Range Report- Bodyguard 380 REPOST!

 Several Bloggers picked up one of these today. The Feral Irishman and North join the club! This is a repost for them!

So the S&W .380 Bodyguard showed back up after visiting the homeland. I ran 100 rounds through it today and here are my thoughts. Out of the box looks like this:

 

Almost looks like a small daytimer planner or something. Understated same color logo embroidered on the case.

Ships with one 6 round magazine. Finger extension on the bottom, and also comes with a flat butt plate to enhance concealment.

 

 It is equipped with a disassembly lever, slide stop and thumb safety on the left side. Magazine release also on the left side. Magazine release is somewhat shielded and requires some effort to actuate. It is not equipped with a magazine disconnect safety (fine by me)! 

Breaks down great! 

 

Magazines have a bright orange follower. Real easy to see it and I think it is a nice touch. 

Shoot? Well it is designed as a defensive handgun. Close work. It is equipped with usable iron sights. In fact I will say that these sights are the best of the "mouseguns". The Kel-Tec P3-AT and the Ruger LCP are far below this curve.

This weapon is also equipped with an integral Insight laser. The laser activation is not as intuitive as the Crimson Trace jobs I have. Ambidextrous push buttons are located on the front of the gun on the dust cover (gray button in pics). Push once for constant on, twice for strobe and again for off. There is an auto off feature after five minutes of operation. I find the strobe feature superfluous and annoying.

So we go at it with iron sights at 10 yards. I would consider this "good enough". This was with Remington .380 95 grain ammo:

Ok, we are working the gun! Lets try the laser:

First two shots are low, the remaining three I will accept! These were with my reloads. Hornady 100 grain bullets loaded with TiteGroup powder, 2.3 grains. 700 FPS per the book, I have not chronographed to confirm (yet).

LOOONG trigger pull. So much so for a DAO that I think the thumb safety is unneeded for carry. Once you figure it out however, no big deal. The other thing about the DAO is if you get a light primer strike I think I would pull the trigger again on the same round before doing the tap, rack drill.

Size compares favorably to the Kel-Tec.

 

The DeSantis holster offered by S&W was the bomb! No break in required and fit like a glove!

 

Verdict? I would much rather have a .45ACP with me, but for right now this gun is promoted to carry!  No failure to feed or fire so far.