Range Report New Bodyguard

[Magload]

Took the new BG to the range today. I picked it up yesterday but needed to clean it. Set up the Labradar as I had loaded test loads. First fired the Hornady critical Defense 90gr FTX which I am planning on carrying for SD. The box states 1000 fps but not how long the barrel is they used. Here is what I got

Critical Defence 90gr HV 939 LV 875 AV 900 ES 82 SD 21
My reloads 100gr RNFP
X Treme Plated CFE P 3.3gr 688 627 656 61 19
3.6gr 414 408 410 6 4
3.8gr 780 711 751 70 21
4.0gr 859 801 825 58 21

As you can see there was something going on with the 3.6gr rounds. They didn't sound right and I checked the barrel after each one. Only shot 3 of them and pulled bullets on 3 when I got home. All were 3.6gr. Will shoot the last 12 next time. Don't know whats going on.

Now the gun its self.
Shot good out to 10yds at 3 and 5 it was deadly. It did try to eat the web between my thumb and index finger as I normally grip as high as I can on a pistol. Suspect the rear bottom corners of the slide was getting me. I could dehorn those but I will see later. I only got 50 rounds through it.
Some of my rounds hung up on the feed ramp but the Hornady fed fine.
Had mag problems. But 5 rounds in and the follower stuck down several times. First round loaded the rest fell out when I removed the mag. Had to smack the mag to get the follower to pop back up. S&W mags from Brownell's I will take them apart and have a look.
I like the gun alright the long pull is fine the trigger is a little gritty but it's new.

 

[Magload]

Follow up.
I reduced the COL from 0.980 to 0.975 and the mags work perfect. I got the 0.980 Hodgdon's site but it was for a 100gr FMJ. Hornady manual also calls for 0.980 so maybe that mag is a little out of tolerance. The Critical Defense are also 0.975 so that is what I am going with.

 

[Ballistic147]

The Bodyguard is a great little gun. I'm not real fond of the trigger (my Taurus TCP has a much better trigger) but the BG is still very accurate. I would imagine in a true SD situation you would never notice it anyway.

My 380 handloads consist of an Everglades Ammo 95gr FMJ on top of 3gr of W231 set to a .970 COL. My Taurus is very ammo picky but eats those without issue. My wife's BG has had no problems with them either but it's also eaten a lot of factory stuff that seemed to choke my TCP.

In my experience, the smaller the gun the more picky they may tend to be. Never payed much attention to the mags but never had any trouble either. I do know that different ogives on the bullet can cause weird stuff to happen. Sometimes that flat point can cause problems too. My Taurus has had feed problems with every flat point FMJ I've tried in it. Sounds like you're heading in the right direction.

 

[Magload]

The Bodyguard is a great little gun. I'm not real fond of the trigger (my Taurus TCP has a much better trigger) but the BG is still very accurate. I would imagine in a true SD situation you would never notice it anyway.

My 380 handloads consist of an Everglades Ammo 95gr FMJ on top of 3gr of W231 set to a .970 COL. My Taurus is very ammo picky but eats those without issue. My wife's BG has had no problems with them either but it's also eaten a lot of factory stuff that seemed to choke my TCP.

In my experience, the smaller the gun the more picky they may tend to be. Never payed much attention to the mags but never had any trouble either. I do know that different ogives on the bullet can cause weird stuff to happen. Sometimes that flat point can cause problems too. My Taurus has had feed problems with every flat point FMJ I've tried in it. Sounds like you're heading in the right direction.

I am not fond of RNFPs either perfer SWC but in these small bullets I had to take what I could get. Will be switching over to 90gr RN when this 500 is down range.