Smit & Wesson Bodyguard .380

[grizzchris]

Good Evening,

I just bought a BG380. When I load six cartridges in the mag it will not lock in place in the gun. Five work great but it's suppose to be 6+1.

Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks for your help

 

[Old cop]

I'd send it back to S&W. Their customer service is good, I used it myself, and they should have it back to you in short order. In my case the turn around was less than 10 days. Good luck & pls. let us know the outcome.

 

[Ransom]

Yep, it's a 6+1 gun. Mine does not have the problem you described. Sorry, I can't offer any suggestions besides send it in to S&W.

 

[Amedeus]

I was going over this issue in my head for several minutes before posting it just doesn't make any sense. Regardless if its 5 or 6 rounds there is still one round on the top, and the only thing that would cause the magazine to not lock in place like this would be if something was between the bolt and round or feed ramp that hits the top of the bullet to keep it from properly seating, but as you state with 5 rounds it works so it can't be something obstructing the magazine.

Are you loading it with the slide forward or locked back? I don't own a BG360 but I did look at one several times and just decided to get a Shield 40 as it is honestly not that much bigger then the BG.

Perhaps it is the magazine, and 6 rounds of whatever type of ammo you are putting in it is blocking the mag catch from inserting into the magazine, but 5 rounds doesn't interfere with the mag catch on the magazine? That is the only thing I can think of that would be causing this malfunction in the way you described it.

 

[S-W9mm]

I purchased a used Beretta and had a similar problem. When I disassembled the magazine I found the spring was installed backwards. Once I reassembled with the spring installed correctly everything functioned as it should.

 

[MarineAir]

I had the same problem with one of the two spare mags I bought for my BG380. I swapped out each component of the mag with a known good mag and discovered the spring was the culpert. When I compared springs side by side, the bad one had an additional bend at each end as if it was cut and not bent back parallel to the last bend where it lies flat to the follower. I carefully bent the end of the spring back on both ends of the spring using duck bill pliers with no teeth (do not nick the spring using pliers with teeth). I reassembled the mag and it worked OK. With six rounds in the mag you should still have about 1/4 inch of play before the follower bottoms out on the spring. It's this play that allows the mag to lock in place with six rounds on board. Hope this helps.

 

[H Richard]

The last wop posters have identified your problem. I was cleaning 1911 magazines one day and got a spring installed backwards, and had the same problem. Disassemble the good mag. and see how the spring sits, then do the bad one and correct it.

 

[GKC]

I was going to suggest something different before reading the posts that followed yours. You should definitely check your spring installation as they suggested. If all appears to be correct, though, you might try loading your magazines to full capacity and letting them sit for a week or so.

I have found with a number of new pistols that when brand new, the magazines are difficult to load to full capacity and difficult to insert in the pistol when fully loaded. After being loaded for a while, though, the springs relax sufficiently to make loading and inserting easier.

If that doesn't work, then by all means contact S&W.

 

[timn8er]

Got to go with GKC on that problem. When I first got my M&P40C I had the same problem. I found that filling the mags with as much as I could
get in them & then allowing them to sit for a few days reduced the tension in the mag spring enough to be able to load to full capacity.

 

[poppydeeowens]

The spring is in backwards. Reverse the spring and it will correct the problem

 

[djattack]

Ditto on GKC. Had the same problem with my Shield when new. The only way to get a full magazine in was to load it with the slide back. It got a lot easier the more rounds I put through it.