Smith & Wesson bodyguard. 380

Owned one.
Fired one many times, and two akimbo at the same time!
Great for concealed carry but not very fun to put over 400 rounds through at the range. Trigger in retrospect is a pain in the rear.
 
Damn this went more than 1 post without.... slackers😁
 

Attachments

  • 25DF475B-D52E-4B0B-883A-BAFB9C2BB892.jpeg
    25DF475B-D52E-4B0B-883A-BAFB9C2BB892.jpeg
    43 KB · Views: 11
Have carry on occasion. As said trigger is ruff. I am going to so a Santiago trigger with adjustable break sooner or later
 
I owned one so did my wife.. we both sold them. Trigger sucks. Ammo picky they just don’t eat everything like a good EDC should. Mine hated all hollow points. They are cheap for a reason save your pennies buy a sig 365 it’s not much bigger but a helluva lot more gun
 
I have one, with laser. It's ok, good little pocket gun I guess. Like mentioned, trigger isn't great. Thought about selling it, but I hate selling guns so it sits in the safe. Guess if I need to carry something really small it's available :)

I imagine you will not get any ringing endorsements on this one LOL
 
First time I shot one I thought it was a piece of shit, laughed at anyone who bought one. Was below buying a .40 cal. The trigger sucks - it’s a DAO. DAO triggers are not 1911 triggers, or Glock triggers <gasp>.

My office manager was fretting about carrying a cocked and locked SigP238 in a belly band AIWB while running so I borrowed a friend’s bodyguard- which is a perfect garbage gun for that application, and we spent shooting, It didn‘t suck as bad as I remembered, its tiny as f*** and safe as f***. So I bought her a used one for $200 for xmas. She loves it and carries it daily, she rarely carried the 238 before and as much as she loves the way the 238 shoots, she hasn’t taken it out of the safe since.

The best carry gun is... the one you’ll carry. The BG a great “get off me” gun. You won’t win any competitions with it, you won’t shoot tight groups at ten yards with it, you won’t stop a terrorist attack w it.

Then I was looking for a gun to take cycling, again a small cheap beater. Something I don't mind sweating on. I love my P365 for EDC but didn’t want to gunk that up, and it wasn‘t as easy to conceal in my spandex greatness... so I got another BG used for 200 and use it just for cycling.

It is what it is, and for what it is, it’s fine.
 
Like everyone says. It is what it is. Small gun goes bang trigger sucks. I've never had any issue with ammo, It has cycled everything I ran through it. It is my EDC. No holster I use a techna clip. Think I'm going to eventually end up switching it out for A Springfield 911.
 
I owned one so did my wife.. we both sold them. Trigger sucks. Ammo picky they just don’t eat everything like a good EDC should. Mine hated all hollow points. They are cheap for a reason save your pennies buy a sig 365 it’s not much bigger but a helluva lot more gun
Hell yea to the 365, have owned the bodyguard in both the revolver and semi.

Sold the semi for a rugar mk III
 
I’d say if you can find one in MA at a decent price, the Ruger LCP II is a much better pistol all around at the same size and generally (in a free state) the same cost. Much better trigger as well. I’ve had mine for about 3 years now and it’s been a great little pocket gun with no issues.
 
I purchased a bodyguard .380 back in 2014 as my first carry gun. Biggest perk is that it easy to carry and it‘s the gun you will take with you. While yes it has the heavy DOA trigger, in my opinion it is a feature because with a simple pocket holster, you can carry with a round chambered, safety off, and be good to go. I feel that the DOA trigger receives a little too much hate. After hundreds of rounds/dry-fires it does smooth out. Yes it is heavy but with good trigger control you can get decent groups. I was also be to use the built in laser to practice trigger control. This had the side benefit of helping me get better with the triggers on other handguns. Final benefit is you do have second strike capability in case you have a bad primer.

That being said, I do not think it’s the best gun for a beginner. A friend of mine purchased it back in 2018 as her first carry gun. Very anecdotal evidence, but we we both but put ~200 rounds through her new gun. About every other mag for her, the last round would FTF. I could not replicate this. The only thing I could think of was limp-wristing, but I am not sure. I got her mag guts +1 extensions for Xmas though and the problem seemed to go away. It is her EDC still. One major complaint was that one of the frame pins started to walk on her after a few hundred rounds, shame on S&W, but a punch and some blue loctite fixed that. Has’t walked in hundreds of rounds.

I ended up purchasing a 2nd bodyguard, I installed one of those clips into the frame so I can go running with it. I do not run with that one chamered though. Though it would probably be perfectly safe with the heavy trigger, the lack of trigger cover stops me from doing that. My running one seems more Pickier with ammo then my first one. My 2014 one only gave me issues with steel case stuff, the running one did tend to have occasional lite-strikes on Winchester white box But was fine with typical carry ammo. I’m going to upgrade the hammer spring in the near future so that will hopefully eliminate that problem.
 
I owned one so did my wife.. we both sold them. Trigger sucks. Ammo picky they just don’t eat everything like a good EDC should. Mine hated all hollow points. They are cheap for a reason save your pennies buy a sig 365 it’s not much bigger but a helluva lot more gun

I have two 356s (so I can carry the spare the next day if I don’t have time to clean right away after a range trip). It‘s my EDC and I LOVE it. If anyone asks me what carry gun to get, it’s 365 hands down. But it’s no way as small or concealable as a BG. If I had to pick/recommend one it would be the 365, no question. But for a cheap, tiny beater get off me gun, they‘re not comparable at all.
 
Someone gave me a new one several years ago. I shot it and hated it. Sold it immediately. I've owned lots of guns, I know what I like, I didn't like the BG. Fast forward to January 2020, something got me spooked and feeling like I should be carrying all the time. Normally when I carry, I carry a S&W 638, but it's not all the time. So in January I bought myself a gun I hate because it's small enough that I'll carry it all the time.
 
Someone gave me a new one several years ago. I shot it and hated it. Sold it immediately. I've owned lots of guns, I know what I like, I didn't like the BG. Fast forward to January 2020, something got me spooked and feeling like I should be carrying all the time. Normally when I carry, I carry a S&W 638, but it's not all the time. So in January I bought myself a gun I hate because it's small enough that I'll carry it all the time.

as they say, they best carry gun is the one you‘ll carry 😉
 
I hate to say it, but the BG380 is the worst firearm S&W ever made (and that includes its awful shotguns). Grip too short, awful trigger, kicks like a mule. Darn near impossible to hold the sight on target while you wait for the trigger to break. The Ruger LCPII is the class act of this type (plastic, small enough to pocket in jeans) for less money. The SIG 238 is a MUCH better pistol but you do pay for it and if you're left-handed, you have to get the more expensive Legion edition to get an ambi safety.
 
I’d say if you can find one in MA at a decent price, the Ruger LCP II is a much better pistol all around at the same size and generally (in a free state) the same cost. Much better trigger as well. I’ve had mine for about 3 years now and it’s been a great little pocket gun with no issues.
This, I owned both. Sold the BodyGuard kept the Ruger and carry it regularly..... And mine is only an LCP not the LCP II still like it A LOT better than the BG.....
 
I hate to say it, but the BG380 is the worst firearm S&W ever made (and that includes its awful shotguns). Grip too short, awful trigger, kicks like a mule. Darn near impossible to hold the sight on target while you wait for the trigger to break. The Ruger LCPII is the class act of this type (plastic, small enough to pocket in jeans) for less money. The SIG 238 is a MUCH better pistol but you do pay for it and if you're left-handed, you have to get the more expensive Legion edition to get an ambi safety.

I don’t think the 238 is a fair comparison. One is a DAO, the other is a hammer fired SA. Of course the 238 is better to shoot but I‘d never carry It AIWB, pocket without a holster, while riding my bike or tucked between my buttcheeks or behind my ear.
 
Love it. Really.
Galloway Santiago trigger and truglo pro somethingorothers make it an excellent (very) deep concealment pistol. Yes, it sucks to shoot because it’s so small, but because it’s so small, I’m almost always packing it.
Someone else said it’s not a beginners gun and I’d echo that.
 
I carry a BG380 daily (unless it's my 438, Shield, or something bigger like an M&P9C or even an M9A3...or a 3" model 13....). Mine's got XS Big Dot sights, which give it a bit of an edge against the LCPII. I also have MagGuts +1 in all my mags, because if you're going to carry a little .380 you may as well carry 8+1.

Yes, the trigger is terrible. It's craptastic.

However, if you have taken the time to learn a J frame trigger really well, you can do a good job with the BG380. Most people don't, or won't - if you are one of them and the trigger pull concerns you, you are probably better off with an LCPII with its half-cocked action or dropping the coin on a P238 for SAO.

If you are willing to work with it, you can install a short reset kit (or not) and just learn to shoot it right. This is just about the smallest, cheapest, lightest .380 that has the option of having tritium sights.

And don't buy the older version with the Insight laser. Either get the one without the laser or get the Crimson Trace.
 
I carry one in a DeSantis pocket shot holster in my back pocket.
It will do the job if some punk trys to stick you up.
 
mine's flawless, shoots every brand of ammo I tried. It is light, thin, easy to pocket carry in the summer. I have better guns to carry, but this Bodyguard380 goes everywhere with me. Just so easy to carry. Hard to shoot good groups with it,at distances, but it's a close quarters self defense gun and I'm fine with that. Very affordable under $200 usually. Mine has the safety deleted. Just easy to draw and fire that way. The safety is too tiny imo to use.Screenshot 2019-12-28 at 9.04.51 AM.png
 
Pretty much trash but if yours isn't broken from factory it will generally work okay. Trigger sucks. Easily outclassed by Ruger LCP and a bunch of others.
 
I hate to say it, but the BG380 is the worst firearm S&W ever made (and that includes its awful shotguns). Grip too short, awful trigger, kicks like a mule. Darn near impossible to hold the sight on target while you wait for the trigger to break. The Ruger LCPII is the class act of this type (plastic, small enough to pocket in jeans) for less money. The SIG 238 is a MUCH better pistol but you do pay for it and if you're left-handed, you have to get the more expensive Legion edition to get an ambi safety.

The Sigma 380 is worse, but if you ever see a smegma 380 you will understand why the BG380 also still sucks. It's obvious smith has never done this cartridge well, basically following the junk gun producers instead of the other end of the market.

The BG380 has enough poop in its dna that I bet even Taurus has a similar .380 gun that's better, on average.
 
Back
Top Bottom