S&W Bodyguard 380 Pistol and 38 Revolver
One of the major product launches at SHOT Show was the launch of the S&W Bodyguard Series.
Smith & Wesson have applied the Bodyguard name to a variety of lightweight wheel guns over the past 50 or 60 years. The latest iteration of the Bodyguard brand again includes a light weight revolver but also, cleverly, a light weight pistol (offering something for everyone).
The Bodyguard 380 pistol and Bodyguard 38 Revolver were both designed with similar objectives in mind. Both are lightweight compacts, both are chambered in low-powered .38 caliber cartridges, both have a similar black finish and, notably, both come standard with a built-in laser sight.
The laser sight is a feature S&W will be marketing heavily. The INSIGHT manufactured lasers feature ambi control, constant and pulse modes, windage and elevation adjustment and three hour continuous operation.
S&W Bodyguard 380 Pistol
This pistol is a brand new design. It is lightweight at 11.85 ounces, although not quite as light as the Kel-Tec P-3AT which weights in at just 8.3 oz. Its polymer frame with integral laser has a cool futurist look to it.
It is double action, has an external safety and can hold 6+1 rounds of .380 ACP ammunition.
| Specifications | |
|---|---|
| Caliber | .380 ACP |
| Capacity | 6+1 |
| Finish | black Melonite coating |
| Barrel | 2.75" |
| Total Length | 5.25" |
| Height | 4.1" |
| Width | 0.75" |
| Weight | 11.85 ounces |
| Rear Sight | drift adjustable |
| Other Features | Laser sight |
| MSRP (Price) | $575 |
| Availability | May 2010 |
S&W Bodyguard 380 Revolver
The Bodyguard 380 is a lightweight J-Frame with aluminum/polymer frame and steel cylinder. While less exciting than the above autoloader, it is a decent compact revolver. It features an ambidextrous cylinder release on top and fully enclosed hammer for snag-free drawing. The laser is mounted on the left side (laser switch is mounted on top for ambidextrous use).
| Specifications | |
|---|---|
| Caliber | .38 Special +P |
| Capacity | 5 |
| Frame | One-piece aluminum alloy upper frame. Steel reinforced polymer lower frame. |
| Barrel | 1.9" |
| Total Length | 6.6" |
| Height | 4.39" |
| Width | 1.36" |
| Weight | 14.3 ounces |
| Finish | matte black PVD finish |
| Grip | one-piece rubber grip |
| Sights | notch-style rear sight. Pinned blade front sight. |
| Other Features | Laser sight |
| MSRP (Price) | $625 |
| Availability | May 2010 |
That bodyguard .380 looks a LOT like a Taurus Millennium.
“both are chambered in low-powered 9mm (.38) cartridges”
Pretty sure 9mm and .38 are not the same.
p3dal, they sure are. In metric .38 Special is called 9×29mmR and .380 Auto is 9×17mm or 9mm Browning. But I can see why confusion could arise so I have changed the wording.
Other names for .380 ACP include .380 Auto, 9mm Browning, 9mm Corto, 9mm Kurz, 9mm Short, and 9×17mm.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.380_ACP
Ill take a 380 please. Very glad to see S&W finally offer a 380 pocket gun.
While I like both and applaud S&W for trying to think outside the box a little, I am baffled by the emphasis on ambidextrous cylinder release. The cylinder still opens to the left side of the gun, so it will still be awkward for lefties…
Now, if they had a common trigger, grip frame, cylinder release, with an option of either left or right side opening cylinder, then I would be well and truly impressed. Or, if it were a top break, which would be well and truly ambidextrous.
Damn nice marketing.
@DaveP, I thought the same thing.
-D
Wonder how the revolver’s trigger action is. Like the current heavy-but-reliable 642? The price gonna be a lot more than the Ruger LCR Crimson? The laser being on top won’t interfere with trigger finger muscle memory positioning.
Any word on how to change out the batteries/ what batteries are used? I can’t see any obvious cover where they would be, and I’d hate to have to disassemble the gun just to swap batteries.
Bodyguard 380 looks really nice. I think it’s all going to depend on price.
9 mm Browning SHORT is the .380 ACP
(because there is the 9 mm Browning LONG, which is .38 ACP and obsolete.)
Well, it happened. Uglier guns than Glocks are now being made.
The Ambi cylinder release is a nice touch,I hope it becomes more widely available.
Is it just me or is the Bodyguard 380 pistol’s barrel bent upwards in the shot with its slide racked back?
Stylishly Ugly!
Did the Ruger LCR turn stylishly ugly into the latest trend in personal defense.
With the aluminum/polymer frame, its pretty obvious that the revolver is meant to be in direct competition with the LCR.
They both seem pretty slick, but I think that the revolver is my favorite of the two.
Double action with external safety is redundant. The auto pistol is DOA.
Looking at the .380 pics it looks like the pistol uses a locking system similar to a keltec and doesn’t use a blowback system… so why chamber it in .380!? The ammo is weaker and had as hell to find right now. Seems like it would be simple to make it a 9×19. Everyone and their grandma is pumping out .380s lately and it’s killin me! I still think the Walther pps is about the best subcompact carry piece since those nice little kahr pistols. What does everyone else think?
Oh the integral lasers are bad ass though…. hahaha. Bet the price will be 500+.
Mass Ayoob reported disclosed the MSRPs on each gun:
.380 — $575
.38 — $625
http://backwoodshome.com/blogs/MassadAyoob/2010/01/19/shot-show-day-one-2/
Hello, I am Nigerian Defense Minister. I would like to buy 1,000 of each gun. No need to follow laws, just put them in big box and mail to me. I will send you money by PayPal. We can meet in Vegas to discuss if you want. I promise to come alone, no cops.
I dont understand why manufactures are coming out with small 380`s.. The 380 is a marginal self defense round, and costs more than 9mm. I would rather they come out with small 9mm`s like the Kahr PM9 for a pocket pistol. I have the Kahr PM9, and PM45.. Both fit in my front pants pocket.. and you cant tell there there..
I have a comment and a couple of questions.
Recently I handled a “DAO” Kahr K9. I quickly noticed that it does not have a second-strike capability. Nonetheless, it is marketed as “double action.”
1. Does this seem wrong? Double action should include second strike. My Sig 226 and my old S&W 5906 were DA/SA and had second strike.
2. Does the S&W Bodyguard 380 have second strike?
Everyone knows that a 9×19mm and a 9×17mm (.380) are nominally .356″ vs. the .38 Special/.357 Magnum which is nominally .358″, but few people realize that almost NOBODY makes rifling buttons which are .356″. Most 9mms out there have .3585″ groove diameters. Slug your bore and see. My Hi Power, Beretta, and an assortment of others I’ve tested all have .3585″.
ericire12, thanks for the info.
@ Grey: The top-mounted cylinder release DOES actually make a left-handed reload a bit more convenient, as the LH thumb doesn’t have to swing all the way over to the other side of the gun as with current conventional DA revolvers, but can instead stop halfway in a slightly more natural-feeling position behind the rear sight. The lefty-revolver reload techniques from Massad Ayoob’s “StressFire Vol. 1″ book can be applied readily with the New Bodyguard as it is.
However, I do foresee that the top-mounted cylinder release MAY be a visual distraction for old-school Smith shooters, like…me, for one.
And since I AM an old-school, reactionary-Luddite, traditionalist Smith shooter, who viscerally distrusts and despises components like the “Clinton/HUD lock” I see pictured – parts whose sole(and flawed) raison-d’etre is to prevent the deliberate firing of a gun designed for fast, close, desperate defensive situations – I believe I shall continue to search out and purchase the pre-lock Model 640/642/442 Centennials that I have come to know and trust.
The safety could be useful if people decide to carry these unholstered in their pockets or purses. I still wouldn’t recommend doing this though. Get a holster.
I would suspect (but don’t take my word for it) that with the locked breech (short recoil) you can use a weaker recoil spring and/or a lighter slide than with blowback. So the gun gets easier to operate for people with less strength (women for instance). But this is just speculation on my part.
By the way, the behaviour of the people in the video seems rather paranoid to me. I’d hope I would wait for a more tangible threat until drawing and lasering up the place.
I found the black and white video to very informative –
1. If you are a rich businessman, don’t wander down dark alleys alone at night
2. If you are wearing a suit and a long coat, carry a larger caliber pistol
3. If you are a woman likely to get mugged, don’t put your pistol in your handbag, that’s the first thing purse snatchers like to grab
4. Lasers work best when there is plenty of smoke / steam / dry ice
5. The use of fear to sell your products is a good one. Hopefully S&W’s next video will feature even more images of extreme terror, maybe have some dead family members lying in blood in their living room and the tagline ‘Should have bought Smith & Wesson, but you’re too late, they’re all dead.’
The 2 people in the first video are wearing long coats, and the woman is carrying a large purse also.. Both could be carrying and concealing.. a little larger, but far more effective self defense weapons.. The 380 and 38 Special are whimpy cartridges.. with long records of NOT stopping aggression.. Plus those tiny 380`s are to small to be used effectively.. There`s nothing hardly to hold on to.. Feels like a toy in my hand.. Both of these cartridges were never recommented for serious self defense..
@Carl – LOL, good point about drawing and lasering up the place at the earliest provocation.
Maybe in the next video, the business man and the young woman draw guns on each other when they see the lasers, but instead of shooting each other, they fall in love. Aaaah.
The .38 special was the premier police cartridge in the US and most of the rest of the world for over 80 years Tom. It was used by dozens of militaries as well, and it would probably STILL be the premier police cartridge if not for the rise of semi-auto designs in popularity.
You could make the argument that pistol cartridges in general are wimpy, since none of them will stop an aggressor in their tracks save for a hit on the central nervous system, but then again, you could probably make that case for a good many rifle cartridges as well. Bullet placement trumps displacement always.
I like Spudgun’s idea for a video:
“Two strangers, alone, in a hostile world. The fear and excitement of that first surprise encounter. The adrenaline. The Pheromones. The gunplay. It was a Mexican standoff that ended… in romance. Fall in love with Smith and Wesson’s new Bodyguards this Valentines day!”
Tom, I have to disagree with you slightly. I might not be the biggest fan of .380, the .38 special(especially with the more modern ammunition) they can both be a quite effective tools. Remember it’s not the gun you want in a fight it’s the gun you have, and let’s face it if I knew I was going to be in a gun fight i’d be somewhere else, and if i couldn’t i’d bring a rifle. These guns are really just meant to be better than nothing. And I’ve never met anyone who would want to be shot with anything.
I started laughing when I read the “Nigerian Defense Minister’s” post. That was a minute ago. I’m still laughing. PERFECT comedic timing and tone. You are wonderful, sir.
A wimpy as .380 may be, I am pretty sure a mag dump at self defense distances is going to dissuade hostile action.
Tiny .380s make it so there is never a wardrobe or sloth related excuse to carrying.
I don’t mind .380 for a bug. I think I might have to pick up one of these two guns.
I will agree on one point.. A 380 or 38 Special is better than nothing.. But there are people out there that document police shootings.. The 380 and 38 are dismal failures.. Even in my city.. Police are banned from carrying 9mm`s, with modern ammunition i may add.. Police went from revolvers to Hi-Cap 9mm`s.. When the 40 S&W came out.. They traded in there 9mm`s for the 40 S&W, because of 9mm`s failures.. All this is well documented and the info is on the web..
Very well, but that depends on what department of which your speaking. Alot of people had mixed results with alot of different brands of 9mm, the most successful of which i believe was the 9bple round by federal. And alot of that switching was done when the .40 was brand new. Keep in min this is coming from someone who only carries a 9mm/.38 special/.380 as backups to a .45 ACP, or when the government tells me i have to go to war with one. Basically my only point was getting shot universally sucks, no matter what you get shot by. I personally don’t find law enforcement record/restrictions to be a viable basis for an argument. while some of those decisions are hard learned on the street someof them are made on an uneducated bias to something small. I would like to re-iterate that I carry a .45 pretty much everywhere I go, i too prefer big bullets. Personally i think S&W did i great job developing new tools for the toolbox. But that is just my opinion.
A .38 Special revolver is interesting (and the price seems OK), but the pistol is soooo ugly. And nowadays every manufacturer have to have a small .380 ACP. Just BECAUSE.
It is like the fashion trend of subcompact M1911s.
I think, the .38 snubbie will stay with us forever, the .380 ACP pocket pistols maybe not.
How about just calling them what we call them .380 and .38 special, why do we need to be “fancy” ? Geez !
I never mess with .380, but I think to call .38 Special, especially in +P, and 9MM both in all their 2010 offerings, wimpy, weak or whatever,is silly. There are so many new designs, from credible sources in the last few years, after the switch to .40 became popular, that negates some of that. Just my opinion of course, but I have read similar statements by those who are supposedly in the know.
The videos are interesting, I guess I am lucky that I do not ever travel in any alleys like the guy was in, nor would allow my wife to have to walk in some dingy dark garage alone, but that’s just me.
New small 380`s.. 38 snub`s.. its all about marketing and profits.. not what works.. Don`t be mislead..
I don’t use .380 myself… but I also believe that there’s not a single person here decrying its value, who’d be willing to be shot with it as an experiment.
Worry less about hundreths of an inch and more about getting good shot placement and you’ll all be better off.
They seem like nice little guns, nut they’re nothing special. For someone with big meaty hands, they’re probably not a choice but I have seen several comments on this blog and on others that their wife doesn’t like .45s, or 9mms, or .357s. These are not really for experienced shooters with big meaty hands, its for those who can’t or don’t want to carry something bigger. Would you rather have these not be available for your wife or girlfriend to use?
Idiots. Kel tec and Ruger already make those guns. Jumping into a mature market.
What they should have done, and should do, is make a titanium 380 – lighter weight, replace all the plastic with top-of-the-line metal, improve the reliability with quality and materials, and jack up the price accordingly. Price is no object, for a better deep concealed carry gun. People aren’t buying the P3AT and the Ruger LCP because they are cheap guns, we are buying them because they are small and light.
I might have bought the pistol version if it was in 9mm. Shame. You get nearly the same size gun with much more reliable stopping power.
Dustydog,
People ARE buying the Kel-Tec and Ruger Lame Cloned Pistol because they are cheap! They aren’t buying Rohrbaughs and Seecamps in the same quantities because they cost too much! Look at the Colt Mustang. Great little gun, decent seller, but in it’s entire production life, there were probably as many built as there are P3ATs built in a year! That’s because the Colt’s product cost considerably more, and people weren’t willing to pay that much for “just a .380″.
The top mounted cylinder release solves a problem some of us have with the J-Frame: getting the thumb knuckle sliced up by the cylinder latch during recoil. The latch rarely fails to spill my blood even in steel-framed models. The latest kidney-shaped latches are the worst in this regard. At least the old seashell-shaped latches could be cut down and recontoured because they were solid, unlike the hollowed out MIM latches. The much older flat latches probably would have been even better.
I also hope the new stocks can be retrofitted to the J-frames.
I second that, Mr. Watters. I have a permanent callus on my right thumb knuckle from the infrequent use of standard .38s in a J-frame. I don’t even own a J-frame .38!
Boy I think Smith missed the boat here…why not make the auto 9mm nearly the same size as the .380 and alot easier to find ammo for. I have a LCP and would trade in a heart beat for a small 9
I love how people say the .380 is a wimpy round. Its like they go around and shoot eachother in the ass and giggle “it tickles, its just a .380! hehe!”
These guns are made to stick in someones face or gut, to save your life. It may not be the best gun for the job, but it will get the job done.
Another problem with unusual and expensive ammo (compared to 9mm) is that you probably won’t afford to train as much. Lots of training is just as important as using the right tool. I pity the fools who think they can just buy a gun and magically be able to use it properly in an emergency without a steady training regimen.
I’d give a well trained shooter with a .22lr better odds than an untrained one with whatever caliber.
Interesting cylinder release on the .38…but these are somewhat reminiscent of the Ruger LCR and LCP…