yet, but I just went through three ten round mags of the Lehigh Xtreme Defender 68gr without a hiccup.

So in the end it seems it is a combination of the BG2 feed ramp design and the design of certain ammunition that leads to the failures. Smith & Wesson has to know about this flaw. Notwithstanding this issue, the BG2 has received rave reviews. However, a BG3 with a one piece feed ramp would be the ticket. In the meantime Smith should really offer BG2 owners the opportunity to send in their guns in and have them tweaked to address this flaw.

But all the ammo doesn’t get off the hook for poor design. Let’s not forget that there are reports of the Fiocchi .380 ammo hanging up in other guns like the Sig P365.
 
There are a good number of excellent, tested, and well-known defense rounds for the 380 Auto.

The fear or concern of over-penetration is not backed up by any documented proof. A 380 Auto round passing through a body and killing someone behind the exit wound is extremely unlikely.

There are documented cases where there is insufficient penetration in actual defense shootings.

In a wintertime environment where people wear heavy clothing, a FMJ round may be better for sufficient penetration. Based upon two 380 self-defense rounds I prefer right now are the Hornady Critical Defense 90 gr FTX and Federal HST 99 gr JHP.
 

The ONLY ammo that I had any issues with was Fiocchi FMJ 95gr in the red box (older ammo). Had three FTF's, at least two I think were the shooter (limp wrist, riding the slide).

One youtuber had the same issue as well with the Fiocchi, normally it's great stuff but in 380 I avoid it both in FMJ and JHP. Their JHP don't appear to do well for feeding in the BG2.0 and their performance overall isn't great at all.

I've put over 1k rounds through my BG2.0 - PMC, magtech, federal all FMJ's no issues. Speer Gold Dot, Precision One XTP and Federal HST all run through for defensive ammo no issues for me.
 
In anticipation of that, I polished the ramp(s) of my BG 2.0. I have never had a problem with any type of ammo.

I had no issues prior to polishing the feed ramp but did it anyways at one point. Still no issues, though so many complaints I have to say that it's not a fluke. Thankfully for me it's not an issue.
 
I don't think you should be discouraged with this learning curve break-in period. You are going to find a round that not only functions reliably but also hits to point of aim and behaves consistently at long and close range.

One of my favorite YouTube influencers is Stav at "SheEquipsHerself".
Nothing profound there but she and her fine husband have done so much to bring new shooters especially girls into the 2A fold. I found them when researching the Glock 42. So did S&W. That is why they were invited to the factory with other influencers to the launch premier of the BG2.0 last year. Shooting the factory tuned sample it was all wonderful. When they got home with their own copy they started having feeding issues. The husband did a video on it and explained that the problem is with the 2-part feed ramp. We had the same issues with the old Colt 1911 and is the reason some will still only shoot ball ammo.

He showed that he wanted to always use flat point ammo. A lot of people coming from the 40 S&W think that and the people coming from 38 wadcutters think that. Very soon, I expect you will start seeing comments that the 380 is under powered and you should not use hollow points, etc. etc. However, the shoulder of the FP meplat would hit the gap and go awry. I cannot remember if he found a work around.

Polishing should help. Also look at the upper surface of the chamber as the round has to bump/bounce off that to go in fully.

Note: I could not find the video I was talking about on their channel. Sorry.
I did see a lot of Tubes about polishing the internals of that pistol.

Good Luck With This!
BranD

Stav (@sheequipsherself) is the real deal, her husband was the first trainer I had several years ago, and she helped with some of those classes. I think she's a better shot than he is too. LOL He is a great trainer, and I had several classes with him at a range in Holliston, MA.

I recommend her channel to all the ladies I meet that are new to shooting, I'm a guy I don't know women's clothes and they have their own needs. So, I highly recommend her channel.

It seems the feed ramp is an issue on some of the guns, didn't have those issues myself with my BG2.0 pistol.

As for 380 it is sufficient, and you can get expanding ammo that will work just fine as well. Plenty of testing in short barrels that shows good performance.

And it's just so easy to pocket carry, though I do like my Shield Plus better so I just carry BOTH. :)
 
Many years ago I shipped a Kahr 9mm back to their factory because our department issued 9mm Gold Dot would not feed 100%. Kahr returned the gun with a newly machined barrel. They told me that the Gold Dot ogive was different enough that they needed to lengthen the chamber of my gun.

That was something I had never before considered nor would I have been able to detect this. The Bodyguard 2.0??? Who knows. I vote for that above mentioned Bodyguard 3.0!!!

First time I tried to use 124gr Speer GD in my 9EZ is locked right up, would not feed. Ran fine in my G19 so I was a bit surprised. Avoided GD in 9mm ever since and just use Federal HST's.

I do have the Speer GD in 380 and was concerned but had no issues feeding in my 380EZ or BG2.0 pistols. I plan to use that only in my 380EZ as the short barrel performance in testing shows it comes up a bit short of the "magical" 12" mark. LOL
 
That gap between the two ramps is exactly where the Lehigh Xtreme Defense rounds would hang up. They would nose right into that gap. But after several episodes of polishing (2000 grit sandpaper wrapped on a 3/16" dowel followed by compounding with my Dremel), it's looking like they might just work after all. Not ready to call them reliable quite yet, but I just went through three ten round mags of the Lehigh Xtreme Defender 68gr without a hiccup.

As a follow up, Smith & Wesson kindly responded to me very quickly. They say that they will be willing to inspect the gun and evaluate the feeding ramp issue. They also advise that since ball ammo feeds without an issue that putting ball through the gun should make the hollow point feeding issue go away on its own, although they did not say how many rounds should improve feeding. Perhaps this is akin to polishing the ramp. They also added that any gun can have feeding issues with certain brands of ammo so when I identify a brand that works well, I should stick to it. This goes without saying.

So far when it comes to defense ammo I’ve only tried Fiocchi which was a disaster, and Ft. Scott TUI which worked perfectly. I plan to try Hornady next.

We shall see about the issue self correcting by running ball through the gun. I only have 100 rounds through it right now and after two boxes of ball the Fiocchi still catches. I will give it a couple of months, and if things don’t improve I’ll send the gun in to Smith.
 
I had a problem with my first mag with Lehigh below. I don't know if it was because of the ammo being in the first mag but shoots fine now. I did do what I do with my handguns that don't have a polished speed ramp. I polish the speed ramp.

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Good plan.
If you can maybe try a few different brands 90 gr and a few 95 gr ball and even flat nose Winchester. This could perhaps give a better "polish" to the feed ramp than just one size/shape bullet hitting the ramp at the same place and same angle.
 
Good plan.
If you can maybe try a few different brands 90 gr and a few 95 gr ball and even flat nose Winchester. This could perhaps give a better "polish" to the feed ramp than just one size/shape bullet hitting the ramp at the same place and same angle.

I plan to try different brands, but at the end of the day I don’t want to spend too much money on ammo that won’t work. I already have two boxes of Fiocchi .380 that are basically paperweights. I am researching what ammo has worked for others on the BG2, and I will stick to those.
 
Good plan.
If you can maybe try a few different brands 90 gr and a few 95 gr ball and even flat nose Winchester. This could perhaps give a better "polish" to the feed ramp than just one size/shape bullet hitting the ramp at the same place and same angle.

I haven't tried the real flat nose ammo but 100gr Ammo Inco has a bit of a flat front and no problems. No problems with a few brands of hollow points too.
 
I've run over 500 rounds of Fiocchi ball through mine without any failures.

It’s not the ball that fails to feed in mine, it’s the hollow point. Any brand of ammo with a smooth nose feeds well. That’s why I’ve gone to Ft. Scott TUI as EDC for the moment.
 
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