S&W Bodyguard .380ACP or Bad Ammo?

[Pablo]

I took the S&W Bodyguard .380ACP to the indoor range today. I brought a few hundred rounds of factory (local) reloads. First shot, bang. But man what a nasty trigger.....this is going to take some getting used to. Second shot - click. What? Wait. Drop mag, clear chamber - round has a definite pin strike. Hmmm.... ok. Set round in magic box. Insert mag. Try again. Click. Same story. OK defective gun......so I try again. Bang. Works. Next round click, click, bang (beauty of a hammer DA, I guess). After 50 rounds of either going off first or second impact, I had enough.

So I go in range shop and buy a box of 50 PMC Brass .380ACP. Guess what? All 50 shot like a champ. Hmmmm....so I try the factory reloaded stuff and it does exactly as before, click, click, bang.....

I wish I had other brands of ammo to try at the time. Ammo or gun?

There have been some reports of light strikes with the .380 Bodyguard, but nothing like the bad reports on the LCP.

[BarryinIN]

It's sounding like ammo, but yes it would be best to try more to rule the gun out.

Does the Bodyguard have an actual hammer? Or is it striker fired? Or a spurless hammer?

Yes, I'm too lazy to look it up.

And I wanted to say the following anyway. Just to get it out. Just because.

I'm asking because it has always seemed to me that a gun with a full hammer will give a better and more consistent primer strike. I know there have been tests with special equipment that have shown some striker-fired guns can equal or better some hammer guns, but I know what I've seen. I've had ammo that wouldn't fire in Glocks that fired fine in several other guns with hammers. With the smaller guns, I think it's more important because there is less of everything (springs, striker or hammer mass) so there isn't much leeway before running into trouble. At the far extreme example, little .22s are really bad sometimes.

Anyway, I suspect, and it's only a suspicion, that a hammer allows a more consistent impact. A striker might deliver as much or more energy usually, but a hammer might act as a flywheel to keep things more consistent overall. This might let it power through lint balls, or dried lube, or the million other things that could cause a problem.

I have mentioned this at places and been told an XYZ brand striker-fired or bobbed hammer gun delivers 4.3582 times the energy needed to ignite the toughest primer. But I want 4.3583 times if I can get it.

Whew. I just wanted to get that out. Thanks for the excuse.

[Pablo]

Yes I can actually see the little hammer.

LINKIE

[RLH70]

Sure does sound like an ammo problem to me.

[BarryinIN]

I clicked the link and the computer shut down. I doubt the link was the problem but I'll take your word for it rather than look or try to go there myself. But then, I've had trouble with the S&W website lately. I need to send an SW1911 back, and have a heck of a time getting the page up telling me the process of the week.

I assume you will try the failed cartridges in another gun when you get the chance? I'd like to hear how that goes.

[Pablo]

The site is indeed just a little squirrelly.

A) This is my only .380 and I don't have any failed cartridges any more (for obvious reasons), plus most all of them finally went on the second or third trigger squeeze.

I interfaced via email and phone chat with local FFL/shop I bought the gun from. He is helping me out 100% and whatever my choice is.

Right now, I'm going to get 3-4 more brands of ammo. If they are all clean, then I'll just be dealing with the ammo company.

[jjjxlr8]

I would stay away from 'factory' reloads. There are so many things that can go wrong during the reloading process and you just don't know what control processes are in place at these businesses that are ultimately trying to make money. What short cuts are they taking? Where do they get their brass?

It sounds to me like they are either using less sensitive primers or they didn't seat them fully in the case - or both.

I've had personal experience with 3 different commercial reloaders and 2 of them were bad.

My latest experience was with some 5.56x45 ammo that was produced using supposedly once fired brass. My friend purchased the ammo and when we were at the range I let him shoot some through my AR180.

This was the result.

Fortunately, nobody was injured and the rifle was unharmed.

Turns out that the reloader "had a bad batch of brass" and had several customers with the same problem. He swapped the case for another and so far my friend hasn't had any issues, but this was the last time that anything but my own reloads and factory ammo will ever be used in my firearms.

[Pablo]

Actually the factory up the road takes no short cuts and uses pretty high tech controls. The place I got this ammo from, I'm not so sure, but I talked to the rep today. He said they use heavy primers and that the S&W Bodyguard .380ACP is somewhat know to do light strikes - that said we are meeting at his personal range to try out his ammo against 8 known brands. We shall see next Thursday!