Smith & Wesson Body Guard: .380

reply to post by randomname

Because in some states open carry is illegal and called brandishing a fire arm.

I have a Bodyguard 380, get GOOD AMMO not cheap Hollow Points and you will be fine. I always carry in my pocket, is easier to reach without been so obvious you are reaching for a gun, most of the time the Bad Guy will ask you for everything you have in your pockets giving you the option to withdraw your firearm and fire.

Originally posted by cdesigns
I have a Bodyguard 380, get GOOD AMMO not cheap Hollow Points and you will be fine. I always carry in my pocket, is easier to reach without been so obvious you are reaching for a gun, most of the time the Bad Guy will ask you for everything you have in your pockets giving you the option to withdraw your firearm and fire.

I bought Hornady's Critical Defense ammo. This gun is amazing for a .380. I'm very happy with this purchase. Much more happier than trying to carry a lot of other weapons and brands. This was a great purchase.

Lots of people recommending fast expanding ammo. For most calibres I'd agree. However it has been shown that one of the most important factors in handgun "stopping power" (if you believe in such a thing) is penetration depth. Most tests seem to agree that a penetration of at least 12-14" in 10% balistic gel gives best results in real world shootings as anything less can't be guaranteed to penetrate cloathing/muscle/tissue to get to the important bits inside the target. In faster/heavier rounds such as the 9x19 or .40S&W expanding ammo is usually able to do this and still expand.

The .380ACP is not a powerful round at the best of times. It needs to be able to hold its weight to push through to the vitals. The hyper expansion loads such as the Glazer 70gr silver will make an impressive initial cavity but stops within around 6" of penetration in bare gel - less with cloathes. That'll hurt the target, but probably won't kill them quickly. Compare that with the Federal or Winchester 95gr FMJs which will push through 20+" of bare gel, or 16" through heavily cloathed gel. Admittedly the permanent cavity width isn't as impressive, but it is more likely to rip through the body and actually damage more tissue.

Expansion through cloathing is unreliable for most loads particularly at low velocity as the hollow points fill with the cloth, retarding expansion. Therefore relying on it is probably not the best idea. I would personally be wanting something that will reliably punch deep into the target and hit a vital organ rather than something that doesn't penetrate as deep but might give an extra few mm bigger cavity depending on cloathing.

In short I would recommend a reliable, heavy, fast FMJ for the .380ACP.

reply to post by PaddyInf

In short I would recommend a reliable, heavy, fast FMJ for the .380ACP.

Hey, Paddy! Thanks for the recommendation. I'll check out a heavier grain next time I'm out.

I finally took my BodyGuard to the range last night! It fired flawlessly. There was absolutely no recoil, it wasn't snappy in the least, and it hit its mark every time. I didn't put as many rounds through it as I wanted but enough to have fun.

reply to post by PaddyInf


I disagree with you. I think recommending anyone carry FMJ for anything other than target practice is bad information, as well as irresponible. In a self defense situation, one must think about the legal and moral recourse after a shooting takes place. FMJ will over penetrate, through dry wall in your house, through body parts, 20+ inches is enough to go through my abdomen (without striking bone) and hit something behind me. IMO, the only RESPONSIBLE choice for self defense is Hollow point/expanding ammunition.

reply to post by clayb2004


I agree. I posted a video earlier in this post.

I only carry the "Extreme Shock" brand in my carry guns. There is zero chance of a pass through or ricochet with that round, and it has the added benefits of maximizing knockdown power (and leaving little to no ballistic evidence, just in case that is a concern).

Originally posted by clayb2004
I disagree with you. I think recommending anyone carry FMJ for anything other than target practice is bad information, as well as irresponible. In a self defense situation, one must think about the legal and moral recourse after a shooting takes place. FMJ will over penetrate, through dry wall in your house, through body parts, 20+ inches is enough to go through my abdomen (without striking bone) and hit something behind me. IMO, the only RESPONSIBLE choice for self defense is Hollow point/expanding ammunition.

Really depends on whether you would rather actually stop the attacker quickly with as few shots as possible or have to fire more, less effective rounds.

If we were talking about something in the 9mm or larger range then I'd agree whole heartedly with you. They have the ability to push deep enough and still expand. However .380ACP needs to be able to penetrate to cause significant enough trauma to be effective. It's low weight and slow speed means that it is already struggling to do this. Expanding the surface are will retard this further.

Pistol rounds are already underpowered no matter what calibre you choose and .380 is underpowered for a pistol round. They need to hit something vital to stop an attacker, and most vital bits are protected by muscle, bone and other tissue, as well as cloathes. You need penetration to get through this.

The overpenetration of abdo shots etc will still hold true in EXPANDING 9mm, .40S&W, .45ACP etc. They regularly push through abdo cavities as they are optimised to expand in chest cavities which have much more mass than the abdomen - Trust me on this one, I was an A&E/ER nurse in Belfast in the early 90s before joining the Army - I've seen more than my fair share of pistol bullet wounds of most types. Most of the gunshots I saw were FMJ (or ball as we call them over here). I'd say that

Here's a question to pose to you guys and the forum.

I have mostly owned Glock firearms and therefore, striker-fired pistols. My .40 cal S&W PPS Slim Line was also striker-fired. Needless to say, I'm comfortable with this mechanism, trigger and safety mechanics, etc. I'm less familiar with SA/DA or DAO mechanisms. Everyone knows the BodyGuard .380 has a long and heavy trigger pull. It has an internal hammer, so am I to assume this pistol is double-action only? It surprised me that every trigger pull was the same, which doesn't particularly bother me because I'm used to that because of my Glock. I tried to find a weight on the pull but couldn't locate it. I understand, for example, the Army's M9, can be single-action on the first shot and double-action on subsequent shots, because of the external hammer.

On a side note, the pistol I purhased did not come with the two wrenches necessary to change the battery for the laser. I'm pretty sure it was a display model but I'm going to need those keys at some point.