Bodyguard 380...Love it or List it?

[OldEagleEars]

On the subjects of sights and trigger pull I have some observations. I took an advanced concealed-carry techniques class last year taught by a couple of LEO's who had gone through Gunsight. In the practical drills we fired at targets placed at likely gunfight ranges of one to four meters with some multiple targets and hostage sets tossed in. In most of the scenarios we fired double-tap torso plus one to head or groin. I was using my BG 380 since it is my usual carry piece, the other students had everything from an LC9 to a Glock 23. We went through over 200 rounds in an hour with multiple mag swaps (especially since the Bodyguard had the smallest capacity in the class, I did a lot of reloading). At those ranges sights are immaterial except for the front sight! You are shooting on instinctive aiming using your peripheral vision and the only thing you have time to pay attention to is your front sight so it needs to be visible which it isn't out of the box! New Hi-Viz or some other sight is needed or put a dot or something on the stocker. I did mine with white reflective mylar tape from an auto parts store. Cheap, easy and I have enough left over to do every pistol in the Big Red One. I also found that the long trigger pull is really not noticeable when you are in a combat mindset (which training should be). If you are concentrating on getting rounds on target as fast and effectively as possible that trigger pull is irrelevant to your mission. Now I agree that it serves as a safety mechanism against unintended discharge and that is a very real advantage as far as I can see. I carry a full magazine and a Barney round in the tube with the slide safety on until I sense that I am in a possibly threatening environment (if your head isn't in your cellphone you should be able to recognize when that happens). If I suspect possible problems I can click off the safety and be ready to present and fire if necessary without delay, or simply eliminate the threat with a simple presentation. The hammer may be back but the BG stacks nicely and you can de-escalate easily. The laser is nice to have but I found that during the speed drills I never had time to either turn it on or miss it. Probably would have a nice psychological effect that might defuse things though.
Oh yes, I've added a Pachmayr grip sleeve that gives me just a little more ease in controlling the gun. It's a bear to put on but worth it.
I have nothing but good things to say about my Bodyguard 380, it is the perfect pocket pistol for my needs.

 

[Billyc525]

Hi Mr. Philpott,

That's a dang good pocket holster there. I have a Nemesis and love it but have been looking at this sticky little bugger too. They are very comfortable to wear and you sometimes forget you're carrying. I've taken all my pockets and anchored them to the outside pant so the pocket stays put too.

How do you anchor your pockets?

 

[3dots]

How do you anchor your pockets?

See post #16...

 

[3dots]

Thanks for the posts to this thread, fellas. It seems that the Bodyguard has more lovers than listers so far. My boss picked up another one yesterday, now he and his wife both have one. It's hot off the press and has the MIM barrel as does his first. The pistol now comes with the larger laser retaining screw and 2 different allen wrenches.

The documentation and molded indicator on the pistol is still not corrected for the ~160° swing of the take down lever . This needs to be addressed by S&W! People are damaging their pins and spring and marring the finish around it by prying the pin out.

 

[3dots]

My wife's BG380 laser wont adjust to POA...anyone know of a fix for it?

Hi Pops,

I would back the screw out and dab some blue Loctite on it and screw it back in. Need to see if the windage and elevation adjustments are responding. You can steady the gun lightly in a vise and just turn the screws to see if they're functioning. I guess if one were backed out too far, it may have lost its grip (thread).

First time to the range, mine was dead on out of the box but after about 3 mags, something moved. I did the above and got it sighted and it's been on the dot ever since, actually, really on the dot for such a short barrel. I think the laser's fun and has uses but not in a critical situation.

 

[Harry58]

450 rounds through mine without any issues. It has been 100% reliable. Great sights & accurate enough for a gun of this size. After reading the above, I'm going to check the laser screws. Happy camper, not selling.

 

[Lickureye]

When the Bodyguards first came out, I hated the trigger pull. So I bought a Taraus. I got bored with that because I found a Kimber Solo, so I traded. I like my Kimber, but as small as it is, sometimes it feels heavy. So I saw a new Bodyguard a few months ago and tried the trigger (yeah, I dry fired it). They have worked the trigger since the first gen units. I like mine. It's small and lightweight, comfortable trigger and carries nice in my pocket. But if I need to make a big statement, I still have my M&P .45.

 

[pisacksen]

My wife loves the form factor of the BG; however hates the trigger (pull and length). The unit has about 100 rounds fired. Does the trigger get better with use and would the Galloway Precision solve anything? As a note, she has arthritis in her trigger finger and this might be causing challenges. Comments?

 

[Boris B]

pisacksen,

I would have to say yes the trigger can get better with use. That does seem to be the feeling among many BG owners.
From the time I bought the BG until I shipped it back to S&W to replace the firing pin I felt the trigger improved considerably.

HOWEVER be aware that many that dry fire the BG report broken firing pins, even when using snap caps.. Yet S&W says you can dry fire their pistols.
Humm..

A few well placed drops of a good gun oil can help as well imo.

2 small drops where the hammer pivots on it's pin when looking at the hammer from behind it, look down into the back end where the hammer is and you will see what I am talking about.
And lightly oil the main spring, remove magazine and look into the mag well and you will see the long spring along the back.
Lightly oil, I would lightly oil the top portion of the spring primarily.
This has been reported on various gun forms to help.

Will the Galloway mod help? We don't know yet but I am betting it will.

 

[K31Swiss]

Second issue is the slide is starting to not lock open after the last round. This just started to happen and I need more time to evaluate this.

Take a look at the little ledge on the left front of the magazine follower. It pushes up on the slide lock when the mag is empty. Mine wore down or chipped. Then the slight slop in the follower after the recoil of last shot releases the lift on the slide lock. It works okay when you insert the mag empty.

S&W needs better plastic, tighter tolerances on the sheet metal mag, or slightly longer slide lock inside the magazine well.

 

[RV4driver]

Update, BG back from Smith

My new BG380 has returned from it's first trip back home. They replaced the firing pin, and the firing pin block plunger.
Result? Still won't set off most RWS ammo, just like before I sent it in. (Repeated hits will set it off in 2 to 3 trys).
Also, it still sets off every one of the Fiocchi rounds. I didn't take any Blazer ammo, darn it! They were neck and neck with the RWS before I sent it in, about half took 3 hits to go off.
So, the new parts didn't help at all. Now, I know that some primers are harder than others. That's fine, except that as we all know, you can't be picky these days as to which ammo you can use!!! That, and guess what I scored a thousand rounds of just before the ammo debacle? RWS.
As far as accuracy, at 20 feet, black sights against black target, 2 to 2.5" groups were no problem. I don't think that is bad for a pocket gun. I'm sure the groups would shrink if I'd remember to bring lighter targets for black sighted guns! The trigger on my gun is fine. A hundred times better than my wife's LCP!
In summary, if I could get a stronger hammer spring, I'd be perfectly happy with the gun. I haven't even turned on the laser yet.

 

[Ransom]

Result? Still won't set off most RWS ammo, just like before I sent it in. (Repeated hits will set it off in 2 to 3 trys). Also, it still sets off every one of the Fiocchi rounds.

Does it shoot your defensive ammo reliably? That's where it counts the most. Bummer that you scored so much RWS and it's not working well with your BG.

 

[wolverine]

My new BG380 has returned from it's first trip back home. They replaced the firing pin, and the firing pin block plunger.
Result? Still won't set off most RWS ammo, just like before I sent it in. (Repeated hits will set it off in 2 to 3 trys).
Also, it still sets off every one of the Fiocchi rounds. I didn't take any Blazer ammo, darn it! They were neck and neck with the RWS before I sent it in, about half took 3 hits to go off.
So, the new parts didn't help at all. Now, I know that some primers are harder than others. -----Clip

Evening RV4driver

Good luck with getting Smith to repair your repeated trigger pulls to get the darn thing to fire every time.

Mine has been back to Smith a few times & it STILL doesn't fire all rounds in a mag. Sometimes it will run a couple of mags without misfiring then it will misfire one or two per mag. Very light almost non existent primer hits & Smith just sends it back to me that way.

I don't buy into the cool-aid drinkers that say find some ammo it will shoot. If the ammo I am shooting works ALL the time in my LCP & crappy Bursa then it darn well better work in my BG 380.

Put me on the list-it-for-sale list. A 380 that won't go bang when you pull the trigger is nothing I want to carry or depend on.


Problem is, I can't in good faith sell it until Smith gets it working & so far they haven't been able to.

 

[RV4driver]

It's the ammo!

Disappointed with S&W's answers to our concerns about misfires, specifically light primer strikes, I've investigated possible reasons on my own. I've found that Fiocchi always fires. First time, every time. RWS is the worst in my gun. About half don't fire the first strike, always fires after 3 but mostly 3 strikes. PMC Gold was about on par with RWS.

So, I took my gun apart, and put an empty case in the slide, held in place by the chamber in battery. Surprisingly, there was quite a space between the rear of the case and the "bolt" face, for want of a better word. So, headspace issue. Now, I have some various spent cases around, so I measured them. This is where it gets interesting. As I said, Fiocchi is flawless. Those cases were closest to the .380acp spec of .680". Remember that number. .680".
Fiocchi cases were from a longest of .678 and shortest was .677. avg. .677.3
Winchester was next best at longest .676, shortest .670, avg. 673.3
Blaser longest .673 shortest .671, avg. 672.2
Then PMC longest .674, shortest .671 avg. 671.8
I only had 3 S&B cases, but they were .675, .673 and .672
Now for the RWS, and an glaring example of drifting too far from the optimum spec....
Longest .671, shortest .666, avg of 668.7. Surely a case length of .666 is the mark of the devil.

So, if Smith&Wesson properly reamed the chamber, which I suspect they did, and given a certain length of firing pin protrusion, the ammo has to do it's job, and headspace within a reasonable range.

Since all this ammo works just fine in my wife's LCP, and my PK380, I must assume that perhaps the firing pin protrusion should be a tad bit more in the BG380. A stronger hammer spring, heavier firing pin or lighter firing pin spring might help, but not if the protrusion isn't sufficient.

I'd like to hear your thoughts, and if you have some ammo that seems to work better than others, measure the cases and let us know what you come up with.

 

[3dots]

Excellent post, RV, I think you nailed it!

 

[wolverine]

Morning RV4driver


First off, my BG 380 is back AGAIN to Smith for repair so I have no way of testing at the moment.

I do have all the cases from my last shooting session & fortunately I did mark the cases on the ones that did not fire on first trigger pull.

Those cases range from as long as .6758" to as short as .6665" (about 75 total but not all through my BG 380)

On the ones that didn't fire fist trigger pull one was a short one at .667", another was a .673.5" but most ran in the .672"-.674" range. As far as I have marked, all the .6665 went off first try. ALL the BG 380 primers show a very very light indent, even the longer cased ones (way lighter than on my Bersa or LCP).

The thing is, all the same ammo fired flawlessly in both my LCP & Bursa.

As I mentioned in a post above, IF I have to sort through my ammo or go searching for SPECIAL ammo that is needed to make my BG 380 work then that sure isn't a gun I can rely on for every day carry. The BG 380 surly isn't a range gun or plinking gun so unless it shoots everything put in it, it is useless to me as a pocket carry gun.

With the light primer hits it very well might be a short firing pin, or a lighter than nominal main spring, or possibly hammer drag -(I can see the hammer leaning just a little with some asymmetrical wear on the R/H side. Or maybe a stack up of all the mentioned.

To me it's not so much that the gun won't go bang on every trigger pull (I have owned others that weren't right out of the box--it happens) it's more in how Smith has addressed the issue. This gun has been back to Smith way too many times without returned-to-me-working-correctly. On all the other brands that I have had issues with one trip back was all it took to get a properly operating firearm.

The laser on the thing is no better as I'm on my 3rd one of those also.

 

[TheMystro]

I have to say i have been looking for the perfect pocket pistol for a long time. The Bodyguard look awesome with its first release but I waited for S&W to work the bugs out and wasn't in any particular hurry. Two years later and the BG380 was still the standout in its class of guns. I picked up one today and put 150 rounds through it. Ammo choices were slim these days but I did find some PMC and Sellier Bellot. Both were extremely accurate, I mean tack drivers! The Sellier Bellot had some issue with tough primers. I had a few FTF that required another hit to set them off. PMC were flawless. I am a experienced tactical handguner and handgun hunter so the heavy DAO trigger was no issue to get outstanding accuracy. It is heavy but breaks crisp. A DAO is what I want in a pocket gun. Its just added insurance. The safety is also a nice option when the gun is loose in a pocket. The DAO trigger doesn't need to have the safety engaged for normal safe carry but I like the option. I did have to fine tune the laser for pinpoint accuracy but I was pleased with both the iron sights and laser accuracy. I get why S&W is using these sights, a tritium front sight would snag on your pocket. Painting the front sight is what we always did pre tritium sight days and I don't see it being any different with the BG380.
With very little effort, I could get accuracy bettering some full size service sidearms. The one target, I just used the iron sights and the other i just used the laser as I was tweaking it for accuracy.

I was able to put 6 shots in the size of a quarter at 10 yards when the laser was sighted in.

I found a perfect fitting pocket holster.

This will make a perfect hot weather pistol or just when I don't want to carry one of my bigger sidearms. There is no reason with this accuracy, the Bodyguard 380 couldn't be your only or main CCW especially with the high performance ammo now in 380acp. My LGS let's me try about anything they have and I really didn't find any of the other pocket guns to be in the same league as the BD380. I live in the mountains so this little gem will ride along with me as a light weight trail gun on ATV rides or scouting deer. Now to locate some high quality defence rounds like Golddots or PDX1.....

 

[wolverine]

Morning TheMystro

What am I missing here? You say some "Fail To Fires" & call it the perfect pocket pistol.

Your idea of a perfect pocket pistol is a bit different than mine. For me they have to go bang every time I pull the trigger not the 2nd or 3d try.

 

[TheMystro]

That particular brand of ammo is known to have hard primers causing some gun manufactures to need a double strike. It is documented alot. Its not the guns fault. All the major protection and USA plinking rounds work 100% from my research. I would have avoided that particular brand of ammo but I couldnt be that choosy with my plinking ammo in todays ammo shortage. I was lucky my LGS had any 380acp ammo. Finding ANY 380acp is about as rare as 9mm.


My primer strikes are very good. There is no issue with my firing pin or spring strength.
If my primers were not stuck this good, I would take out the firing pin, inspect,clean and most times its just factory gunk in the firing pin channel slowing it down just enough.


.

Morning TheMystro

What am I missing here? You say some "Fail To Fires" & call it the perfect pocket pistol.

Your idea of a perfect pocket pistol is a bit different than mine. For me they have to go bang every time I pull the trigger not the 2nd or 3d try.

 

[3dots]

Morning TheMystro

What am I missing here? You say some "Fail To Fires" & call it the perfect pocket pistol.

Your idea of a perfect pocket pistol is a bit different than mine. For me they have to go bang every time I pull the trigger not the 2nd or 3d try.

If you feed this pistol European garbage, you're going to have issues. 99.9% of these pistols have zero mechanical problems and will eat any mainstream, American made ammo you put through it. I've shot over 700 rnds of American Eagle, CCI Independence, WWB, Hornady and HPR without one single failure. There are some **** guns out there, no doubt, and they should be repaired and or replaced.