I have several Bodyguards since they were introduced: laser, no laser, manual safety, no manual safety. They all worked 100%. I currently use a no-laser version and have about 600 rounds through it. Not only is it completely reliable, the mechanical accuracy is far better than any Ruger .380 I've shot or seen shot, including the LCP Max. It is no problem keeping 6 rounds into 4" from a rest at 25 yards. I've seen the same accuracy with my other Bodyguards, and other shooters.
You'd be lucky to achieve that half the distance from the LCP Max, assuming you can get it to shoot reliably. The guns are just not consistent. I bought one when first introduced because the package is attractive and it has a nice set of sights. But it went back to Ruger with magazines dropping out, failure to lock back, shotgun-pattern grouping out of a barrel with no crown, a slide finish that rusts if you look at it wrong, and a POI that was 6" low at 50 feet and went down from there.
And I'm not the only one. Do a search of the Ruger boards and you will see that some run fine, many have problems. Recently my LGS got in a distributor exclusive with OD green frame, and upon examining it, it appears Ruger has gotten their act together and fixed some issues: the magazine release is stiffer, the magazines lock back the slide manually, and the barrel is properly crowned. Finish looked somewhat nicer.
So I bought it. Have a little over 100 rounds through it, and it is shooting within 1" of POA out to 50 feet, a big improvement. Mechanical accuracy also is improved, as the gun will group into 3" @ 50 feet. Have had no reliability problem with it. But the trigger is still stinky - lots of neutral take-up, and then a very abrupt break. Finish, while improved, started showing rusting within a week.
In the same timeframe, a client purchased a standard production LCP Max, and while training him with it, he had some lock-back and mag-dropping problems, although there was no POI problem. Accuracy was spotty. As I said, the guns are inconsistent.
Personally, I would not carry the LCP Max in a pocket or IWB appendix. Even though it is hammer fired, it has a low-mass pre-cocked hammer design which verges on SA sear engagement, which is why Ruger has added a trigger blade safety to the design. Same reason I would not carry a striker fired, nor SA-only pistol, in those modes. Bodyguard uses a traditional DA hammer pull and like a DA revolver have no problem with that in a pocket or appendix IWB. To each his own.
In my experience the Bodyguard is the better made pistol, and it's also flatter in the pocket. Many "modern" shooters do not know how to shoot a traditional DA-only hammer fired action, so complain about the trigger. I've shot and carried DA revolvers for 45 years, so I think the Bodyguard is just dandy.
