I've read a lot of positive and negative reviews on the BG380. I like the pistol but the amount of negative reviews is concerning.




 

I have the S&W 380 and the Sig 380 , i like both accuracy is about the same , Sig is heavier and little less recoil .

Bought one for my wife as a carry gun.  It's accurate and consistant.  Good little gun.

Had a friend buy one..  Maybe got 1 shot before it would not fire again... You could pull the trigger like 10 times and it would finally fire once..

It went back to s&w and it came back fixed but still would not work 50% of the time.. They sold it

Mine is 100%.  I've got 100 or so rounds down the pipe and I think it's great.  I came from a Taurus TCP and had to do a lot of polishing to get that to work.  This one has been great.  It's the only S&W I own, so I'm not a fanboy just to make it sound great.  I've also had no issues with different shaped bullets.  I'd say if you had problems, it needs to go in.

I have heard that the older ones (not the very first ones, though) were the best. I have had two, and now have one. They are older and have worked flawlessly, but I do fear that the firing pin will break at any time.

I have over 200 rounds thru mine and never had a problem .
The trigger has a very long pull but you get used to it.
Good ccw gun for summer.

Thanks guys. Poll added.

Just got one for Christmas... Will let you know , sept. Test fire date

I like mine when it works.

I'll probably eventually get the Galloway FP return spring, and machined FP.

If it works 100% with all my different ammo, I'll call it good.

Wouldn't buy another.

The BG380 I had was scrapped.  Several phone calls resulted in magazine parts being sent and suggestions for function improvement.  Eventually, the only remaining part that had not been replaced or modified in three trips back to Smith was the plastic over wrap around the metal chassis.  Barrel modified, new slide with all internals, extractor and firing pin changed out, hold open modified, magazine tubes, springs, followers, lock plates, and entire magazines changed out over and over, trigger draw bar system changed out.  A real pizzer was when the chassis bent and allowed the slide hold open to run outside the slide instead of inside and under it.  Hint:  It doesn't function outside the slide.   Feeding problems and skip round feeding problems continued.  Vertical stovepipes of loaded rounds falling out of the magazines happened.  

Why?  The real problem is the magazines.  Factory goal:  six shot magazine in a short butt.  There is only room for a very weak spring that cannot rise the rounds fast enough for the slide to pickup after the magazine spring has been compressed several many cycles.  New springs work for a few magazine fulls.  There is no room for a stronger spring.  The action cycles very quickly/snappily and the round rise has to be on time.  There is no open slide "dwell" where a magazine has time to rise a round with variables.

If there was a stronger spring, the drag on the slide would cause short strokes.  Reducing the operating spring rate would allow function in slide opening, but then be too weak for consistent slide closure after stripping a new round.  

The real answer is that the design is too critical and dependent on some almost non existent perfect ammo to function.  600 rounds of factory not replaceable test ammo were wasted in mine for no result other than frustration.  Remington HP, Hornady Critical Defense, WW Silvertip HP, PriviPatrizen RN, AE RN, some others.  Even worse, the 600 rounds was producing metal wear that would have worn the thing out in short order.  It was made to carry a lot and be shot a little.

Don't waste your money.  Buy a Shield in 9mm which is more powerful and yet far easier to shoot.  My BG380 shot dead center small size groups and was easy to shoot well with good sights.  It just did not function reliably.  I was happy to see it leave on the fourth FedEx trip back to Smith.

I've seen your story LampShade which is one of the reasons for making this thread.

After having a KelTec braze weld the firing pin to the channel with sheared off primer cups leaking 35,000psi gas, having a massively expensive Walther PP .380 drop magazines, and then after having a Kahr need every known Kahr fix only to realize the plastic CW9 frame had such a big opening for the magazine in the handle that torque firing disengaged the mag catch, I really wanted the BG380 to work.  On the surface it seems a far better size and design, especially the trigger system.

I would note it ran perfectly for about the first 150 rounds.  Then the random skip feeds started which generated the customer service people sending spare magazine parts.  The first trip back was mostly mods and some small parts and then the entire slide was replaced the second trip.  S&W has great customer service.  I was just sad to need it.

The real tip off to random unreliable function was the ejection pattern.  It would eject 30' to the front, 30' to the right, 25' to the rear, and 10-15 feet to the left.   The pattern was weighted to the front and right, but fully one third of the cases would go rear or left.  What this means is that the system was losing contact with the cases before ejection.  Some cases ejected, some fell out, some the front of the slide window hit, and some the rear of the slide window hit in the opposite directiion.  Going every which way.  

I watch the Shield make a pile to the right rear just like a properly functioning Glock would make.  Proportional distance to the power of the particular load changing slide velocity.  As it should be.

After the slide was changed, the ejection patterns shortened, but did not alter much direction wise.

The end of my patience came when the slide stop system bent outwards, when I was told that the metal was showing significant wear, and when the customer service people themselves told me I had had enough even though I did not want a free replacement.

I don't think most people shoot these types of handguns enough to really evaluate them.  Errors are written off as breaking in rather than inherent function problems.  I practice with that which I carry.  If it cannot fire 50 rounds a month year after year, it is useless anyhow.  

I am not sure this is unique to the .380 market.  I have been told by well placed people that the .380 cartridge case size causes all sorts of problems in the mini guns designed for it and that NONE of them are actually reliable if fully tested.

I do know the Shield 9mm is a gem.  It bobbled twice in the first 200 rounds failing to eject for no reason I could decifer attempting to load a new wound trapping the empty case parallel to the new round between the barrel and the slide.  It has been perfect the last 300 rounds.

One headache with the BG380 is that the length of the butt puts the bottom corner right over your carpal tunnel if you have larger hands.  And beats up that nerve over time testing.  The Shield 8 shot magazine is long enough to bridge that spot and give solid support to the bottom of the grip area.

The pluses of the Shield and the minuses of the BG380 I mention in part for a fuller picture.  I trust Glocks and S&W's real revolvers.  The Shield is growing on me and I keep shooting it for reliability testing.  Point being, I am capable of accurate reporting.  I planned every shoot magazine by magazine and kept notes of what went right and what went wrong.  I was convinced there was a fubar in the system firing the second shot and loading the third and in firing the third round and loading the fourth if starting out 6+1.  I could never come up with a reason, but errors seemed to concentrate in the middle of the magazine stacks.

Whipping a dead pony, I'll stay out of this topic hereafter.

Yes and No of  the poll I can manage.  What does Pi stand for?  No opinion or no knowledge?

Pi is for people who do not / have not owned the BG380 before but feel compelled to answer the poll question.

I answered pi even though I own one.

1,000 rounds through mine now, serial number ECEXXX, no problems at all. The magazine spring on the mag was put in the wrong way though, wouldn't go in fully loaded with one in the pipe. Common, from what I hear, takes 30 seconds to fix.

Honestly, I hate mine. It's got a nightmarish trigger, and chokes often. It has dust on it right now, as I do not shoot or carry it due to this. I am a huge M&P fan and might have a dud that needs to be sent in, but as of now it's essentially in the same ranking of my 9mm Mak

Pros:  
It's been reliable (so far, ~100 rounds).
Easy to conceal in anything but a speedo.
Similar controls to my Shield.
Good for what I need it to be, a quick pocket carry CCW piece.

Cons:
I'm not winning any long gun competitions.
Trigger pull is a bitch.
Not fun to shoot frequently.

Part of the issue with the trigger pull is how you use your finger. Stupid, I know, but I had a guy (an LEO who carries one as a backup) show me the right way to fire this gun. Before he showed me this I hated the trigger pull.

I was trying to fire it like my other handguns, with my index finger 2/3 of the way or so on the trigger (finger on trigger between 1st and 2nd joint). If you instead use just the tip of your index finger (anywhere in front of your 1st joint) trigger pull differs greatly. It's really not an issue once you start shooting it this way. It's weird for me and took awhile getting used to, but I don't mind the trigger pull at all now.

A new redesigned 2014 BG380:
-upgraded slide (corrosion resistance mentioned)
-stainless steel barrel
-two six round magazines with two floor plate designs
-no laser (system deleted)

Interesting.  The laser is the one thing that always worked on mine.  Two mags are nice instead of one.  I thought the barrel and slide were already blackened stainless?  Wonder if they changed the actual design?

I got my dad one for Christmas year before last. His experience has been pretty much the same. He was wanting something that he could carry in his pocket, and the BG380 is the one he liked the best. Hes shot it quite a bit and never had a single issue with it.

His only complaint is the heavy trigger. But that seems to be par for the course on these small carry guns. Perhaps the new M&P version of the BG380 will solve this problem some.

Voted Pi. I play with these on a regular basis and have seen some bad issues, but I will be buying the M&P version when it comes out.

I have a BG380 that has been a massive failure. Numerous fail to fire per mag. Extremely light primer hits, takes two to four pulls of the trigger fire numerous types of ammo.
I also transferred one to a student of mine and she had the identical problem.
I sent mine back to Smith and it returned with the same exact problems.

I really want to like this pistol, but with that total lack of reliability, it ain't gonna happen. I'm so sick of sending stuff back to Smith and have it perform just like it did when I sent it in.

Have you ever said anything negative about S&W guns?

I guess you missed the part where he said he had seen some bad issues

I'm so sick of sending stuff back to Smith and have it perform just like it did when I sent it in.

The reason that happens is simple.  They get a gun, fix that which they think is useful, and then ordinarily fire one magazine per magazine returned.  And declare victory if there were no malfunctions.  A new replacement magazine may not even be test fired in your gun.

I have the bg380. And love it. have over a thousand rounds through it with various ammo
And have never had a problem.  
I have no fear with this being my ccw.  Put it in your pocket and nobody has a clue it even there.
Except the wife when she's frisky. Lol.  
The only issue I have with it is the long trigger. But after enough rounds u get used to it.
Besides that don't matter what kind of trigger u have when the shit hits the fan. U will will not notice any trigger

If you notice some people just have problems with everything they own.

And it's often the same people who buy something an think they need to upgrade a spring or something before they even have a problem.

I have run probably 250 rounds through mine without a single failure. The laser is fun to play with but not sure it is practical in a CCW situation.

Would I buy another probably but the ruger lcp is a little lighter and cheaper and since I figured out I don't need the laser I would probably get another LCP

Funny you should say that. . . .

Mine has been 100%. My only complaint is I think the sights suck. It has gone bang every time.

The only replacement sights I have found have been XS Sights.

When my Kahr CW9 wouldn't work, the factory failed and I tried every known fix myself, but could not fix a frame too large in dimension to keep the mag from twisting off the mag catch as the plastic handle flexed.

With the BG380, I simply shot it and sent it back and forth to S&W.  7 FedEx rides.  It never worked reliably.  THEY replaced or modified every part except for the plastic over wrap around the chassis with the slide rail tabs.  Their customer service people suggested giving up on that gun.

I happily admit buying guns that do not work, guns that do not work all the time, and guns that work perfectly all the time.  I can tell the difference.  And have enough I don't care what works or fails, but can accurately report the difference.  I can happily list a string of S&W products that work perfectly.  And others that did not.

The Glock M42 .380acp is real.  Guns & Ammo has an article this month.  Odd article in that it does not appear to have been shot for the story.

5.9"x4.1"x0.94" @ 13.4 ounces 6+1

Perhaps there is no need to see if the new BG380 redesigned to delete the InSight Technologies laser from the plastic handle works or not.   But who cares?

The M42 seems the answer if you really want an easy to shoot .380acp.  But it also looks to near duplicate a Shield with a 7 round magazine installed.  So why would we buy a .380acp when the same size is available in 9mm?  So many guns and so little money!

I fired mine a lot when I had it.  Since it was my primary carry gun, I shot it at every range session.  The hammer broke on it.  Snapped right in half.  Clearly this was not a malfunction that I could clear on the spot.  S&W fixed it, no problem there.  Before that the laser quit working so I sent Insight the laser unit out of it, and they replaced it.  It is the still my favorite 380, I owned, but I just didn't feel like I could trust it after the hammer broke.

This.  There are several good reliable 9mm on the market now that I can pocket carry.  Glad to be out of the 380 guns all together.

Mine has worked w/o any issues.  I've put about 150rds through it (Winchester, Wolf, Remington), no failures of any kind.  The trigger pull is much heavier than I expected and took some getting used to, now it's no problem.  I carry it in a Remora IWB holster or just in my pocket.  So far, so good...

My best friend carries one and seems to be happy with it.  He'd planned to buy an LCP after shooting mine but decided to try the S&W instead.  I think he's put about 500rnds through it and so far no issues that he's mentioned.  Last time I saw it, it was dirty from having been in his pocket while we were working some dove fields (planting) and he still emptied the mag without any issues (he loads it with Speer Gold Dots).  I've shot it and while I liked it alright, I'll stick with my LCP for a pocket gun due to it's smaller size.  On a side note, I actually just ordered a Shield from PSA today since they have them on sale for $359.

I have carried mine quite a bit, and I love the gun. I shot a lot of practice ammo with it when I first got it to get used to the long trigger. The only problem I have had in the hundreds of rounds I have shot was with hard primers on some old S&B ammo.

I trust my BG380 and wont be getting rid of it any time soon.

Interesting.  Poll maintaining roughly 1:3.  27%:73%

Staying same 1:3

+1 yes vote for mine. It is primarily my wife's cc gun but we have both shot about 500 rounds thru it so it probably has about a thousand rounds thru it over the 2 years we've had it. We had a couple failure to fires in the first 100 rounds but none since. I will say that I did a buff and polish treatment which I do to all my handguns. I have to agree the trigger isn't the best but with a nice polish on the parts, it isn't too bad. The recoil is pretty stiff but wife can shoot it fine for self defense. We have 3 mags for ours (2 w finger extension and one flat). Happy with out purchase. BTW, I also have the keltec PF9 which is about the same size and a 9mm and wife can also shoot it so I've been tempted to just pick up another PF9 so we both carry the same.


pic of the 380


and pic of the PF9 for comparison