# Smith and Wesson bodyguard reviews?



## halo1 (Oct 4, 2007)

I'm looking at a 380 pocket pistol ccw and some friends recommended the bodyguard with a laser. Anyone got one? Or recommend a different pocket ccw? Thanks!


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## hjorgan (Sep 30, 2007)

Just bought a Kimber Solo in 9mm. Sweet sweet CCW. Trigger is smooth as silk.


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## mirage2521 (Apr 22, 2009)

Forget the laser. Waste of money.


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## Capt. Mako (Aug 21, 2014)

Agree with Mirage. Red lasers are virtually worthless during daytime. Night time, of course, pretty nice. Green lasers during daytime are much better, but don't think the Bodyguard has that option. Could opt for the one sans laser though!


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## mirage2521 (Apr 22, 2009)

Capt. Mako said:


> Agree with Mirage. Red lasers are virtually worthless during daytime. Night time, of course, pretty nice. Green lasers during daytime are much better, but don't think the Bodyguard has that option.


I don't like them because they are a crutch. Learn to shoot your firearm of choice without crutches, they might not be there when you need them

A laser on a self-defense weapon is also counter productive in that in a self defense situation 1/100s of a second might make the difference in living or dying. That fraction of a second you spend trying to find and align that little red dot might be the last time you waste. 

Lasers make great cat toys but that's about it except in very limited LE and military operations. Instead, for self defense take some training and learn point shooting/threat focused/quick kill shooting. Whatever you choose to call it. Learn it, with very little practice you will be considerably faster and more accurate than with a laser.


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## wld1985 (Oct 2, 2007)

I've got one, I can see the laser during the day. There is also a way to adjust the laser to make it more on target but I haven't done that yet. It has a pretty good kick to the gun, and it good for a cw carry


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## mull it (Aug 20, 2012)

mirage2521 said:


> I don't like them because they are a crutch. Learn to shoot your firearm of choice without crutches, they might not be there when you need them
> 
> A laser on a self-defense weapon is also counter productive in that in a self defense situation 1/100s of a second might make the difference in living or dying. That fraction of a second you spend trying to find and align that little red dot might be the last time you waste.
> 
> Lasers make great cat toys but that's about it except in very limited LE and military operations. Instead, for self defense take some training and learn point shooting/threat focused/quick kill shooting. Whatever you choose to call it. Learn it, with very little practice you will be considerably faster and more accurate than with a laser.


Exactly what he said


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## KingMe!!! (Apr 25, 2008)

Just picked one up for my girlfriend for Christmas. Sweet little gun. Gut one without laser. She hitting all she wants at ten yards at the range. Fits a small hand really well. I just saw tgd had the ruger lcp for 209.00 bucks. For a pocket pistol, you can't beat that price.


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## Trble Make-rr (Sep 30, 2007)

I have a Ruger LC9. Biggest piece of crap on this planet. Please don't waste your money on it. I am an above average shooter and I can't get a group in 10 ft. Trigger sucks. It has a point after firing that makes you feel like it reset. Wrong............ You gotta let it let it go all the way to the front. Again. Don't waste your money.


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## hsiF deR (Oct 4, 2009)

halo1 said:


> I'm looking at a 380 pocket pistol ccw and some friends recommended the bodyguard with a laser. Anyone got one? Or recommend a different pocket ccw? Thanks!


I bought one last week for my wife. It fits her hand well and the action was easy for her to load. She has small hands so she has a lot of trouble racking a round in the chamber. The Bodyguard is very easy for her. 
The laser is a waste. If your using for CCW save the weight not to mention, you will never need the laser to hit something 20' or less.


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## Brandon_SPC (Nov 2, 2013)

First off a laser is not a crutch, they are only a crutch if you allow it to be a crutch. There are a lot of advantages to having a laser and no offense but to me the ones that diss own seem like they have never trained with a laser. A laser comes in handy for multiple reasons: 


If you can't fully present your firearm to get a sight picture to shoot
Timed dry firing practice in the house to see if you have proper trigger squeeze especially under time
 Help training aid in comparing hit ratios with the laser and regular sights to see what you are going wrong 
 And work really great in low light and work great in an environment where you go from a say a lighted car to being completely black outside. I don't care how well your vision is when you go from a light place to completely black seeing is really hard
 Psychological deterrent, can potentially end a fight before you even pull the trigger.
Train with both your regular sights and the laser and honestly I will say from personal experience in a self defense situation you will hardly see the sight or not see it at all. In a self defense situation it is seconds and being caught off guard and the adrenaline spikes way up and trying to asess and react to that situation to see if it is a threat then getting a sight picture is well very daunting. Learn how to instinctively shoot out to 10 or so yards and don't let sights itself be a crutch either....

If you get a laser for it get one that is activated by the gip something like a crimson trace laser guard. And a laser hardly add any weight at all I think my laser guard is about a 1/4 of an ounce maybe a half ounce. I had that on my shield and loved it I just had to take if off because the holster company I use do not make one for it yet. But back to the bodyguard both my mom and my father have one and they love it and haven't had a single complaint.


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## mirage2521 (Apr 22, 2009)

OK Brandon, I will play. 

With very few exceptions its a crutch for lack of training. 

Dry fire, practice for trigger control, hell yes. It's a great tool. It is a great tool to practice drawing and aiming instinctively. Draw, point, energize laser to see if you are on target.



No sure what you mean by fully present

No point in a laser as a training aid to compare hit ratios with or without a laser if you don't use a laser.

No comparison in low light to point shooting. If you can see your target point shooting you can hit your target point shooting. The laser is not going to illuminate your target.

Thinking a laser will be a psychological deterrent in a self defense situation is dangerous and reckless. If the situation dictates pulling and pointing your pistol its highly doubtful you are going to be pausing to see if maybe your laser is going to scare away your bad guy. 

That's like planning to "rack" your shot gun to scare away a burglar. All its going to do is startle an armed bg into pulling a trigger. 

Lasers are substitutes for training.


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## mirage2521 (Apr 22, 2009)

You are correct in that you will not see your sights after an adrenaline dump. You will not see your little red dot either. That's why instinctive point shooting is so important. You simply hit where you want to through muscle memory and practice. Try using a laser while moving to cover. It's impossible.


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## hjorgan (Sep 30, 2007)

This dry firing, are you using a dry-fire dummy round are just clicking away?


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## mirage2521 (Apr 22, 2009)

hjorgan said:


> This dry firing, are you using a dry-fire dummy round are just clicking away?


Just clicking away all crazy and stuff.


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## Brandon_SPC (Nov 2, 2013)

mirage2521 said:


> You are correct in that you will not see your sights after an adrenaline dump. You will not see your little red dot either. That's why instinctive point shooting is so important. You simply hit where you want to through muscle memory and practice. Try using a laser while moving to cover. It's impossible.


Well in my situation I had my AR I didn't see the front sight post but I sure could see the red laser in the center of his chest. But not everyone can get out and point shoot/ instinctively shoot. Not everyone has the time, place or money to do instincly shooting. And dry fire works but when you can't see the end result from point shooting it really doesn't help. I can't point shoot all day at my target but if I don't see holes in a taget for all I know you could be shooting low in the gut or high over the shoulder. Yes that is top defensive situations but not always the right tool.

What I meant by fully presenting your firearm is drawing from your hip and extending to get a sight picture. 

This is exaggerated but some people have terrible situational awareness and one of many situations.
Say I am pulling money from an ATM someone comes up and hits me in the head. I fall to the ground and I am still conscious but very dazed. I am on my side and they go to do bodily harm point shooting might not work in a situation like this and I say might because some will train for situations like that and some won't, but having a laser when vision is impaired or thoughts are impaired could possibly save your life.

What I mean about comparing hit ratios falls inline with trigger squeeze etc. I should've added it to that but when I stated using a laser in practice my groups strunk and followed by my groups shrinking with standard sights.

And try point shooting while moving to cover... It will be just as bad as using a laser while moving to cover...


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## Brandon_SPC (Nov 2, 2013)

hjorgan said:


> This dry firing, are you using a dry-fire dummy round are just clicking away?


Neve used a dry fire dummy round. Click away lol


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## mirage2521 (Apr 22, 2009)

Brandon_SPC said:


> Well in my situation I had my AR I didn't see the front sight post but I sure could see the red laser in the center of his chest. But not everyone can get out and point shoot/ instinctively shoot. Not everyone has the time, place or money to do instincly shooting. And dry fire works but when you can't see the end result from point shooting it really doesn't help. I can't point shoot all day at my target but if I don't see holes in a taget for all I know you could be shooting low in the gut or high over the shoulder. Yes that is top defensive situations but not always the right tool.
> 
> What I meant by fully presenting your firearm is drawing from your hip and extending to get a sight picture.
> 
> ...


OK...not going to address all you said. You have used your own argument to prove my point that a laser is a crutch. You stress that it helps to use a laser if you can't train properly. Therefore a laser is a CRUTCH to substitute for training. 

Your groups shrank because you were trying harder, not because you were using a laser.

If you think that you cannot point shoot while moving or even running you do not even realize what you don't know about point shooting. The point of it is not having to "fully present" your weapon. With point shooting you can shoot from half hip, you can shoot from the ground you can shoot while moving.


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## Brandon_SPC (Nov 2, 2013)

mirage2521 said:


> OK...not going to address all you said. You have used your own argument to prove my point that a laser is a crutch. You stress that it helps to use a laser if you can't train properly. Therefore a laser is a CRUTCH to substitute for training.
> 
> Your groups shrank because you were trying harder, not because you were using a laser.
> 
> If you think that you cannot point shoot while moving or even running you do not even realize what you don't know about point shooting. The point of it is not having to "fully present" your weapon. With point shooting you can shoot from half hip, you can shoot from the ground you can shoot while moving.


No I didn't prove it was a crutch I provided it can help an individual in certain situations. Kind of like how our law enforcement and military use it. There is a time an purpose for each application. 
Can you provide to me how one person would train for such a situation like that that will have you off guard and make your adrenaline shoot through the roof? And raising your heart rate only does so much...Not everyone has the place, the funds, to train at places like that. I don't have the ability to train at places or could afford to train at places that would give you the ability to do that...... Most public shooting ranges you can't even practice drawing from your holster. I practice that at home with a timer on my phone.

The groups shrank because I could visually see what I was doing wrong with the regular sights vs with the laser. Before hand I could not tell when I shot a pistol. 

I understand you can point shoot while moving left, right etc and I know you can point shoot while moving I have done it in the Army but will you point shoot in the civilian sector while taking cover? I'm not sending rounds down range in a civilian sector while taking cover. The moment you do that is when your actual hit ratio drops. This isn't combat where we are trying to suppress the target, we are accounted for every bullet that leaves the barrel here.


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## mirage2521 (Apr 22, 2009)

Brandon_SPC said:


> No I didn't prove it was a crutch I provided it can help an individual in certain situations. Kind of like how our law enforcement and military use it. There is a time an purpose for each application.
> Can you provide to me how one person would train for such a situation like that that will have you off guard and make your adrenaline shoot through the roof? And raising your heart rate only does so much...Not everyone has the place, the funds, to train at places like that. I don't have the ability to train at places or could afford to train at places that would give you the ability to do that...... Most public shooting ranges you can't even practice drawing from your holster. I practice that at home with a timer on my phone.
> 
> The groups shrank because I could visually see what I was doing wrong with the regular sights vs with the laser. Before hand I could not tell when I shot a pistol.
> ...


Really? Bad guy with a gun, cover close by and your not going to send rounds his way while moving towards the cover (even if its just a telephone pole)? You not going to get off the X while drawing and firing? You can be damn sure if there is s pole or a tree or a truck, my ass will be moving towards it while I am firing. Even if you hit him unless your score a CNS hit he is not going down right that second. If he's up he has the potential to fire. You better train to get off the X and move.

You don't train under the stress of an adrenaline dump. You train through repetition so when the time comes there us no thought required to draw or aim.

Brandon my friend if you don't think firing at a bad guy is suppressing fire..... I don't know what to tell you. You goal is to break his OODA loop or get rounds into him. 

Rather than waste money on a laser spend the money on training, range time and ammo. It's not magic. It's just practice.


You seem like a good guy who wants to learn. The next time I head out to take a class if its a day trip I will offer you an invite. I go 3-4 times a year to any of 3 or 4 instructors in Fl. There is no magic, no tactical bullshit. Just instructors who know wtf they are doing who steer you and coach you into shooting way better, way faster and way more accurately without sights or lasers.


If you are relying on a piece of electronics with a battery to help you shoot. You are using a crutch to shoot.


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## Brandon_SPC (Nov 2, 2013)

mirage2521 said:


> Really? Bad guy with a gun, cover close by and your not going to send rounds his way while moving towards the cover (even if its just a telephone pole)? You not going to get off the X while drawing and firing? You can be damn sure if there is s pole or a tree or a truck, my ass will be moving towards it while I am firing. Even if you hit him unless your score a CNS hit he is not going down right that second. If he's up he has the potential to fire. You better train to get off the X and move.
> 
> You don't train under the stress of an adrenaline dump. You train through repetition so when the time comes there us no thought required to draw or aim.
> 
> ...


No in the civilian world I am not sending rounds down range while moving to cover…. No offence but that is one of the dumbest ideas I have heard and I hope they do not teach that in a practical self-defense scenario. Quick question you get shot at and run to cover and you are running your butt off how many rounds will you be able to put on that bad guy? I will bet most of your mag will go to misses. If you want to do suppressive fire in a self defense situation have fun trying to explain that in court as to why one of the bullets that left your barrel hit a by stander. Yes I will move to cover but not shoot while moving. Suppressing fire is meant to keep the targets head down. Most rounds shot when you are suppressing a target are misses. So you would do suppressing fire in a civilian situation? 
I know it isn’t magic but like I said each application has its own purpose and can provide an edge over another. I’m not relying on a piece of electronics I still train with point shooting, still train with timers, still train with other applications to and each application serve it’s purpose.


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## mirage2521 (Apr 22, 2009)

God man, you are not listening. I spent 20 years in the Army and Navy, did Navy Specwar and retired as a Chief Warrant Officer. I know what suppressive fire is. 

The whole point of point shooting is that you can hit you target while you are moving. What are you going to do, just stand there while being shot at? Hell no, the difference is while I am moving I can still point shoot. You have to stop to align your cat toy. 

Once again, you don't know what you don't know. You can hit you target while moving. It's not even hard once you are taught how. Every class I have ever taken has some element of moving and shooting. From taking 1-4 shots while side stepping to jogging down a line of targets and putting a round in each one. The targets are almost always white paper plates on target stands. The hit ratio for all students after being taught how is very high. 

I can't do it because I am super good, super tactical, super duper bad ass. I am 52, stove up and over weight. I can do it because I have been taught how. 

Take a point shooting class, learn what you don't know then you can discuss it. In all the classes I have taken, I have NEVER seen anyone who had a laser keep it after the first day. It's simply not needed and is actually counter productive many times.


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## Brandon_SPC (Nov 2, 2013)

mirage2521 said:


> God man, you are not listening. I spent 20 years in the Army and Navy, did Navy Specwar and retired as a Chief Warrant Officer. I know what suppressive fire is.
> 
> The whole point of point shooting is that you can hit you target while you are moving. What are you going to do, just stand there while being shot at? Hell no, the difference is while I am moving I can still point shoot. You have to stop to align your cat toy.
> 
> ...


Think logically in the situations we are talking about. We are talking about a civilian situation not being in the military. Yes I know classes shoot while taking cover and I have practice but I will NOT apply that in a civilian situation if I am shot at. I will not be the one on the stand trying to explain why my stray bullet hit another individual. I get what you are saying but it is not applicable to the civilian world. 

Btw if you are in a situation, in the civilian world, where you are being shot at, I highly doubt you will be side stepping, jogging to cover just like you practiced in training. You will either be shooting back or getting your butt to cover then shooting back. I hope you really don’t believe you would engage someone (c remember civilian world) while trying to take cover. Also here is another flawed thing you are comparing shooting targets ( high hit ratios) to the real thing. Shooting a target can not be compared to a moving human being. Again can you tell me in the civilian world while taking cover you still would shoot a human being while moving to cover and they also have the ability to move to cover? Think logically on this one. You are comparing shooting a stationary target while moving to a real life situation where your target can move. Want to try the situation out go to a place where you can shoot simunitions, or paintball (cheaper way) then come back and tell me if you can put just as many rounds on the individual as you could shooting at a paper target…… I will bet your hit ratio will be down a lot.

I have been taught point shooting before and like I have stated in previous ones I recommended it to the OP. But like I have said previously there is a time and place for every application.


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## mirage2521 (Apr 22, 2009)

You are not hearing what I am saying. Seriously, you are way over thinking this. You know full well I am not talking about jogging off into the distance throwing rounds over my shoulder. You are being disingenuous. If you think standing still in front of a bad guy instead of getting off the X is best for you go for it.


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## Brandon_SPC (Nov 2, 2013)

mirage2521 said:


> You are not hearing what I am saying. Seriously, you are way over thinking this. You know full well I am not talking about jogging off into the distance throwing rounds over my shoulder. You are being disingenuous. If you think standing still in front of a bad guy instead of getting off the X is best for you go for it.


That is not what I am talking about I am talking about taking cover and shooting while taking cover..... Exactly that what we have been talking about the whole time.


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## mirage2521 (Apr 22, 2009)

Brandon_SPC said:


> That is not what I am talking about I am talking about taking cover and shooting while taking cover..... Exactly that what we have been talking about the whole time.


OK then, when I first mentioned taking cover I think I said stepping behind a telephone pole. I did not mean establish a fighting position. If there was a pole or a tree or corner to step behind you would be well served to utilize it. 

The point of the jogging and shooting drill was to teach students to move and shoot accurately simultaneously not to plan to run down the street shooting.

I do think that you are hindered by simply not knowing what you are capable of doing. I do appreciate the fact that you can discuss it in a civil fashion. Thank you for that.


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## hsiF deR (Oct 4, 2009)

So, how about that BodyGuard?


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## Brandon_SPC (Nov 2, 2013)

hsiF deR said:


> So, how about that BodyGuard?


A great pistol :thumbsup:


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## Ocean Master (May 20, 2008)

I have 2 of the "body guard" revolvers in 38 special. One is about 20 years old and the other 5 years old. No hammer sticking out and it's machined smooth all over so not to catch on anything. Both of them shoot +P.

Great guns.


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## bigbulls (Mar 12, 2008)

The BG380 is a great pocket pistol. It's considerably more comfortable than most of the other small pocket pistols on the market and is very easy to shoot, unlike some of the others. 

Personally I would opt for the non laser version due to the fact that the little screw that holds the battery cover closed can work loose and render the pistol inoperable. If you prefer to have a laser get yourself the Crimson Trace laserguard for the BG380 in green or red.


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