That's a new issue for me to hear about. What a shame. I'll forewarn you, getting in contact with S&W's CS for my gun was a small ordeal. I think I spoke with 4 different people just to get a return label.
@@Paul_Whaley spoke to them this morning, they’re sending me a new front sight for me to install myself. God I hope that it was just a improperly sized sight and not a bad dovetail cut.. guess I’ll see. But I can say, when installing the sight and holding it up to light, I can see a sliver of light where the sight does not contact the dovetail until the very end farthest away from the ejection port. Since I’m the first I’ve seen at least reporting the issue on RUclips or forums, I want to provide all the info I can. I’ll update when I have a new sight whether it was a sight issue or dovetail issue.
@@offtherip3198 I appreciate that you'll keep folks posted on this. I'll pin up your comment so that your reporting back will be easier for folks to see.
It’s been 8 days since I placed my order for a new sight with S&W customer service. I called them today to see what their average ship time was, he was able to pull up my order some show without asking any questions.. I’m guessing phone number? And said it had not shipped yet, expect it next week or so.. unbelievably slow ship times for parts on a defensive use pistol, especially for a front sight which I imagine almost no one has ordered a new sight from them already besides the few people that have dealt with my issue if anyone else at all. Seems like they have more interest in using parts to put together poor QC guns than to fix the broken ones they sent out. All of this and I’m still not 100% convinced that it is the sight, if it’s the dovetail they’ll have to send me a whole other slide. Which is scary as I can’t even get a .01oz part shipped from them quickly and I won’t even know if it’s the slide or not for another week 🤦🏻♂️
I purchased mine several weeks ago from my LGR/Store and I immediately fell for it's size and how it felt in my small hands. This gun was going be my EDC and I wanted to test it out for a while at my LGR to insure it would be OK to carry every day. Accuracy, Reliability and other things would determine if I would be confident to carry this gun. Having said this, I must say that after over 250 rounds, It passed my test and I have now started to carry it every day. This is not a Range Toy but I do shoot about 50 rounds through it every week at my LGR here in Sunny Florida. I love everything about this gun and it suits my needs for self defense! Thanks and Good Luck to All!
I'm glad that you've had great experiences with yours so far! I really want to like it, but I got a poor example of the gun, and it has hurt my experience so far.
A lot of engineering these days center around make it work but make it cheap. This has led ti some innovating construction but also some corners cut too much. Most people from what I have read are having great success with the BG 2.0 I don't think I will trade my g42. Here in oklahoma it has been fine everyday carry. If I go visit my old hometown ofvHouston Texas axwar zone I am armed much more heavily.
Sounds like you bought a very early gun. I bought mine 2 months ago. Put five hundred rounds of fmj through it, one hundred rounds of Hornady critical defense($$$), not one hiccup. This gun is on me 24/7. Keep us posted when you get it back.
Yeah, I'm surprised to hear this. I know like 20 people that own them and this is literally the first issue I've heard about (and I've watched several videos about them also by other good youtube gun channels).
S&W doesn’t pay my bills, I pay theirs. Now with that out of the way, I purchased the BG2.0 a few weeks ago, took it home cleaned and oiled it also adjusted the rear sight it was too much to the left. Next the two days I went to the range reason because I couldn’t find all the ammo I was looking for at one store. Ran 50 rounds of ball ammo, flat nose 25 rounds and hollow points 25 rounds (brands unknown had them in a plastic bag), next was 20 rounds of Critical Defense and 20 rounds of Hydra-shok, 20 rounds of Gold dot hollow points, plus a 50 rounds of ball ammo. Once the smoke cleared I can honestly say I did not have one issue with the BG2.0. Not here to change anyone’s mind, it’s your money you purchase what you want.
@@Quinnmclaughlin3 I used a sight punch at home, but at the range the guy used a sight pusher for the final touch. I don’t know if you tried it with yours but mine was tight where I gave up because I didn’t want to damage it.
Yeah, that seems to be the norm. I know at least 20 people that own them now and I don't know of a single problem with any of them. This is the first problem I've heard from any of them at all. It's a simple, easily fixable problem... but at the same time, it shouldn't be like that. A company should be aware if their parts are being made out of spec. That's a very noticeable ledge that whomever is responsible for making the locking blocks should have noticed... and I'm sure they'll fix it. I honestly think it's one of the best designed guns you can buy. I guess they may have some quality control problems here and there... but anytime I've heard of them having problems they've always fixed them very quickly.
Thanks for reporting these issues so that they’re addressed and fixed. When the Glock 42 came out 10 years ago they had many problems and were resolved quickly.
I've been on the waiting lists at my four local GS's for a BG 2.0 since the middle of August. Around the middle of September, I went into my fav local GS, and started pulling the ear of the owner about the BG 2.0. According to him, there was one big initial run of BG 2.0's that went out, and then Smith "took a pause" in BG 2.0 production, hence the wait I was experiencing. He stated that the pause in production was to correct exactly the issues covered in this video. I finally received my BG 2.0 last week. Thankfully, it was my fav GS that got it in first. Coincidentally (or not, really), all of the local GS's had plenty of BG 2.0 stock within just a few days. The manufacturing pause was over, and Smith was cranking them out again. He does a pre-purchase inspection on every gun he sells. Those that don't pass muster get sent back. He had inspected my gun thoroughly, and of course since he was aware of the sight alignment problem and the feed ramp lip issue, he made sure those issues had been corrected. They had. I wish I could send you pictures... The joint where the lower and upper feed ramps meet is completely smooth. The sights are perfectly aligned. Another issue that a lot of guys had with the initial run of BG 2.0's was DOA tritium front sights. Mine was/is nice and bright. While it sucks that the first run of guns definitely had QA issues, it is good to see that Smith listened and corrected them. Unfortunately, I have yet to take mine to the range to verify dependable operation, but at least I know that the major issues affecting early build guns have been corrected.
I appreciate the review. Well done. I will say that I purchased two of these handguns about two months ago, and after approximately 500 rounds, I have had no issues! Just my two cents!
It happens. That's life. There will always bee unforeseen problems when coming out with a new product. The company cannot produce a million guns for testing. They build several for testing and fix all the problems that they find. Then they produce them and unforeseen problems arise that were never seen during testing. Their test guns aren't always produced the exact same way as the guns we buy that are mass produced. They have the exact same specifications... but that don't mean that one or more of the process may have a problem and/or an employee makes a mistake. There's NOTHING that the gun companies can really do about it... and when these problems arise, people have the ability to send their guns back to be fixed in just about every case. If people didn't buy these new guns though (that are a risk), then the market would crash, as would any other kind of market. The people that buy brand new products are the one's with the balls and the drive to keep gun companies in business that make new and innovative products. Otherwise, we wouldn't have all the great guns that we have today.
If man makes it it WILL fail. We see 1st gen issues on everything from cars to refrigerators as well as pretty much everything else. I do agree firearms should be tested better and longer before release to make sure its compatible and reliable thoroughly.
Man, I’m sorry to see this. I know Smith and Wesson had some woes back in the 80’s and 90’s when the British landed. For many years now, I have been enamored with my ‘home state’ gun company. Among other pistols, I have been carrying a first series laser-less Bodyguard and I just love it. It’s been stone reliable and the most accurate .380 backup gun I’ve ever fired. It’s disheartening to see these issues and issues with the M&P 2.0 10mm. I was looking forward to purchasing one of these.
Dude, I bought one a couple days ago, I googled it and read a bunch (as everyone should) prior to purchase, obviously, and found multiple forum/reddit posts from people with issues. One of which, was the ledge/burr on the bottom half of the 2 piece feed ramp, the other, being a WILDLY off front sight, which is what I received. I dont have a front sight adjustment tool, so I made one with some C clamps, 1by4 and innovation lol. And yup, its my understanding that you have to disassemble the rear of the slide to adjust the rear sight/clean the firing pin channel. Idk, I'm not willing to say allll the people that reviewed it are like, unwarrantedly hyping it, I think it's hard to deny that with the ergonomics, at least, it's a game changer for 380 pocket bangers, but when i saw the front sight on mine after reading those posts i was like ".......bro, come the f*** on." This is not McDongles forgetting to put a double cheeseburger in my bag. Why are they leaving the floor with my front sight a millimeter and a half off to the right? And It's *a thing,* it's not an outlier or anomaly, it's a thing. I wish i could attach photos to YT comments to show you how wildly off it was. All that said, i really do like it and it's gonna mostly be my daily now, but seriously, the QC is, EVIDENTLY, ridiculous. Get it together guys, gawtdam. At least just, you know, slide the front sight into position. Awe gee whizz, awe shucks, i know payroll is a big ol' overhead for SWBI's endlessly increasing shareholder profits but jesus christ, pay a few people to MORE THAN GLANCE at these end results.
Yeah, it's a shame that S&W's poor QC has become the norm. If you'd like to to send me the photos, you can email me at paul@whaleystrategic.com. I'd be happy to take a look at them.
I’ve seen a lot of videos out on this Bodyguard 2.0 and it looks like a good gun from what I’ve read and seen. Haven’t handled one to be honest. That said I’m happy with my LCP Max, 10 rounds also and mine shoots great and I love the small size it offers. I was going to get this new S&W but instead I’ll be looking into the original LCP as it’s even smaller than the Max version. Better in the pocket for me. The Bodyguard 2 I’m sure will have a place for a lot of people. Not for me
@@nebaldeby5369 If you're going to pick up a version 1 of the LCP, Take a look at the v.1 custom. It has a skeletonized aluminum short stroke trigger that is ideal for a pocket pistol IMHO. And at the time was about the same price ($220) as the other V.1s. And you are right that it carries even easier than the Max. I actually bought the 75th anniversary of the Max because i liked the v.1 custom so much. And I still like the carry feel and performance of the v.1 custom over the max. It's a tossup because of the increased capacity of the Max, but i added the 7 round mag to the custom for a 7+1 capacity. So both will see service. Not sure, but I might eventually pick up a BG, but for sure not until the bugs and QC get worked out by Smith.
Interesting review that smoothed nothing over. Mine shot to the left also, but with great effort, I was able to drift the rear sight over, which fixed that issue. But I totally agree that this adjustment should not be necessary for anybody in the first place, it should be assembled correctly from the factory. Not mentioned in your review is the difficulty of getting the guide rod back onto the barrel and slide. It requires you to carefully push/twist the guide rod into the front hole first, or it simply will not install, because the spring does not compress. S&W sent a new part, but that fixed nothing. I still had difficulty. Again, the complaint about QC is valid here. After resolving these issues, this piece is a great addition to my EDC, due to my small frame and recoil sensitivity. To me, it is a godsend. But I think Paul did everyone a service by putting some egg on S&W's face - they deserve it for launching a good product in a very sloppy manner.
Thanks for the kind words John! I didn't mention the recoil assembly, as mine seems to be fine. Putting the gun back together isn't too hard, about on par with something like a 320 or 365. That being said, I have heard the issues that other folks have had. Trust me, I'd love this gun if mine worked. However, it didn't do so hot. I think that it will be a "gamechanger", but only if S&W can fix current guns, and get their QC act together. Thanks again for commenting!
I bought two for my wife and I and had nothing but bullet extraction and bullet feed issues for at least the first few magazines. Also the had the left side shooting issue with one of them and the magazines don't fit the number of bullets they claim. We put about 300 rounds through each and I'd say I'm going to need a thousand reliable rounds before I'm willing to trust it with mine or my wife's life.
Not to belittle your issues but there are thousands of these out there and the general opinion is they are a home run. Any company can produce a lemon of course like any other manufactured item. Feed ramp can be smoothed out and the sight drifted over. Mine has been flawless and even if I had the issues noted here I'd fix it and keep it the size and soft shooting is unequaled right now and I've had an LCP Max for years.
The issue is that these guns should not be needing feed ramps to be machined out by the end user, and the guns generally shooting off of POA from the factory is a mess too. My biggest gripe is that S&W is much less like a gun company, and more like a lemon orchard. I've seen a ton of folks with issues on their BGs, such as the ones that I'm having, and even more extreme ones, like MAC's gun not shipping with an ejector. S&W's QC has been poor for well, about two decades, and this new guns is victim of that. I want to like the gun, no doubts about that. I've been testing small guns for a number of years, and if my BG 2.0 worked well, I'd be recommending it over other guns in the same size category. However, my gun has problems that I think are pretty bad, and are problems that I've seen in dozens over other BG 2.0s. I'm happy that yours is working, but this is a point about S&W's poor QC. You've got a gun that works well, and I do not. The three S&W guns that I've bought this year have all had really badly QC'd productions, with 2/3 of them needing to go back to the factory. It's a mess there, and I don't see it improving unless the company starts to put quality over appeasing the shareholders. Thanks for commenting!
I have zero issues feeding JHP or JHP ammo. What I have is the recoil spring not compressing to get back in issue. I notified S&W and they sent me another, exactly the same. Hope there will be aftermarket recoil spring for the 2.0. Great firearm.
I never buy the first year of anything. Guns, Cars, even electronics Best to wait and see how they do in real world conditions, make adjustments and I end up with the new and improved model!!
Mine is on the way back from repairs. Had nothing but problems, barrel needed work so it wouldn't hit hard on the right side, barrel deburred, and a host of other problems. Yes, I would definitely wait on this one. Hopefully it works now. We will see.
I couldn't agree more about people being complacent with failing QC by Amerian firearm companies. It's embarrassing. No matter the brand or price, no gun sold for self-defense should have a high lemon rate out of the box. Trade quality is really suffering in America these days. So frustrating.
Everyone's experience is different. The only issue I have with my bodyguard, 2.0 is me riding the slide. other than that. It shoots everything. No failures to feed, no failures to Extract. The magazines were tight. Now, I can load both magazines with out a speed loader. So I'm good.. I've already ordered another 12 round magazine and some defensive ammo. Now I've been carrying this Gun more than my p365x
Agreed! This gun has been all over the place for many folks, with some guns being as close to perfection as possible, and some with a lot of issues (like mine). Happy to hear that yours has been good to go so far!
This thing has to be selling like hotcakes probably mass production issues. To me a combat play bet your life gun is a glock. Always test any gun you are going to carry with the ammo tou are going to carry
Thank you for your honest and detailed review. Since I always field strip and completely clean and lubricate my firearms and the mags before ever firing a shot, I discovered the follower binding issue on the 12-round mag in just a matter of minutes after trying to load the mag. I disassembled it and fixed it by filing off the little tip of the follower with a nail file. I had it fixed in less the 2 minutes. The other issue I had was the spring assembly and guide rod. I could not get the spring assembly to seat on top of the barrel upon reassembly. After a couple minutes I carefully examined the tip of the spring that fits under the guide rod cap that is inserted into the slide, and figured out was causing the spring to not compress to clip the rear guide rod cap to the barrel.
The end of the spring is twisted and would not fix under the front cap of the guide rod. This took a little pushing with a tiny flat head screwdriver to get the end of the spring to fit and stay under the guide rod cap. Being very disappointed in these two issues, I called S&W Customer Service. It was obvious that the gal I spoke with was not interested in any of my feedback. With no empathy or apology, she offered to send out a replacement spring assembly. I explained the 12-round mag follower issue and she didn’t even comment. That was August 28. 16 days later I received the replacement spring assembly and guide rod and it is the same part. I have about 200 rounds of 3 different ammo, 2 FMJ and 1 JHP, through it and it has worked flawlessly. The POI is low and left. The amount of grip and force it takes to rack the slide is insane. I have not decided if this is the right self-defense gun for pocket carry. At 15.3 ozs with 13 rounds it may be as good as it gets for a super lightweight pocket carry. The design of the spring assembly looks like a failure or complete lack of quality control. The lack of quality control on one of S&W’s most raved about firearms is very disappointing and unacceptable. I’ve owned firearms since 1977. This is the first S&W firearm I’ve purchased and I most likely will not buy another Smith & Wesson firearm.
I don't blame you about wanting to avoid S&W now. The only products of theirs that I can really, really recommend are the older revolvers. Something like a J/K/N/L frame from the 1950s-1980s.
I put 250 rounds thru mine the week after I bought it (August). 40 rounds were Hornady Critical Defense, they were flawless. I put 200 rounds of FMJ that I loaded myself but had about 20 failure to feeds due to improper bullet seating (my fault after purchasing a new die set). I'm going back to the range tomorrow with another 150 rounds of hardball and expect zero problems. I can't speak for your pistol, but as you might say 1 pistol doesn't represent the entire batch. You mention having malfunctions but are not specific, failure to fire, failure to feed, failure to eject. You fail to mention ammo usage and it may very well be that this .380 is ammo sensitive. Without additional details it's impossible to draw any conclusions about your experiences. I examined my feed ramps and find that when the slide activates that the ledge you mention is indeed present but it appears that on mine the ledge is partially covered by the portion of the ramp in the barrel. Sight accuracy/placement on a 2.75 inch barrel designed for self defense where most situations occur at 10 feet I find a bit overzealous. I feel your advice to not buy is unsupported without further investigation.
Hey Gordon! I've got footage linked in the description of the video, in which you can see some of the malfunction occur. I've tested a few brands of JHP, along with FMJs in the gun prior to uploading this video. For the ledge on the frame part of the feed ramp, there can be other factors that separate your gun and mine. Your ledge could be less pronounced, or the feed ramp could be seated deeper into the frame on my gun. I've got some photos for the upcoming written article on the gun that show the impact of the JHP projectile on the ledge, and I'll be sure to link that article once it is live. In regards to the sights, the distance is no excuse for S&W to have consistent issues with where they are hitting. Glock, Ruger, and S&W (on their other small guns) can make the sights hit to POI from the factory, so there's no excuse for S&W to have this issue. If the gun is mechanically having problems due to the sights being poorly aligned from the factory, that's only going to make accuracy worse at distance. My gun pretty consistently shot 2-4" off at 10 yards, which is pretty bad if I needed to hit vitals at that distance. Factor in that the rear sight has been impossible for me to move, and about the same for many folks, we're stuck drifting the front sight to make it work. I've got a deeper theory about poor barrel lockup at the front of the slide on this gun, but the sights themselves being off is a much bigger, easier thing for S&W to fix. I'm glad that your gun is working so far. I have my sample size of one, but there's also all of the folks chiming in here, and online at other places. I'd say that for every "perfect" BG 2.0, I'm seeing one that has pretty serious issues. Some folks have reported that their guns don't have the ledge on the feed ramp, which does do some service to show that S&W did not intend for it to be there. Long and the short is that I want to like this gun. It has great capacity, feels great in hand, has a pretty good trigger, and has pretty good sights. However, S&W's QC across the board is pretty bad, and BG 2.0 is another example of that. Thanks for commenting!
This is 'the' most informative and well done review I have seen on this pistol. Maybe one of the best reports I've seen on any new gun. Well done! Thanks! I learned a ton. Liked and subscribed which is very rare from me.
I have the Glock 42, as well as the BG2.0. With the Glock 42, I have the same problem with hollow-point ammo. I called Glock, and they told me I just have to run 100 rounds of 95-grain ball ammo until it fixes the problem. It has somewhat fixed it but not fully. I am trying the same thing now with my BG 2.0 because sometimes when I rack the slide, it gets stuck with hollow-point ammo.
Mine is 100% and personally I think this is one of the best small carry options. Whatever issues seem to be small and with time will get better. I’m waiting to buy another if they drop a different color or have some crazy deal with magazines included
Well, I don't see the feed ramp on my gun as a small issue, or something that would just fix itself over time. S&W has teething issues, but their QC is especially bad in 2024. I'm glad that yours is working, but I'd rather see S&W get the QC under control before trying to release new versions of the gun. Thanks for commenting Mike!
@@Paul_Whaley I don’t think there’s a design flaw with the feed ramp. I know multiple people with one and it’s 100% reliable. Possibly quality control issue, but the design I think a solid.
Bought mine on the 6th. and after 72hr. wait picked up on afternoon on the 9th. Took it home cleaned and reviewed manual. Shot it on the 10th. Shipped it back for repairs on the 11th. What can I say. Sig P365-380 has 400> rounds NO issues.
I bought one of these a couple of months ago and finally found some time to shoot it yesterday. I shot 2 mags of hollow point, then loaded up some flat nose FMJs. It didnt shoot the last round in the mag and as I was trying to eject the round, the extractor came off. There was no noticeable strike on the primer of the round. So, I'm still not really sure what happened.
Good video. I definitely still want one, but I'll keep an eye out for those defects. As for the use of hollow points, I'll be using ball ammo only because gelatin tests with ball ammo make the .380 acceptable for penetration results. Hollow points fall short. Look it up.
THANKS for you honest input... I finally took my new Bodyguard out to the range yesterday and the BIGEST issue I have with the gun is the sights... I too noticed that it was shooting to the left. I personally HATE the sights and especially the front sight. I would prefer a green fiber front sight that illuminated like a Christmas tree for better targeting... The only feed issue I had with various ammo was with some cheap Tula steel ammo, it fed DOUBLETAP Controlled Expansion, NovX, Underwood with Lehigh bullet , RNFP just fine... I have the Ruger LCP MAX which came with those same lousy glow in the dark front sights that I changed out to Williams green fiber sight... As soon as someone comes out with fiber sights for this gun, I am taking that junk glow in the dark sight OFF.. SERIOUSLY, if you need a glow in the dark sight because it is too dark to see then maybe you should just get the heck out of there to avoid a bad situation... BTW, I love the ergonomics of the Bodyguard over the Ruger LCP MAX hands down!
I've heard other people had issues with Fiocchi in this gun and they said it was an ammunition compatibility issue, not a problem with the gun. In their case they said it ran flawlessly with other brands. For example I have read that Federal Hydra Shok and Tula steel case sold under the brand 'Sergeant Major Munition' worked fine. Did you have issues with any other brands of ammunition? I am on the fence in regard to buying one. It checks a lot of boxes and is a very handsome design but there are more than a couple people who have had issues that were dismissed as break in, stiff magazines or ammo sensitivity.
I had issues with Federal Punch, along with the Fiocchi JHP. The issue is not really ammo sensitive per se, as much as the defect on the feed ramp causing issues with specific bullet designs. Break-in is certainly a thing that can exist, however, issues like the guns not shooting to the sights en masse, feed ramp ledges, sights not budging in dovetails, and followers not being able to be fully depressed are not things that will break in. QC issues like these will require work to make the whole gun work. I'd recommend waiting to buy one for a hot minute. The gun would be great if you could guarantee that you'd be getting one that is acceptable, but that's not possible at this time.
I always consider ammo sensitivity to be an issue with the gun, not the ammo. That may change with some ammo that's very different from regular ammo... but any semi-auto should be able to load any normal JHP ammo. I think the BG 2.0 is an excellent firearm all around though. Am really surprised to fin out about this issue, because I know so many people that have them and haven't heard of a single issue with any of them. Have also watched several videos on them also and haven't heard of any problems. They all seem to run flawlessly. With any new product though, there will always be unforeseen problems that have to be addressed. It comes with the territory and it's not really the manufacturers fault. They can't build and test 1 million guns before they start selling them. That would be impossible... and those rare problems can only ever be found after they start mass producing them. (Like if 1 in 1000 guns have a bad feed ramp, none of the 500 guns they built and tested before production may not have shown the issue... or they start using different tools to mass produce the guns that they're selling, which end up causing unintended/unforeseen problems, like one of the 20 injection molds they use had a flaw from the company that manufactured them). It sucks that people can be so unfair about some things sometimes. With all the countless operations that go into making and mass producing a firearm, there's bound to be a couple problems at the start. That's a small risk that people take when they buy a brand new model firearm (and I appreciate that, because without those people, we would never have new products. They would all fail, because people were too cowardly to try something new.)
I have a love/hate relationship with S&W. I bought a 442-1 in summer 2023, had some minor cosmetic issues from the factory (blemishes on the frame, slightly canted/offset barrel, etc.) but functions flawlessly and is accurate to the sights with every load I've shot except one. Bought a 432UC this past June and it also had some blemishes on the front face of the cylinder, but again functions normally and is accurate to its sights. Then I decided I wanted to get a 442UC as well, since the UC sights are such an improvement over the gutter sights. Went to pick it up and upon inspection, the cylinder would more often than not require a LOT of force to open and close. I tried to remember if this was how my 432UC was at first but I'm pretty certain it wasn't. I disappointedly refused the transfer and returned it to the seller. I may try my luck with another one in a few months but I am not getting my hopes up. S&W makes some great guns, but the quality control is shameful.
It's really a mess with S&W. Good designs marred by bad QC. I've heard a lot of horror stories with the UC guns, which I know has angered Darryl Bolke and crew. Thanks for commenting with your experiences! I always like to get input from folks!
I bought 2 in July on the same day. One works flawlessly and the other jams out of battery without firing. It's been at S&W warranty since July 31st and the other is in my front pocket. Seems to be luck of the draw which you get.
Bought one last week. Tried to give it a good cleaning when I got home but the slide would not come off. Guys at the gun shop could not get it to release either so it is currently back at S&W
My round count on the new 2.0 is now over 750 rounds, without a single issue. I do wish the sights were better, the front sight isn't a very good color (I'm partial to bright green or orange) and the rear is far too wide...one can only wait until the aftermarket catches up. Mine had no step on the feed ramp.
Mine also shoots left as I'm finding many do... but... not being able to move the rear sight, seriously? BTW, that lip on the feed ramp video, well mine doesn't have that so maybe that was addressed and corrected... my 2.0 arrived three weeks ago. As to their customer service... I'm very pleased with it... answered my call quickly, 1'st time I spoke with a manager and the 2'nd call was to another fella... both were very attentive to my issue and seemed happy to resolve any issue. The 12 round mag that came with my 2.0 would absolutely NOT take the 12'th round. I have to FORCE the 11'th in by standing on it. S&W had another 12 round mag at my door in three days... unfortunately... the second 12-round mag was no better than the original. I called them back and I was told... "we just got a bunch of new 12-round mags in that are verified to hand load 12-rounds and we're sending you one of these and you can keep the other we sent you. I've seen here where another person actually snipped the last spring winding off the bottom the the mag spring and WHALA the 12'th round fit! So, I'll be doing that to the first two 12-round mags I have.
Thanks for the info on your experiences with the BG Ray! Even after getting the gun back from S&W, the rear sight is still quite hard to move. It can move a little, but it requires a ton of force to do so. With the 12 round mag fix, I think you probably saw my video on it. I chopped off most of the bottom loop of the spring, and now the magazine works reliably with 12 rounds in it. I'm still tinkering with the gun, so there will be more vids on the gun coming from me soon! Thanks for watching & commenting!
Bought mine on Monday. I always do a very deep once over and polish of a new gun before I put a round through a gun, that's just me. Did not have a ridge nor did the ramp require polishing (Unlike my recent Canik purchase). I went to the range on Tuesday and put 150 assorted rounds through it. I was shooting my LCP Max at the same time for comparison. At the beginning The S&W was shooting high to the left but I soon realized it was me actually anticipating a snappy recoil as is present when I shoot the LCP Max. Because of the high bore this gun does shoot fairly flat. Usually after about 20-30 rounds the LCP Max is not very enjoyable to shoot but the S&W was very fun and easy to shoot. In the beginning the 12 round mag was very hard to get 12 rounds in. After about the 4th reload it worked fine. Just like the LCP Max, this is a very small gun so being accurate takes practice. With well over several 1000 rounds through the LCP versions I would say I am used to shooting this size mouse gun but It still took a bit of adjustment on my part to be accurate. I have heard of several folks having some issues with the recoil spring and when the have contacted S&W the company was quick to send replacements. I don't doubt at all that you had some issues but for some of us this Gun has worked great. I like 380's (Ya weird, I know. even like my Bursa Thunder), I thought the LCM Max was a great little double stack 380 but I do believe S&W made the Bodyguard 380 better. Hey, to each his own, me my Bad luck big hype gun was the Canik Mete...... Hope your issues get fixed
Glad I watched this. I once had a gun with a two-piece feed ramp & nothing I could do would change that. I used to love a smith but it seems all companies stopped making products and now just make money.
My experience from the beginning to now over 500+ rounds of a wide variety of ammo. I can sum up my experience with one word “perfection.” Magazines were at first difficult to load the last round but are now fine👍
Rear sight frozen, feed ramp has ridge on it that catches on hollow points, and the 12 round magazine won’t hold more than 2 rounds because the follower hangs up. Will definitely send back to S&W
i have this exact issue and sent it back to them. they sent it back saying the gun was fine after 3 weeks. it literally catastrophically fails after every round of flat faced ammo
7 weeks and counting back at the factory for mine, so plan on doing other life projects while you wait for it. Broken thumb safety was the issue with mine.
Agree about S&W problems. I bought a brand new S&W ShieldPlus about a year ago. Brought it home and was going to take it apart for cleaning and lube before taking to the range. When I tried to disassemble it, I couldn't get the slide off. Brought it back to the gun shop where I purchased it and had the gunsmith try, and he couldn't get it off either. Long story short, I had to send my brand new gun back to S&W to be repaired. It was a broken slide spring and slide release mechanism, and they also replaced the firing pin and some other internals. Doing an internet search, I saw there were lots of other people who had the same issue with their brand new guns. 6 weeks later, I got the gun back, and it has been working fine since. I was NOT very happy, and will not buy another S&W again.
I like the original. It's accurate enough and double action. It has a heavy trigger and the safety can be left off while stored in my backpack . I would not trust a striker fire gun with the safety off and a trigger thats not as heavy as the original. Im sure its better shooting than the original. Unfortunately, they changed an important aspect i need for a daily carry.
I have the sight misalignment issue (drastically shoots left on a vice). In addition, both factory magazines don't allow the slide to lock after the last round is shot.
@@eddiesmith9278 yeah, I think you're right about that. When I'm consciously keeping my hands away from the slide release, I'm seeing that the slide does indeed lock back with an empty mag inserted. I'm thinking it's my thumb on my dominant hand causing the issue. Will have to try putting it on my left hand's thumb knuckle to give the slide release room to do its job.
Mine has a hitch in the trigger. It catches on the trigger safety pretty hard. Both in the LGS had the same thing so i figured it would smooth out after a hundred rounds, and all of them felt like that. No other problems however.
Thanks friend! I mainly do written work over at www.primerpeak.com/author/paul-w/ , but I upload plenty here on YT too. I plan on more tabletop video content as time goes on, not just raw shooting footage.
Real good review and pointing out the split feed ramp. Wow. And you didn't hold back on the gun problems. Yeh, send it back. I'll enjoy my taurus g2c g3c 40
So glad I watched this. I am MUCH less likely to buy one now. And you're probably right about the company just not having the prowess to pull off this complicated design. Think I'll stick with my old Glock 43. :)
I got the Bodyguard 2.0. I cleaned and lubricated it and took to the range and fired about 25 rounds of different kinds of ammo. I had one miss feed using Extreme Defender ammunition. I thought that was a quirk. Later at home I was loading the gun and wanted to chamber a round from the magazine and reload the magazine. I was loading Extreme Defenders. I immediately had a problem chambering a round, so I switched to hollow points. Again, I would not chamber the round. I looked inside the gun and saw the same problem with the feed ramp that you described. I believe it is a design flaw. That ridge should not be there. Probably the reason I did not have much trouble at the range was that the slide was probably moving faster after a round was fired and that helped the Defenders and hollow points over the obstruction. Hopefully Smith & Wesson will fix the design someday, but in the meantime, I am going to get out my Dremel and fix it. My gun is also shooting to the left. I haven’t tried to fix that yet.
I wanted to like it. Felt good holding it...until I went to the range and fired it. My Bodyguard 2.0 also shot to the left, but it was also finicky on ammo. This is the 1st pocket 380 I've owned (Ruger LCP Max, Springfield 911, Remington RM380) that actually doesn't like some ammo. Seems to be the feed ramp issue you mentioned. I also thought the trigger was crap. I was hoping to like it with the flat face since I hate the safety dongle like Glocks have. the trigger works fine, it just feels so mushy/plastic. I think it would be a bit better if this wasn't a pocket pistol with tiny grips. It just seems like your finger goes back forever until you finally get to the wall and then your finger is at a weird angle due to traveling back so far.
These guns are really a mixed bag of build quality. The trigger in my gun doesn't feel horrible, but I do much prefer the one on my G42. The trigger feel would likely feel better if the trigger was positioned further forward, and gave you more trigger reach. Thanks for commenting!
My body guard didn’t work. I could fire 2 rounds and it jams up. Had to send it back to smith and Wesson I hope they are fast it’s been 2 weeks now. I’m not a patient person
I’ve helped run an ffl in upstate NY for the last 13 years. Took us a while to get a few of these in NY with only the 10rd mags. I personally bought one as a new back up piece. It shot 50 rounds of ball ammo… went to run 25 rounds of Hornady 115gr Critical defense ammo. It jammed on the feed ramp EVERY-TIME trying to load the Hornady. Its back @ Smith and I’m curious what they come up with. I think this little guy needs a redesign.
The issue I have with mine is the front sight. The rear seems fine, but the front sight is way off, like visibly off. I have no idea how that passed QC.
My LCP max with Viridian laser is still in my pocket and will be until I’ve fired many more rounds through the 2.0. $500 gun and $500 of breakin ammo to replace an LCP that’s never had a malfunction seems kinda dumb in my part
Agree with your comments on SW quality. This is a M 2.0 so it should be an improvement over the original Bodyguard. Does have a good carry form factor.
I unfortunately purchased one. I am happy with the size and the fact that it’s light even with a full 12 rounds. First thing first. The 12 round magazine would not let me load past 3 rounds. It kept getting stuck. I opened the mag and trimmed a little piece of the plastic loader and that fine now. Loading 12 into that magazine is almost impossible. Secondly, I found out just yesterday she doesn’t like hollow point ammo. I loaded it up with Critical defense and failed to load every other round. She handles FMJ balls no problem. So now I’m at the point of what to do. Do I use her as a pocket pistol with regular ammo or just use it for range days. It’s a shame, it really is.
When I buy a .380 I just stick to ball ammo. No matter what gun brand you buy I've noticed most .380's are very ammo sensitive, so I just stick with the good ole ball ammo.
I sold my hk p30sk to purchase a shield plus only b/c I love the striker fire feel and the shield just felt like it was made for me. As a former gunsmith, the HK is way better built but I still prefer the shield.
This is a second generation of this gun. The first one my wife had and couldn't get rid of it fast enough because the trigger was so bad. This way my family want buy S&W
Sorry you are having troubled with your Bodyguard 2.0. I purchased one myself. I've taken it to the range put 150 rounds down range. With not one malfunction. Haven't found any real issues with this firearm. I think it does shoot a little to the left though. Thank you for your informal video.
2 failures in the first 4 rounds, then 296 perfect. Don’t get me started on S&W canted revolver sights though! Hasn’t been right since they stopped pinning them.
Agreed - There's are way too many canted S&W revolver barrels and shrouds (two piece barrel models). Thankfully they seem to fix them pretty quickly during warranty repair work. I've had to send back two.
This is why you don’t buy firearms from a website, and have it shipped to your FFL. I almost always buy in person. My BG 2.0 had the front sight slightly off center. Used my sight pusher to center it. Other than that, mine has fed everything I’ve given it. I guess I got a relatively good one. S&W needs to seriously work on their QA/QC practices, because there seems to be a lot of minor issues with the BG 2.0, some minor, and some a bit more serious.
This BG 2.0 was purchased in-person, at a local big box store. I bought it early enough that people did not really know about, nor talk about the issues of the gun. As such, it passed the initial sniff test when I was buying it. It wasn't until I started shooting mine that I also began seeing folks talk about the fairly common problems with the gun. Well, 3 months later and I'm getting a lot of comments & messages about folks having issues with the guns. I'm shocked to say, but that list of issues keeps expanding. Thanks for commenting!
@ the only issue I’ve had so far, was I needed to drift the front sight slightly to the left. For me, that wasn’t a big deal. I have a sight pusher, and have replaced sights on a few of my pistols. However, for most people, that’s a big issue. S&W. seems to have a QA/QC issue over the last few years
I agree with the idea that they should charge more and do better with quality control. The gun’s gonna get someone killed if it doesn’t function properly. For the bodyguard 2.0 that I received, I was able to gunsmith out all of the issues I was having so I did not have to send it in. I made several videos showing what I did and how to actually improve the gun overall. I will be uploading them over the next few weeks. I will say I had failure to feed issues with a $3200 Wilson Combat and the problems continued when I sent it in and it came back. The gun is at least a few years old now and I have not once ever carried it because it’s my most unreliable gun.
I bought ine this weekend, brought it home and could not for the life of me push and engage the safety. Seems so cheap, had to take a small screwdriver and push it to engage it, but man it hurts my finger to engage it. Also the 12 Rd mag would not go all the way up into the base of the gun at all, husband had to push it in hard literally. With all the great reviews i looked at it seems like a cheaply put together .380. And to think I have not even fired it yet! I am thinking about taking it back to Scheels.
Sorry to hear about your negative experiences with the gun Toni. These really have been a botched release, which is such a shame. The gun would be really great, if S&W could actually make them to a consistent, good degree.
I love mine but to be honest, I can’t run critical defense because they get stuck on the ramp . So yes that is a legit problem. I use flat or ball and it runs flawlessly. I love it !!!!!!
Just bought one and it functions fine so far but the rear sight is way left and S&W says a 4-6 week turnaround, I ended up paying a gunsmith $20.00 to get the sights right, he noticed the front sight was not centered either. S&W quality control has gone downhill, I had a S&W shiels plus that shot all over the place, the barrel was sloppy inside the slide. The last 5 S&W pistols I bought 4 had issues and went back, not a good track record. The M&P AR15 I bought has been flawless.
Sucks to hear, Paul. It's a promising little gun--but I think you bring up some good points about biting off more than they could chew, design-wise, for the given price point. Recently, I feel like I've started hearing about more issues like this with Smith's newer products. Maybe they're over innovating and they need to focus on the product lines they have. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for commenting Matt! S&W is a company that has struggled to execute their best, most classic designs (revolvers), due to QC issues. I think that they really need to back up, fix the problems, and go from there. Take care my friend!
Paul, I too purchased a 43C S&W revolver and brand new out of box only shot 5 out of 8 charge holes. FKing pissed. still haven't sent it back. I've read on many forums where folks sent theirs in and when they finally received it back with the invoice of repairs, they (S&W) replaced the cylinder, the cylinder stop, the crane, the hand, all the springs, the trigger, the hammer, the firing pin, the ejector rod, blah, blah,blah. EVERYTHING BUT the receiver. Ridiculous. A $750 AirLite revolver broken out of the box. I'm getting pissed typing this. I'll stop now. I then purchased a Ruger LCR 22LR revolver and won't get rid of it for anything. 5,600 + rounds later and still ZERO issues of any kind and only 2 ounces heavier than the 43C. FLAWLESS! Get one, or you probably already have one. I have two new Bodyguard 2.0's. One with external safety and one without. Both run flawless. Both have the ledge on the feed ramp. 400 rounds and counting on one , and 600+ rounds on the other. They eat steel case ammo like candy. I will polish the ledge on the feed ramp just for the heck of it. I'm sorry your having problems with yours. Let us know what the do for you. One last thing...YES, S&W quality control is dog shit, at least on their revolvers for me. Someone needs their dick cut off.
I know we've talked about the 43c before, and how poor they are made. I'll read out the full invoice of what they swapped, but short of the frame itself and the barrel, nearly everything else was changed. The LCR is certainly a more reliable, better made gun. I'm glad to hear that your Bodyguards are working, despite the feed ramp ledge. I don't think that the ledge is a consistent thing, as I've seen guns with them, without them, and with shorter ledges than on mine. My gun choked a bit with quality defensive ammo, so I feel like steel cased stuff would do about the same. I'll be sure to do updates throughout my RMA process. I've got a written article in the works right now, and will do a video update once I get the gun back. When it comes to who to blame at S&W, I think it's likely the executives that are putting shareholders over quality. It's all about money over there these days.
North America Arms should bring a guardian 2.0 to market and sink the competition. They are employee owned, great cs, better than most qc… If they had a double stack guardian 2.0 with more polymer in the frame and a 32 cal dao velo dog style revolver they could really get back into the game.
Within 40 rounds my front sight fell off.. need to call S&W Monday..
That's a new issue for me to hear about. What a shame. I'll forewarn you, getting in contact with S&W's CS for my gun was a small ordeal. I think I spoke with 4 different people just to get a return label.
@@Paul_Whaley spoke to them this morning, they’re sending me a new front sight for me to install myself. God I hope that it was just a improperly sized sight and not a bad dovetail cut.. guess I’ll see. But I can say, when installing the sight and holding it up to light, I can see a sliver of light where the sight does not contact the dovetail until the very end farthest away from the ejection port. Since I’m the first I’ve seen at least reporting the issue on RUclips or forums, I want to provide all the info I can. I’ll update when I have a new sight whether it was a sight issue or dovetail issue.
@@offtherip3198 I appreciate that you'll keep folks posted on this. I'll pin up your comment so that your reporting back will be easier for folks to see.
It’s been 8 days since I placed my order for a new sight with S&W customer service. I called them today to see what their average ship time was, he was able to pull up my order some show without asking any questions.. I’m guessing phone number? And said it had not shipped yet, expect it next week or so.. unbelievably slow ship times for parts on a defensive use pistol, especially for a front sight which I imagine almost no one has ordered a new sight from them already besides the few people that have dealt with my issue if anyone else at all. Seems like they have more interest in using parts to put together poor QC guns than to fix the broken ones they sent out. All of this and I’m still not 100% convinced that it is the sight, if it’s the dovetail they’ll have to send me a whole other slide. Which is scary as I can’t even get a .01oz part shipped from them quickly and I won’t even know if it’s the slide or not for another week 🤦🏻♂️
@@offtherip3198 He probably simply lied about pulling up your order, and just parroted the Company line of the day.......................elsullo
I purchased mine several weeks ago from my LGR/Store and I immediately fell for it's size and how it felt in my small hands. This gun was going be my EDC and I wanted to test it out for a while at my LGR to insure it would be OK to carry every day. Accuracy, Reliability and other things would determine if I would be confident to carry this gun. Having said this, I must say that after over 250 rounds, It passed my test and I have now started to carry it every day. This is not a Range Toy but I do shoot about 50 rounds through it every week at my LGR here in Sunny Florida. I love everything about this gun and it suits my needs for self defense! Thanks and Good Luck to All!
I'm glad that you've had great experiences with yours so far! I really want to like it, but I got a poor example of the gun, and it has hurt my experience so far.
@stevekatz4372 was it able to cycle the ammo you use for carry? How many round of that did you shoot through it?
A lot of engineering these days center around make it work but make it cheap. This has led ti some innovating construction but also some corners cut too much. Most people from what I have read are having great success with the BG 2.0 I don't think I will trade my g42. Here in oklahoma it has been fine everyday carry. If I go visit my old hometown ofvHouston Texas axwar zone I am armed much more heavily.
Me too, bought it Saturday, and love it. Trigger is better than G42
Sounds like you bought a very early gun. I bought mine 2 months ago. Put five hundred rounds of fmj through it, one hundred rounds of Hornady critical defense($$$), not one hiccup. This gun is on me 24/7. Keep us posted when you get it back.
I absolutely love mine so far. 600 rounds without any issues. I am also more accurate with it than my LCP Max.
A rock is more accurate than an LCP😂
Mine had been perfect! Feeds everything. Fantastic little gun.
Yeah, I'm surprised to hear this. I know like 20 people that own them and this is literally the first issue I've heard about (and I've watched several videos about them also by other good youtube gun channels).
S&W doesn’t pay my bills, I pay theirs. Now with that out of the way, I purchased the BG2.0 a few weeks ago, took it home cleaned and oiled it also adjusted the rear sight it was too much to the left. Next the two days I went to the range reason because I couldn’t find all the ammo I was looking for at one store. Ran 50 rounds of ball ammo, flat nose 25 rounds and hollow points 25 rounds (brands unknown had them in a plastic bag), next was 20 rounds of Critical Defense and 20 rounds of Hydra-shok, 20 rounds of Gold dot hollow points, plus a 50 rounds of ball ammo. Once the smoke cleared I can honestly say I did not have one issue with the BG2.0. Not here to change anyone’s mind, it’s your money you purchase what you want.
I have the same issue with my rear site. How did you straighten it out?
@@Quinnmclaughlin3 I used a sight punch at home, but at the range the guy used a sight pusher for the final touch. I don’t know if you tried it with yours but mine was tight where I gave up because I didn’t want to damage it.
Yeah, that seems to be the norm. I know at least 20 people that own them now and I don't know of a single problem with any of them. This is the first problem I've heard from any of them at all. It's a simple, easily fixable problem... but at the same time, it shouldn't be like that. A company should be aware if their parts are being made out of spec. That's a very noticeable ledge that whomever is responsible for making the locking blocks should have noticed... and I'm sure they'll fix it. I honestly think it's one of the best designed guns you can buy. I guess they may have some quality control problems here and there... but anytime I've heard of them having problems they've always fixed them very quickly.
The sight was probably fine, most likely a flinch making you shoot left
@Quinnmclaughlin3 it's almost certainly a flinch not the sight
Thanks for reporting these issues so that they’re addressed and fixed. When the Glock 42 came out 10 years ago they had many problems and were resolved quickly.
We can only hope (and pester S&W) that they'll fix their QC, to make the gun really shine! Thanks for commenting!
I've been on the waiting lists at my four local GS's for a BG 2.0 since the middle of August. Around the middle of September, I went into my fav local GS, and started pulling the ear of the owner about the BG 2.0. According to him, there was one big initial run of BG 2.0's that went out, and then Smith "took a pause" in BG 2.0 production, hence the wait I was experiencing. He stated that the pause in production was to correct exactly the issues covered in this video.
I finally received my BG 2.0 last week. Thankfully, it was my fav GS that got it in first. Coincidentally (or not, really), all of the local GS's had plenty of BG 2.0 stock within just a few days. The manufacturing pause was over, and Smith was cranking them out again.
He does a pre-purchase inspection on every gun he sells. Those that don't pass muster get sent back. He had inspected my gun thoroughly, and of course since he was aware of the sight alignment problem and the feed ramp lip issue, he made sure those issues had been corrected. They had.
I wish I could send you pictures... The joint where the lower and upper feed ramps meet is completely smooth. The sights are perfectly aligned. Another issue that a lot of guys had with the initial run of BG 2.0's was DOA tritium front sights. Mine was/is nice and bright.
While it sucks that the first run of guns definitely had QA issues, it is good to see that Smith listened and corrected them. Unfortunately, I have yet to take mine to the range to verify dependable operation, but at least I know that the major issues affecting early build guns have been corrected.
The hype is real. I have 127 pistols and this is among my favorites to carry. And shooting it is a blast.
I appreciate the review. Well done. I will say that I purchased two of these handguns about two months ago, and after approximately 500 rounds, I have had no issues! Just my two cents!
I am a former police officer and went to buy one of these. My LGS /range told me hold off until the bugs are worked out. Thanks for the honest review.
That’s such a great point that we accept issues from any company on the first generation guns. That’s BS
Yeah, I hate that it's just become the trend to accept this.
It happens. That's life. There will always bee unforeseen problems when coming out with a new product. The company cannot produce a million guns for testing. They build several for testing and fix all the problems that they find. Then they produce them and unforeseen problems arise that were never seen during testing. Their test guns aren't always produced the exact same way as the guns we buy that are mass produced. They have the exact same specifications... but that don't mean that one or more of the process may have a problem and/or an employee makes a mistake. There's NOTHING that the gun companies can really do about it... and when these problems arise, people have the ability to send their guns back to be fixed in just about every case. If people didn't buy these new guns though (that are a risk), then the market would crash, as would any other kind of market. The people that buy brand new products are the one's with the balls and the drive to keep gun companies in business that make new and innovative products. Otherwise, we wouldn't have all the great guns that we have today.
If man makes it it WILL fail. We see 1st gen issues on everything from cars to refrigerators as well as pretty much everything else. I do agree firearms should be tested better and longer before release to make sure its compatible and reliable thoroughly.
Excellent honest and detail oriented review. Thanks for sharing your poignant thoughts on it. You've gained a sub.
Man, I’m sorry to see this. I know Smith and Wesson had some woes back in the 80’s and 90’s when the British landed. For many years now, I have been enamored with my ‘home state’ gun company. Among other pistols, I have been carrying a first series laser-less Bodyguard and I just love it. It’s been stone reliable and the most accurate .380 backup gun I’ve ever fired. It’s disheartening to see these issues and issues with the M&P 2.0 10mm. I was looking forward to purchasing one of these.
Thanks. I think I’ll wait to buy this one. Maybe S&W will work out the kinks by then
This is why I keep my 642 air weight revolver. Sure it’s only 5 rounds, but it’s 5 guaranteed rounds!
until they shoot 6 inches low because smith and wesson fucked up at the factory lmao.
@@ThatUYgunguy most j frame fixed sights are sighted for 158 grain ammo. Basically the FBI load. Need to train with it to know where to hold.
@@itmeng it said it was regulated for lighter loads like speer 135 gr as per lipseys and smith and wesson's website.
Revolvers can have QC issues too
Dude, I bought one a couple days ago, I googled it and read a bunch (as everyone should) prior to purchase, obviously, and found multiple forum/reddit posts from people with issues. One of which, was the ledge/burr on the bottom half of the 2 piece feed ramp, the other, being a WILDLY off front sight, which is what I received. I dont have a front sight adjustment tool, so I made one with some C clamps, 1by4 and innovation lol. And yup, its my understanding that you have to disassemble the rear of the slide to adjust the rear sight/clean the firing pin channel. Idk, I'm not willing to say allll the people that reviewed it are like, unwarrantedly hyping it, I think it's hard to deny that with the ergonomics, at least, it's a game changer for 380 pocket bangers, but when i saw the front sight on mine after reading those posts i was like ".......bro, come the f*** on." This is not McDongles forgetting to put a double cheeseburger in my bag. Why are they leaving the floor with my front sight a millimeter and a half off to the right? And It's *a thing,* it's not an outlier or anomaly, it's a thing. I wish i could attach photos to YT comments to show you how wildly off it was. All that said, i really do like it and it's gonna mostly be my daily now, but seriously, the QC is, EVIDENTLY, ridiculous. Get it together guys, gawtdam. At least just, you know, slide the front sight into position.
Awe gee whizz, awe shucks, i know payroll is a big ol' overhead for SWBI's endlessly increasing shareholder profits but jesus christ, pay a few people to MORE THAN GLANCE at these end results.
Yeah, it's a shame that S&W's poor QC has become the norm.
If you'd like to to send me the photos, you can email me at paul@whaleystrategic.com. I'd be happy to take a look at them.
I’ve seen a lot of videos out on this Bodyguard 2.0 and it looks like a good gun from what I’ve read and seen. Haven’t handled one to be honest.
That said I’m happy with my LCP Max, 10 rounds also and mine shoots great and I love the small size it offers.
I was going to get this new S&W but instead I’ll be looking into the original LCP as it’s even smaller than the Max version. Better in the pocket for me.
The Bodyguard 2 I’m sure will have a place for a lot of people. Not for me
I loved this 😂
👍
@@nebaldeby5369 If you're going to pick up a version 1 of the LCP, Take a look at the v.1 custom. It has a skeletonized aluminum short stroke trigger that is ideal for a pocket pistol IMHO. And at the time was about the same price ($220) as the other V.1s. And you are right that it carries even easier than the Max. I actually bought the 75th anniversary of the Max because i liked the v.1 custom so much. And I still like the carry feel and performance of the v.1 custom over the max. It's a tossup because of the increased capacity of the Max, but i added the 7 round mag to the custom for a 7+1 capacity. So both will see service. Not sure, but I might eventually pick up a BG, but for sure not until the bugs and QC get worked out by Smith.
Interesting review that smoothed nothing over. Mine shot to the left also, but with great effort, I was able to drift the rear sight over, which fixed that issue. But I totally agree that this adjustment should not be necessary for anybody in the first place, it should be assembled correctly from the factory.
Not mentioned in your review is the difficulty of getting the guide rod back onto the barrel and slide. It requires you to carefully push/twist the guide rod into the front hole first, or it simply will not install, because the spring does not compress. S&W sent a new part, but that fixed nothing. I still had difficulty.
Again, the complaint about QC is valid here.
After resolving these issues, this piece is a great addition to my EDC, due to my small frame and recoil sensitivity. To me, it is a godsend. But I think Paul did everyone a service by putting some egg on S&W's face - they deserve it for launching a good product in a very sloppy manner.
Thanks for the kind words John!
I didn't mention the recoil assembly, as mine seems to be fine. Putting the gun back together isn't too hard, about on par with something like a 320 or 365. That being said, I have heard the issues that other folks have had.
Trust me, I'd love this gun if mine worked. However, it didn't do so hot. I think that it will be a "gamechanger", but only if S&W can fix current guns, and get their QC act together.
Thanks again for commenting!
I bought two for my wife and I and had nothing but bullet extraction and bullet feed issues for at least the first few magazines. Also the had the left side shooting issue with one of them and the magazines don't fit the number of bullets they claim. We put about 300 rounds through each and I'd say I'm going to need a thousand reliable rounds before I'm willing to trust it with mine or my wife's life.
Not to belittle your issues but there are thousands of these out there and the general opinion is they are a home run. Any company can produce a lemon of course like any other manufactured item. Feed ramp can be smoothed out and the sight drifted over. Mine has been flawless and even if I had the issues noted here I'd fix it and keep it the size and soft shooting is unequaled right now and I've had an LCP Max for years.
Influencers that got sent one had to sign an eight-page agreement on what they would and would not say..
The issue is that these guns should not be needing feed ramps to be machined out by the end user, and the guns generally shooting off of POA from the factory is a mess too. My biggest gripe is that S&W is much less like a gun company, and more like a lemon orchard.
I've seen a ton of folks with issues on their BGs, such as the ones that I'm having, and even more extreme ones, like MAC's gun not shipping with an ejector. S&W's QC has been poor for well, about two decades, and this new guns is victim of that.
I want to like the gun, no doubts about that. I've been testing small guns for a number of years, and if my BG 2.0 worked well, I'd be recommending it over other guns in the same size category. However, my gun has problems that I think are pretty bad, and are problems that I've seen in dozens over other BG 2.0s.
I'm happy that yours is working, but this is a point about S&W's poor QC. You've got a gun that works well, and I do not. The three S&W guns that I've bought this year have all had really badly QC'd productions, with 2/3 of them needing to go back to the factory. It's a mess there, and I don't see it improving unless the company starts to put quality over appeasing the shareholders.
Thanks for commenting!
Enjoy firing fmj for short while, that will break that edge, then use hp
I love mine so far! My s&w5.7 had lots of small issues but the bg2.0 has been amazing!!
I have zero issues feeding JHP or JHP ammo. What I have is the recoil spring not compressing to get back in issue. I notified S&W and they sent me another, exactly the same. Hope there will be aftermarket recoil spring for the 2.0. Great firearm.
I never buy the first year of anything. Guns, Cars, even electronics Best to wait and see how they do in real world conditions, make adjustments and I end up with the new and improved model!!
I do the same thing. When all of the micro 9mm came out a few years ago I waited 2 years before I got one.
Mine is on the way back from repairs. Had nothing but problems, barrel needed work so it wouldn't hit hard on the right side, barrel deburred, and a host of other problems. Yes, I would definitely wait on this one. Hopefully it works now. We will see.
Double feed ramp as a terrible idea. Thank you for pointing that out.
I think it can work on a small gun, but it requires a degree of precision that S&W just can’t consistently do today.
I couldn't agree more about people being complacent with failing QC by Amerian firearm companies. It's embarrassing. No matter the brand or price, no gun sold for self-defense should have a high lemon rate out of the box. Trade quality is really suffering in America these days. So frustrating.
Everyone's experience is different. The only issue I have with my bodyguard, 2.0 is me riding the slide. other than that. It shoots everything. No failures to feed, no failures to Extract. The magazines were tight. Now, I can load both magazines with out a speed loader. So I'm good.. I've already ordered another 12 round magazine and some defensive ammo. Now I've been carrying this Gun more than my p365x
Agreed! This gun has been all over the place for many folks, with some guns being as close to perfection as possible, and some with a lot of issues (like mine). Happy to hear that yours has been good to go so far!
This thing has to be selling like hotcakes probably mass production issues. To me a combat play bet your life gun is a glock. Always test any gun you are going to carry with the ammo tou are going to carry
My friend sold half a dozen of these in his small shop and they've all worked for us so far.
Thank you for your honest and detailed review. Since I always field strip and completely clean and lubricate my firearms and the mags before ever firing a shot, I discovered the follower binding issue on the 12-round mag in just a matter of minutes after trying to load the mag. I disassembled it and fixed it by filing off the little tip of the follower with a nail file. I had it fixed in less the 2 minutes.
The other issue I had was the spring assembly and guide rod. I could not get the spring assembly to seat on top of the barrel upon reassembly. After a couple minutes I carefully examined the tip of the spring that fits under the guide rod cap that is inserted into the slide, and figured out was causing the spring to not compress to clip the rear guide rod cap to the barrel.
The end of the spring is twisted and would not fix under the front cap of the guide rod. This took a little pushing with a tiny flat head screwdriver to get the end of the spring to fit and stay under the guide rod cap.
Being very disappointed in these two issues, I called S&W Customer Service. It was obvious that the gal I spoke with was not interested in any of my feedback. With no empathy or apology, she offered to send out a replacement spring assembly. I explained the 12-round mag follower issue and she didn’t even comment.
That was August 28. 16 days later I received the replacement spring assembly and guide rod and it is the same part. I have about 200 rounds of 3 different ammo, 2 FMJ and 1 JHP, through it and it has worked flawlessly. The POI is low and left. The amount of grip and force it takes to rack the slide is insane. I have not decided if this is the right self-defense gun for pocket carry. At 15.3 ozs with 13 rounds it may be as good as it gets for a super lightweight pocket carry.
The design of the spring assembly looks like a failure or complete lack of quality control. The lack of quality control on one of S&W’s most raved about firearms is very disappointing and unacceptable. I’ve owned firearms since 1977. This is the first S&W firearm I’ve purchased and I most likely will not buy another Smith & Wesson firearm.
I don't blame you about wanting to avoid S&W now. The only products of theirs that I can really, really recommend are the older revolvers. Something like a J/K/N/L frame from the 1950s-1980s.
I put 250 rounds thru mine the week after I bought it (August). 40 rounds were Hornady Critical Defense, they were flawless. I put 200 rounds of FMJ that I loaded myself but had about 20 failure to feeds due to improper bullet seating (my fault after purchasing a new die set). I'm going back to the range tomorrow with another 150 rounds of hardball and expect zero problems. I can't speak for your pistol, but as you might say 1 pistol doesn't represent the entire batch. You mention having malfunctions but are not specific, failure to fire, failure to feed, failure to eject. You fail to mention ammo usage and it may very well be that this .380 is ammo sensitive. Without additional details it's impossible to draw any conclusions about your experiences. I examined my feed ramps and find that when the slide activates that the ledge you mention is indeed present but it appears that on mine the ledge is partially covered by the portion of the ramp in the barrel. Sight accuracy/placement on a 2.75 inch barrel designed for self defense where most situations occur at 10 feet I find a bit overzealous. I feel your advice to not buy is unsupported without further investigation.
Hey Gordon!
I've got footage linked in the description of the video, in which you can see some of the malfunction occur. I've tested a few brands of JHP, along with FMJs in the gun prior to uploading this video.
For the ledge on the frame part of the feed ramp, there can be other factors that separate your gun and mine. Your ledge could be less pronounced, or the feed ramp could be seated deeper into the frame on my gun. I've got some photos for the upcoming written article on the gun that show the impact of the JHP projectile on the ledge, and I'll be sure to link that article once it is live.
In regards to the sights, the distance is no excuse for S&W to have consistent issues with where they are hitting. Glock, Ruger, and S&W (on their other small guns) can make the sights hit to POI from the factory, so there's no excuse for S&W to have this issue. If the gun is mechanically having problems due to the sights being poorly aligned from the factory, that's only going to make accuracy worse at distance. My gun pretty consistently shot 2-4" off at 10 yards, which is pretty bad if I needed to hit vitals at that distance. Factor in that the rear sight has been impossible for me to move, and about the same for many folks, we're stuck drifting the front sight to make it work. I've got a deeper theory about poor barrel lockup at the front of the slide on this gun, but the sights themselves being off is a much bigger, easier thing for S&W to fix.
I'm glad that your gun is working so far. I have my sample size of one, but there's also all of the folks chiming in here, and online at other places. I'd say that for every "perfect" BG 2.0, I'm seeing one that has pretty serious issues. Some folks have reported that their guns don't have the ledge on the feed ramp, which does do some service to show that S&W did not intend for it to be there.
Long and the short is that I want to like this gun. It has great capacity, feels great in hand, has a pretty good trigger, and has pretty good sights. However, S&W's QC across the board is pretty bad, and BG 2.0 is another example of that.
Thanks for commenting!
This is 'the' most informative and well done review I have seen on this pistol. Maybe one of the best reports I've seen on any new gun. Well done! Thanks! I learned a ton. Liked and subscribed which is very rare from me.
Thanks friend! I'll be doing more videos on this gun down the line, but I'm currently in the process of getting it sent back to TN for S&W to fix it.
@@Paul_Whaley Thanks. I'll be checking in regularly. Lets see how this one turns out. Good luck.
I have the Glock 42, as well as the BG2.0. With the Glock 42, I have the same problem with hollow-point ammo. I called Glock, and they told me I just have to run 100 rounds of 95-grain ball ammo until it fixes the problem. It has somewhat fixed it but not fully. I am trying the same thing now with my BG 2.0 because sometimes when I rack the slide, it gets stuck with hollow-point ammo.
Mine is 100% and personally I think this is one of the best small carry options. Whatever issues seem to be small and with time will get better. I’m waiting to buy another if they drop a different color or have some crazy deal with magazines included
Well, I don't see the feed ramp on my gun as a small issue, or something that would just fix itself over time. S&W has teething issues, but their QC is especially bad in 2024. I'm glad that yours is working, but I'd rather see S&W get the QC under control before trying to release new versions of the gun.
Thanks for commenting Mike!
@@Paul_Whaley I don’t think there’s a design flaw with the feed ramp. I know multiple people with one and it’s 100% reliable. Possibly quality control issue, but the design I think a solid.
Bought mine on the 6th. and after 72hr. wait picked up on afternoon on the 9th. Took it home cleaned and reviewed manual. Shot it on the 10th. Shipped it back for repairs on the 11th. What can I say. Sig P365-380 has 400> rounds NO issues.
I bought one of these a couple of months ago and finally found some time to shoot it yesterday. I shot 2 mags of hollow point, then loaded up some flat nose FMJs. It didnt shoot the last round in the mag and as I was trying to eject the round, the extractor came off. There was no noticeable strike on the primer of the round. So, I'm still not really sure what happened.
That is really a strange malfunction/breakage. Hopefully S&W can get the gun repaired/fixed quickly!
Good video. I definitely still want one, but I'll keep an eye out for those defects. As for the use of hollow points, I'll be using ball ammo only because gelatin tests with ball ammo make the .380 acceptable for penetration results. Hollow points fall short. Look it up.
Mine had the recoil spring problem, would not go back in slide after disassembly. And my front sight is over to one side.
Thank you, think I'll wait for gen 2.
THANKS for you honest input... I finally took my new Bodyguard out to the range yesterday and the BIGEST issue I have with the gun is the sights... I too noticed that it was shooting to the left. I personally HATE the sights and especially the front sight. I would prefer a green fiber front sight that illuminated like a Christmas tree for better targeting... The only feed issue I had with various ammo was with some cheap Tula steel ammo, it fed DOUBLETAP Controlled Expansion, NovX, Underwood with Lehigh bullet , RNFP just fine...
I have the Ruger LCP MAX which came with those same lousy glow in the dark front sights that I changed out to Williams green fiber sight... As soon as someone comes out with fiber sights for this gun, I am taking that junk glow in the dark sight OFF.. SERIOUSLY, if you need a glow in the dark sight because it is too dark to see then maybe you should just get the heck out of there to avoid a bad situation...
BTW, I love the ergonomics of the Bodyguard over the Ruger LCP MAX hands down!
I've heard other people had issues with Fiocchi in this gun and they said it was an ammunition compatibility issue, not a problem with the gun.
In their case they said it ran flawlessly with other brands. For example I have read that Federal Hydra Shok and Tula steel case sold under the brand 'Sergeant Major Munition' worked fine. Did you have issues with any other brands of ammunition?
I am on the fence in regard to buying one. It checks a lot of boxes and is a very handsome design but there are more than a couple people who have had issues that were dismissed as break in, stiff magazines or ammo sensitivity.
I had issues with Federal Punch, along with the Fiocchi JHP. The issue is not really ammo sensitive per se, as much as the defect on the feed ramp causing issues with specific bullet designs.
Break-in is certainly a thing that can exist, however, issues like the guns not shooting to the sights en masse, feed ramp ledges, sights not budging in dovetails, and followers not being able to be fully depressed are not things that will break in. QC issues like these will require work to make the whole gun work.
I'd recommend waiting to buy one for a hot minute. The gun would be great if you could guarantee that you'd be getting one that is acceptable, but that's not possible at this time.
I always consider ammo sensitivity to be an issue with the gun, not the ammo. That may change with some ammo that's very different from regular ammo... but any semi-auto should be able to load any normal JHP ammo. I think the BG 2.0 is an excellent firearm all around though. Am really surprised to fin out about this issue, because I know so many people that have them and haven't heard of a single issue with any of them. Have also watched several videos on them also and haven't heard of any problems. They all seem to run flawlessly. With any new product though, there will always be unforeseen problems that have to be addressed. It comes with the territory and it's not really the manufacturers fault. They can't build and test 1 million guns before they start selling them. That would be impossible... and those rare problems can only ever be found after they start mass producing them. (Like if 1 in 1000 guns have a bad feed ramp, none of the 500 guns they built and tested before production may not have shown the issue... or they start using different tools to mass produce the guns that they're selling, which end up causing unintended/unforeseen problems, like one of the 20 injection molds they use had a flaw from the company that manufactured them). It sucks that people can be so unfair about some things sometimes. With all the countless operations that go into making and mass producing a firearm, there's bound to be a couple problems at the start. That's a small risk that people take when they buy a brand new model firearm (and I appreciate that, because without those people, we would never have new products. They would all fail, because people were too cowardly to try something new.)
I have a love/hate relationship with S&W. I bought a 442-1 in summer 2023, had some minor cosmetic issues from the factory (blemishes on the frame, slightly canted/offset barrel, etc.) but functions flawlessly and is accurate to the sights with every load I've shot except one. Bought a 432UC this past June and it also had some blemishes on the front face of the cylinder, but again functions normally and is accurate to its sights.
Then I decided I wanted to get a 442UC as well, since the UC sights are such an improvement over the gutter sights. Went to pick it up and upon inspection, the cylinder would more often than not require a LOT of force to open and close. I tried to remember if this was how my 432UC was at first but I'm pretty certain it wasn't. I disappointedly refused the transfer and returned it to the seller. I may try my luck with another one in a few months but I am not getting my hopes up. S&W makes some great guns, but the quality control is shameful.
It's really a mess with S&W. Good designs marred by bad QC. I've heard a lot of horror stories with the UC guns, which I know has angered Darryl Bolke and crew. Thanks for commenting with your experiences! I always like to get input from folks!
I bought 2 in July on the same day. One works flawlessly and the other jams out of battery without firing. It's been at S&W warranty since July 31st and the other is in my front pocket. Seems to be luck of the draw which you get.
Really is the case. What a shame. Thanks for commenting!
Bought one last week. Tried to give it a good cleaning when I got home but the slide would not come off. Guys at the gun shop could not get it to release either so it is currently back at S&W
My round count on the new 2.0 is now over 750 rounds, without a single issue. I do wish the sights were better, the front sight isn't a very good color (I'm partial to bright green or orange) and the rear is far too wide...one can only wait until the aftermarket catches up. Mine had no step on the feed ramp.
I love mine, the shooting to the left can easily be corrected by adjusting the front sight
Mine also shoots left as I'm finding many do... but... not being able to move the rear sight, seriously?
BTW, that lip on the feed ramp video, well mine doesn't have that so maybe that was addressed and corrected... my 2.0 arrived three weeks ago.
As to their customer service... I'm very pleased with it... answered my call quickly, 1'st time I spoke with a manager and the 2'nd call was to another fella... both were very attentive to my issue and seemed happy to resolve any issue.
The 12 round mag that came with my 2.0 would absolutely NOT take the 12'th round. I have to FORCE the 11'th in by standing on it. S&W had another 12 round mag at my door in three days... unfortunately... the second 12-round mag was no better than the original.
I called them back and I was told... "we just got a bunch of new 12-round mags in that are verified to hand load 12-rounds and we're sending you one of these and you can keep the other we sent you.
I've seen here where another person actually snipped the last spring winding off the bottom the the mag spring and WHALA the 12'th round fit! So, I'll be doing that to the first two 12-round mags I have.
Thanks for the info on your experiences with the BG Ray!
Even after getting the gun back from S&W, the rear sight is still quite hard to move. It can move a little, but it requires a ton of force to do so.
With the 12 round mag fix, I think you probably saw my video on it. I chopped off most of the bottom loop of the spring, and now the magazine works reliably with 12 rounds in it.
I'm still tinkering with the gun, so there will be more vids on the gun coming from me soon! Thanks for watching & commenting!
Bought mine on Monday. I always do a very deep once over and polish of a new gun before I put a round through a gun, that's just me. Did not have a ridge nor did the ramp require polishing (Unlike my recent Canik purchase). I went to the range on Tuesday and put 150 assorted rounds through it. I was shooting my LCP Max at the same time for comparison. At the beginning The S&W was shooting high to the left but I soon realized it was me actually anticipating a snappy recoil as is present when I shoot the LCP Max. Because of the high bore this gun does shoot fairly flat. Usually after about 20-30 rounds the LCP Max is not very enjoyable to shoot but the S&W was very fun and easy to shoot. In the beginning the 12 round mag was very hard to get 12 rounds in. After about the 4th reload it worked fine. Just like the LCP Max, this is a very small gun so being accurate takes practice. With well over several 1000 rounds through the LCP versions I would say I am used to shooting this size mouse gun but It still took a bit of adjustment on my part to be accurate. I have heard of several folks having some issues with the recoil spring and when the have contacted S&W the company was quick to send replacements. I don't doubt at all that you had some issues but for some of us this Gun has worked great. I like 380's (Ya weird, I know. even like my Bursa Thunder), I thought the LCM Max was a great little double stack 380 but I do believe S&W made the Bodyguard 380 better. Hey, to each his own, me my Bad luck big hype gun was the Canik Mete...... Hope your issues get fixed
Glad I watched this. I once had a gun with a two-piece feed ramp & nothing I could do would change that. I used to love a smith but it seems all companies stopped making products and now just make money.
The ejector on my LCP II 380 went flying off the gun right out of the box. Seems that many of the pocket pistols have issues.
My experience from the beginning to now over 500+ rounds of a wide variety of ammo. I can sum up my experience with one word “perfection.” Magazines were at first difficult to load the last round but are now fine👍
Rear sight frozen, feed ramp has ridge on it that catches on hollow points, and the 12 round magazine won’t hold more than 2 rounds because the follower hangs up. Will definitely send back to S&W
It's really a shame that so many guns got put to market with all of these issues. Fingers crossed that the RMA process goes quickly!
i have this exact issue and sent it back to them. they sent it back saying the gun was fine after 3 weeks. it literally catastrophically fails after every round of flat faced ammo
Sorry to hear about the issues. It's really been a messy launch for this gun.
Every one of them shoots left from the factory but after 100 rounds through mine I love it. My LCP Max is going on armslist.
7 weeks and counting back at the factory for mine, so plan on doing other life projects while you wait for it. Broken thumb safety was the issue with mine.
What a shame. Sorry to hear about the breakage. It seems like with each new production run, something else is becoming a new problem with the gun.
Bought a centurian hi power. No issues. Hits dead on. Made in turkey. Yay.
Agree about S&W problems. I bought a brand new S&W ShieldPlus about a year ago. Brought it home and was going to take it apart for cleaning and lube before taking to the range. When I tried to disassemble it, I couldn't get the slide off. Brought it back to the gun shop where I purchased it and had the gunsmith try, and he couldn't get it off either. Long story short, I had to send my brand new gun back to S&W to be repaired. It was a broken slide spring and slide release mechanism, and they also replaced the firing pin and some other internals. Doing an internet search, I saw there were lots of other people who had the same issue with their brand new guns. 6 weeks later, I got the gun back, and it has been working fine since. I was NOT very happy, and will not buy another S&W again.
Can't blame you there. All it takes is one piss-poor experience with a company to write them off.
Exact same issue. Didn't see this before I commented with same story about the 2.0
I can't rack mine Bodyguard 2.0. I've never had a problem with any other gun. What can I do?
I like the original. It's accurate enough and double action. It has a heavy trigger and the safety can be left off while stored in my backpack . I would not trust a striker fire gun with the safety off and a trigger thats not as heavy as the original. Im sure its better shooting than the original. Unfortunately, they changed an important aspect i need for a daily carry.
I have the sight misalignment issue (drastically shoots left on a vice). In addition, both factory magazines don't allow the slide to lock after the last round is shot.
The gun is really small I think you're writing the slide release
@@eddiesmith9278 yeah, I think you're right about that. When I'm consciously keeping my hands away from the slide release, I'm seeing that the slide does indeed lock back with an empty mag inserted. I'm thinking it's my thumb on my dominant hand causing the issue. Will have to try putting it on my left hand's thumb knuckle to give the slide release room to do its job.
Mine has a hitch in the trigger. It catches on the trigger safety pretty hard. Both in the LGS had the same thing so i figured it would smooth out after a hundred rounds, and all of them felt like that. No other problems however.
Good info to note! Mine sort of does that, right when the trigger safety is depressed into the trigger shoe itself.
Great review. Appreciate your insights and honesty. Will look for your other reviews on the web.
Thanks friend! I mainly do written work over at www.primerpeak.com/author/paul-w/ , but I upload plenty here on YT too. I plan on more tabletop video content as time goes on, not just raw shooting footage.
Real good review and pointing out the split feed ramp. Wow. And you didn't hold back on the gun problems. Yeh, send it back. I'll enjoy my taurus g2c g3c 40
So glad I watched this. I am MUCH less likely to buy one now. And you're probably right about the company just not having the prowess to pull off this complicated design. Think I'll stick with my old Glock 43. :)
I got the Bodyguard 2.0. I cleaned and lubricated it and took to the range and fired about 25 rounds of different kinds of ammo. I had one miss feed using Extreme Defender ammunition. I thought that was a quirk. Later at home I was loading the gun and wanted to chamber a round from the magazine and reload the magazine. I was loading Extreme Defenders. I immediately had a problem chambering a round, so I switched to hollow points. Again, I would not chamber the round. I looked inside the gun and saw the same problem with the feed ramp that you described. I believe it is a design flaw. That ridge should not be there. Probably the reason I did not have much trouble at the range was that the slide was probably moving faster after a round was fired and that helped the Defenders and hollow points over the obstruction. Hopefully Smith & Wesson will fix the design someday, but in the meantime, I am going to get out my Dremel and fix it. My gun is also shooting to the left. I haven’t tried to fix that yet.
Thanks for commenting! Sorry to hear about the issues on your gun.
I wanted to like it. Felt good holding it...until I went to the range and fired it. My Bodyguard 2.0 also shot to the left, but it was also finicky on ammo. This is the 1st pocket 380 I've owned (Ruger LCP Max, Springfield 911, Remington RM380) that actually doesn't like some ammo. Seems to be the feed ramp issue you mentioned. I also thought the trigger was crap. I was hoping to like it with the flat face since I hate the safety dongle like Glocks have. the trigger works fine, it just feels so mushy/plastic. I think it would be a bit better if this wasn't a pocket pistol with tiny grips. It just seems like your finger goes back forever until you finally get to the wall and then your finger is at a weird angle due to traveling back so far.
These guns are really a mixed bag of build quality. The trigger in my gun doesn't feel horrible, but I do much prefer the one on my G42.
The trigger feel would likely feel better if the trigger was positioned further forward, and gave you more trigger reach.
Thanks for commenting!
My body guard didn’t work. I could fire 2 rounds and it jams up. Had to send it back to smith and Wesson I hope they are fast it’s been 2 weeks now. I’m not a patient person
Sorry to hear that. Shame that so many of these came out with such poor QC.
I believe the rear site is screwed in from bottom of slide, mine has been amazing,I love it!!!!!
It is not. It’s just a really, really, tight fit for the sight and the dovetail.
mine has what seems like a urethane smudge on themiddle portion of the grip...
I’ve helped run an ffl in upstate NY for the last 13 years. Took us a while to get a few of these in NY with only the 10rd mags. I personally bought one as a new back up piece. It shot 50 rounds of ball ammo… went to run 25 rounds of Hornady 115gr Critical defense ammo. It jammed on the feed ramp EVERY-TIME trying to load the Hornady. Its back @ Smith and I’m curious what they come up with. I think this little guy needs a redesign.
Shame to hear about those issues. I think that S&W really rushed the design out to market to try and prove something about their new factory in TN.
@@Paul_Whaley agreed. Also 95gr Hornady not 115gr lol
The issue I have with mine is the front sight. The rear seems fine, but the front sight is way off, like visibly off. I have no idea how that passed QC.
Trust me when I say that S&W lets a lot of messy things get cleared through QC. My 351c with half a logo engraved on it is my strangest QC oddity.
My LCP max with Viridian laser is still in my pocket and will be until I’ve fired many more rounds through the 2.0. $500 gun and $500 of breakin ammo to replace an LCP that’s never had a malfunction seems kinda dumb in my part
I'm also having problems with mine shooting low and left send it back to Smith and Wesson
Agree with your comments on SW quality. This is a M 2.0 so it should be an improvement over the original Bodyguard. Does have a good carry form factor.
I unfortunately purchased one. I am happy with the size and the fact that it’s light even with a full 12 rounds.
First thing first. The 12 round magazine would not let me load past 3 rounds. It kept getting stuck. I opened the mag and trimmed a little piece of the plastic loader and that fine now. Loading 12 into that magazine is almost impossible.
Secondly, I found out just yesterday she doesn’t like hollow point ammo. I loaded it up with Critical defense and failed to load every other round. She handles FMJ balls no problem. So now I’m at the point of what to do. Do I use her as a pocket pistol with regular ammo or just use it for range days. It’s a shame, it really is.
Really is a shame. Sorry to hear this my friend.
When I buy a .380 I just stick to ball ammo. No matter what gun brand you buy I've noticed most .380's are very ammo sensitive, so I just stick with the good ole ball ammo.
The only ammo I’ve had that just won’t feed is Underwood XD-Platinum. In both 12 and 10 round mags, they just got hung up 2 to 4 times in either mag.
I sold my hk p30sk to purchase a shield plus only b/c I love the striker fire feel and the shield just felt like it was made for me. As a former gunsmith, the HK is way better built but I still prefer the shield.
Love mine. My front sight was off. Easy fix. Mine has the mechanical saftey. Flawless no issues.
Rented one of these at the range last month-really liked the way it shoots, but yes, it shot left 😂
Well, I'm taking a little solace in knowing that this particular issue is pretty widespread. Glad to hear that it was otherwise pleasant!
@@Paul_Whaley I liked it enough to spend $90 on a weighted Bluegun to fondle until the TS version is in stock at my LGS
@@wiesejay That's great to hear! Fingers crossed that there aren't any QC issues! With these guns, when they work well, they're really nice.
This is a second generation of this gun. The first one my wife had and couldn't get rid of it fast enough because the trigger was so bad. This way my family want buy S&W
Time for the bodyguard 3.0
Hahaha, got a chuckle out of me.
Sorry you are having troubled with your Bodyguard 2.0. I purchased one myself. I've taken it to the range put 150 rounds down range. With not one malfunction. Haven't found any real issues with this firearm. I think it does shoot a little to the left though. Thank you for your informal video.
2 failures in the first 4 rounds, then 296 perfect. Don’t get me started on S&W canted revolver sights though! Hasn’t been right since they stopped pinning them.
Agreed - There's are way too many canted S&W revolver barrels and shrouds (two piece barrel models). Thankfully they seem to fix them pretty quickly during warranty repair work. I've had to send back two.
Other than the mags being very tight, and the slide stop as well, I've had no issues. With time, both will loosen up.
I’ve got 300 rds. through mine without an issue. I love it as a pocket pistol.
This is why you don’t buy firearms from a website, and have it shipped to your FFL. I almost always buy in person. My BG 2.0 had the front sight slightly off center. Used my sight pusher to center it. Other than that, mine has fed everything I’ve given it. I guess I got a relatively good one. S&W needs to seriously work on their QA/QC practices, because there seems to be a lot of minor issues with the BG 2.0, some minor, and some a bit more serious.
This BG 2.0 was purchased in-person, at a local big box store. I bought it early enough that people did not really know about, nor talk about the issues of the gun. As such, it passed the initial sniff test when I was buying it. It wasn't until I started shooting mine that I also began seeing folks talk about the fairly common problems with the gun.
Well, 3 months later and I'm getting a lot of comments & messages about folks having issues with the guns. I'm shocked to say, but that list of issues keeps expanding.
Thanks for commenting!
@ the only issue I’ve had so far, was I needed to drift the front sight slightly to the left. For me, that wasn’t a big deal. I have a sight pusher, and have replaced sights on a few of my pistols. However, for most people, that’s a big issue. S&W. seems to have a QA/QC issue over the last few years
Just to add to the list, I like mine. Bought it in November.
I ordered this 2 days ago, & can't wait to try it at the range - I hope it has no issues
I agree with the idea that they should charge more and do better with quality control. The gun’s gonna get someone killed if it doesn’t function properly. For the bodyguard 2.0 that I received, I was able to gunsmith out all of the issues I was having so I did not have to send it in. I made several videos showing what I did and how to actually improve the gun overall. I will be uploading them over the next few weeks.
I will say I had failure to feed issues with a $3200 Wilson Combat and the problems continued when I sent it in and it came back. The gun is at least a few years old now and I have not once ever carried it because it’s my most unreliable gun.
I bought ine this weekend, brought it home and could not for the life of me push and engage the safety. Seems so cheap, had to take a small screwdriver and push it to engage it, but man it hurts my finger to engage it. Also the 12 Rd mag would not go all the way up into the base of the gun at all, husband had to push it in hard literally. With all the great reviews i looked at it seems like a cheaply put together .380. And to think I have not even fired it yet! I am thinking about taking it back to Scheels.
Sorry to hear about your negative experiences with the gun Toni. These really have been a botched release, which is such a shame. The gun would be really great, if S&W could actually make them to a consistent, good degree.
What about polishing the ledge with a dremmel....easy fix?
Perfect results with mine. No issues.
What people don't know is the influencers that got sent one had to sign an eight-page agreement of things they would and would not say about this gun.
Really? How did you find that out?
@@6Sally5 one of the jealous RUclipsrs that didn't get one sent to them. 😭.
😏
@@6Sally5 a RUclipsr that must have been jealous he didn't get sent one.
If it was a ruger it would be 80 pages…
I love mine but to be honest, I can’t run critical defense because they get stuck on the ramp . So yes that is a legit problem. I use flat or ball and it runs flawlessly. I love it !!!!!!
Just bought one and it functions fine so far but the rear sight is way left and S&W says a 4-6 week turnaround, I ended up paying a gunsmith $20.00 to get the sights right, he noticed the front sight was not centered either. S&W quality control has gone downhill, I had a S&W shiels plus that shot all over the place, the barrel was sloppy inside the slide. The last 5 S&W pistols I bought 4 had issues and went back, not a good track record. The M&P AR15 I bought has been flawless.
At least they got your front sight on facing the right direction. Mine was reversed.
Oof, that's a nightmare.
Sucks to hear, Paul. It's a promising little gun--but I think you bring up some good points about biting off more than they could chew, design-wise, for the given price point. Recently, I feel like I've started hearing about more issues like this with Smith's newer products. Maybe they're over innovating and they need to focus on the product lines they have. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for commenting Matt!
S&W is a company that has struggled to execute their best, most classic designs (revolvers), due to QC issues. I think that they really need to back up, fix the problems, and go from there.
Take care my friend!
Purchased one of these last week ran 300 rounds through it with 0 issues other than the tight ass mags that eventually broke in.
Paul, I too purchased a 43C S&W revolver and brand new out of box only shot 5 out of 8 charge holes. FKing pissed. still haven't sent it back. I've read on many forums where folks sent theirs in and when they finally received it back with the invoice of repairs, they (S&W) replaced the cylinder, the cylinder stop, the crane, the hand, all the springs, the trigger, the hammer, the firing pin, the ejector rod, blah, blah,blah. EVERYTHING BUT the receiver. Ridiculous. A $750 AirLite revolver broken out of the box. I'm getting pissed typing this. I'll stop now. I then purchased a Ruger LCR 22LR revolver and won't get rid of it for anything. 5,600 + rounds later and still ZERO issues of any kind and only 2 ounces heavier than the 43C. FLAWLESS! Get one, or you probably already have one. I have two new Bodyguard 2.0's. One with external safety and one without. Both run flawless. Both have the ledge on the feed ramp. 400 rounds and counting on one , and 600+ rounds on the other. They eat steel case ammo like candy. I will polish the ledge on the feed ramp just for the heck of it. I'm sorry your having problems with yours. Let us know what the do for you. One last thing...YES, S&W quality control is dog shit, at least on their revolvers for me. Someone needs their dick cut off.
Dude I had to send back my 442 UC because it was shooting six inches low with all grains of ammo.
I know we've talked about the 43c before, and how poor they are made. I'll read out the full invoice of what they swapped, but short of the frame itself and the barrel, nearly everything else was changed. The LCR is certainly a more reliable, better made gun.
I'm glad to hear that your Bodyguards are working, despite the feed ramp ledge. I don't think that the ledge is a consistent thing, as I've seen guns with them, without them, and with shorter ledges than on mine. My gun choked a bit with quality defensive ammo, so I feel like steel cased stuff would do about the same.
I'll be sure to do updates throughout my RMA process. I've got a written article in the works right now, and will do a video update once I get the gun back. When it comes to who to blame at S&W, I think it's likely the executives that are putting shareholders over quality. It's all about money over there these days.
North America Arms should bring a guardian 2.0 to market and sink the competition. They are employee owned, great cs, better than most qc…
If they had a double stack guardian 2.0 with more polymer in the frame and a 32 cal dao velo dog style revolver they could really get back into the game.
Love mine , it works well as an everyday carry here in the humidity of the SC lowcountry.