5Wire
Member
Mine is trustworthy. Allow the trigger to reset. The BG48 good entry level gun for lower than usual bux.
BodyGuard 38
- Thread starter Newbomb
- Start date
Have the wife shoot it , if she likes it then that's the gun for her. Disregard all the opinions here . dec . issue of american handgunner . forum fantasy by end strange. Great article . utube video on BG 38 also xclent . as master Jeff cooper said . the best gun is the gun you want to handle Dailey. Hundred thousand sold less than 1 percent unsatisfied. Probably same people who downgraded glock
From GUN-TEST MAG.
S&W Bodyguard No. 103038 38 Special +P, $509
This revolver is built on a "small" frame, not a J-frame. In fact the frame is plastic, the barrel and upper frame are aluminum, and thus this gun bears none of the characteristics that made the J-Frame Chief's Special world famous.
Actually, that about says it all for us. We did not like the lockup, did not like the tiny "star" that doubled as the lockup, did not like the spitting out the rear end of the cylinder (not the front, we didn't get near that end) from gas blowby, did not like the fact that shots from the gun hit 7 inches high with both loads, and did not like that you could not do anything about any of that. The cylinder was steel, as was the barrel insert. But the barrel housing was integral with the forward part of the aluminum frame. While there's nothing wrong with that, it's not what you expect from S&W. Nor do you
The star at the center of the Bodyguard revolver's recoil shield forms almost the entire lockup for the cylinder. There's the usual bolt that fits into the cylinder slots, but no lockup on the front end of the cylinder. That's the front of the laser housing at the top left, arrow. The lasers on both guns were mighty bright, but useless in bright sunlight, our testers said.
expect a plastic frame on a Smith revolver, never mind that it's reinforced with steel. As mentioned, the lockup was not very tight, which may have contributed to the spitting of gas. We felt this spitting severely on our supporting-hand's thumb no matter where we put it. While it was not a safety issue per se, some of us like to support the gun with the weak hand, and that's not the best idea with this revolver. The instruction manual even warned against getting near the front end of the cylinder.
One thing we did like was the lengthy ejector stroke. Unlike the classic small Smiths, this little gun had an ejector that shoved the spent cases nearly an inch out of the cylinder. The ejector rod was also well protected with a shroud at the front, under the barrel. The sight picture was too tight for us, and we wanted more front-sight height to get the bullets down nearer the target. The front sight is indeed pinned in, so a taller sight might be an option from Smith.
The cylinder latch left us quite cold, too. It was a plastic piece on top of the rear of the frame, just below the rear sight. To open the gun, push it forward. This draws the star, in its entirety, back into the frame which permits the cylinder to swing out. The cylinder had no other lock and was not all that tightly secured when the gun was in the just-fired mode. In our limited testing, we didn't notice any spitting at the front cylinder gap, but we wonder how long that lockup at the back will last. Maybe forever, but we have our doubts.
The grip was, for us, excellent. The gun felt very good in the hand. We doubt if alternate grips are available for this gun because they would defeat its easy concealability, which must be one of its major selling points. We found the gun to be very comfortable to the firing hand from recoil, though as noted we got some gas pains on our left hand.
On the range we had trouble hitting the paper at first, but then we discovered the gun was shooting high and, for one of our test crew, far left. Knuckling down, we found the windage to be okay, but the hits were a good 7 inches too high at 15 yards with both weights of test ammo. A change of front sight would fix that, but it ought not to be necessary.
Our Team Said: We were not too happy with this revolver, though it did what it was supposed to.
S&W Bodyguard No. 103038 38 Special +P, $509
This revolver is built on a "small" frame, not a J-frame. In fact the frame is plastic, the barrel and upper frame are aluminum, and thus this gun bears none of the characteristics that made the J-Frame Chief's Special world famous.
Actually, that about says it all for us. We did not like the lockup, did not like the tiny "star" that doubled as the lockup, did not like the spitting out the rear end of the cylinder (not the front, we didn't get near that end) from gas blowby, did not like the fact that shots from the gun hit 7 inches high with both loads, and did not like that you could not do anything about any of that. The cylinder was steel, as was the barrel insert. But the barrel housing was integral with the forward part of the aluminum frame. While there's nothing wrong with that, it's not what you expect from S&W. Nor do you
The star at the center of the Bodyguard revolver's recoil shield forms almost the entire lockup for the cylinder. There's the usual bolt that fits into the cylinder slots, but no lockup on the front end of the cylinder. That's the front of the laser housing at the top left, arrow. The lasers on both guns were mighty bright, but useless in bright sunlight, our testers said.
expect a plastic frame on a Smith revolver, never mind that it's reinforced with steel. As mentioned, the lockup was not very tight, which may have contributed to the spitting of gas. We felt this spitting severely on our supporting-hand's thumb no matter where we put it. While it was not a safety issue per se, some of us like to support the gun with the weak hand, and that's not the best idea with this revolver. The instruction manual even warned against getting near the front end of the cylinder.
One thing we did like was the lengthy ejector stroke. Unlike the classic small Smiths, this little gun had an ejector that shoved the spent cases nearly an inch out of the cylinder. The ejector rod was also well protected with a shroud at the front, under the barrel. The sight picture was too tight for us, and we wanted more front-sight height to get the bullets down nearer the target. The front sight is indeed pinned in, so a taller sight might be an option from Smith.
The cylinder latch left us quite cold, too. It was a plastic piece on top of the rear of the frame, just below the rear sight. To open the gun, push it forward. This draws the star, in its entirety, back into the frame which permits the cylinder to swing out. The cylinder had no other lock and was not all that tightly secured when the gun was in the just-fired mode. In our limited testing, we didn't notice any spitting at the front cylinder gap, but we wonder how long that lockup at the back will last. Maybe forever, but we have our doubts.
The grip was, for us, excellent. The gun felt very good in the hand. We doubt if alternate grips are available for this gun because they would defeat its easy concealability, which must be one of its major selling points. We found the gun to be very comfortable to the firing hand from recoil, though as noted we got some gas pains on our left hand.
On the range we had trouble hitting the paper at first, but then we discovered the gun was shooting high and, for one of our test crew, far left. Knuckling down, we found the windage to be okay, but the hits were a good 7 inches too high at 15 yards with both weights of test ammo. A change of front sight would fix that, but it ought not to be necessary.
Our Team Said: We were not too happy with this revolver, though it did what it was supposed to.
Last edited:
5Wire
Member
^^^^^^^^^^^^
Just didn't look in the right places
Just didn't look in the right places
TrailRated
Member
- Joined
- Jan 5, 2011
- Messages
- 14
- Reaction score
- 2
My wife has had her Bodyguard38 for two years and she loves it. Fits her hand very well and she is accurate at 10yds. No issues and would not hesitate to buy again. Over 500 rds through it to date, in fact we just went target shooting again yesterday.
bobf
US Veteran
A family friend in her 80s could no longer operate her Kel-Tec and asked for help finding one she could use. After trying everything we could get our hands on she chose the BG38. It was easy for her to operate and she shoots it very well. No malfunctions at all.
HKB
US Veteran
I have a 649 in stainless and find the recoil a little much with light .38 Special handloads. Last time I went to the range with it I fired 135 rounds.... it was a bit of a work out... so I can't imagine what an aluminum frame is like. Don't get me wrong... they are good pistols but I prefer a heavier frame in a two inch belly gun. Has your wife fired one? I would rent one and let her fire a box of ammo... then hear what she has to say.
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