Smith & Wesson Bodyguard 2.0: Full Review

Smith & Wesson have rebooted the system with their new and improved Bodyguard, chambered in .380. Here's a full review.

September 15, 2024 By James Tarr

If you’d forgotten that Smith & Wesson made a .380 ACP Bodyguard pistol, you’re not alone. When it introduced the original single-stack version in 2010, interest seemed to die off after the initial push. Personally, I thought the pistols were a little busy, and I had no use for the models equipped from the factory with lasers. There was nothing wrong with the guns, but they didn’t get lasting traction with the public. However, the new-for-2024 Bodyguard 2.0 — still a .380 ACP — S&W appears to have addressed everything less than perfect with the previous generation, real or imagined. When I saw the announcement of the pistol and the pictures, I was unenthusiastic. As soon as I got one in my hand — hoo, buddy. S&W is going to have trouble keeping up with the orders on this one!

gaad-smi-smith-and-wesson-bodyguard-20-02-1200x800 — (Photo by Mark Fingar)

Before I dive into the details of this pistol, I want to say this: It’s smaller than it looks in photos. It is surprisingly small! In photos, it looks like a Shield, or even a full-size M&P, simply because of its proportions, which is why I was unenthusiastic. In truth, a Shield is significantly larger than the Bodyguard 2.0. As for what I feel will be the Bodyguard’s main competition — the Glock 42 ($479) — the Bodyguard 2.0 is smaller in every dimension, and lighter while holding 40 percent more ammo. As far as I’m concerned, that’s a good thing. Backup .380 pistols should be small. If you’re the least bit interested in it, I urge you to head down to the local gun store and get one in your hand. Decide for yourself.

Smith & Wesson’s new Bodyguard 2.0 is a polymer-framed striker-fired pistol, which comes with one flush 10- and one longer 12-round magazine with a grip extension. With the flush magazine in place, it weighed 11.4-ounces according to my digital scale. It is 4.1 inches tall and 5.6 inches long with a 23/4-inch barrel. This pistol is very thin, too. At its thickest point — the magazine release — it measures 1-inch thick, exactly. The grip is only .89-inches thick, the slide is .75 inches.

gaad-smi-smith-and-wesson-bodyguard-20-03-1200x800 — The Smith & Wesson Bodyguard 2.0 provides an updated grip, trigger, comprehensive slide serrations, and capacity in a re-engineered micro-compact frame. (Photo by Mark Fingar)

Currently, there are two models of the Bodyguard 2.0, the only difference in SKUs is whether or not you prefer one with a manual thumb safety (TS). I am opposed to manual safeties that you can’t flick off with your shooting hand naturally as part of the draw, which means I’ve never liked the flat/stiff safeties on S&W’s Shield. You get that same safety with the Bodyguard 2.0 TS model. What was sent to Guns & Ammo for evaluation was the No Thumb Safety (NTS) model. Both are priced the same.

The Bodyguard 2.0 almost has the same proportions as a full-size M&P, and you’ll find it has the same duty-grade features and controls, even though it no longer has an “M&P” in the name.

The front sight is a wide day/night from TruGlo. There is a high-visibility orange ring around a tritium insert. I was able to see it regardless of the lighting conditions.

The rear sight is plain black, but serrated at the rear with a healthy U-shaped notch. The notch puts a lot of daylight around that big front sight when aiming. Interestingly, the front of the rear sight has a vertical segment, so you can rack the slide one-handed on a hard surface using that if needed.

No, the Bodyguard 2.0 isn’t optics ready, at least not these initial models. Due to the thin nature of the slide, I don’t see it happening until someone comes out with an even smaller optic. I’m not a fan of red-dot optics on carry guns, but on a deep concealment micro-compact meant for use at conversational distances, it seems to be an especially dumb idea; it’s a perfect example of “redoubling one’s efforts after losing sight of your goals.” Just stop it! That big orange dot on the front sight is your dot. Use it.

gaad-smi-smith-and-wesson-bodyguard-20-04-1200x800 — Tru-Glo day/night sights are standard on the Bodyguard 2.0, having a bright orange ring around a tritium insert in the front sight. The rear presents a wide U-notch and is serrated. (Photo by Mark Fingar)

Both the slide and barrel are stainless steel given S&W’s Armornite finish; “Armornite” is S&W’s version of black nitride. The slide has quite a matte finish, which helps make it grippy. Also helping with that are the generous directionally-angled slide serrations. They cover the front and back of the slide, and wrap up over the corners on the top. As S&W described in its marketing materials, they are “aggressive without being sharp.” Not to be overlooked, a sizable cutout at the rear of the barrel hood serves as a loaded chamber indicator.

There are a few things about this pistol that fascinate me, but one is that is uses a standard tilt-barrel design, just like the M&P big brothers. Many .380 ACPs use a straight-blowback operating system. Blowback guns are simpler and all you need for the .380, which is a less powerful cartridge. In a straight blowback pistol, those recoil forces are counteracted almost entirely by a (stronger) recoil spring.

S&W obviously wanted potential Bodyguard 2.0 buyers to be able to cycle the slide. A significant portion of them will be women or people with weak grips. In fact, one of the first questions I got about this pistol was how hard was the slide was to rack. The recoil spring on the Bodyguard isn’t feather light, but my wife was able to cycle it easily the first time.

Here’s a pro tip: If you’re having a bit of an issue working the slide, don’t push-pull, push-push, as it’s easier. Position the pistol in front of you, parallel to your chest, but pointed in a safe direction. With one hand on the grip naturally, and the other gripping the slide, push your hands toward each other to rack. It’s twice as easy as any other technique.

The old-school way of thinking was that a long/heavy trigger pull on a “pocket” gun functioned as a safety. The folks at S&W did not take that approach, and I’m grateful. The triggerpull on the Bodyguard 2.0 was excellent. It’s as crisp as a striker-fired triggerpull gets, with a total weight of 4¼-pounds on G&A’s sample. That may make some of your heads explode, and I get that, because even though we tell people over and over that pocket guns — even when in pockets — should be in holsters that cover the triggerguards, some people will just drop them into pocket, sometimes filled with keys and coins, or purses filled with, well, everything. Don’t do that; don’t be that guy (or gal) who puts a hole in the top of their thigh or the bottom of their purse because something got wedged into the triggerguard of your gun.

From an ergonomics standpoint, the Bodyguard 2.0 is a home run. First, it looks great, with proper proportions. It looks like a larger gun, which is why photos just don’t seem to do its small size justice. Yet, while very small, the grip is big enough that most people will be able to get all their fingers around the gun even using the flush magazine, and everyone else will be able to if they use the extended magazine, which, for its size, is amazing.

gaad-smi-smith-and-wesson-bodyguard-20-06-1200x800 — The trigger features a flat face that fires the pistol after the safety has been compressed and 4 1/2 pounds of pressure applied. (Photo by Mark Fingar)

The distance between the bottom of the triggerguard of the Bodyguard 2.0 and the bottom of the flush magazine is just more than 2.1 inches. I wear size Medium gloves and can get three-quarters of my pinkie on the gun with the flush magazine in place. This is possible, in part, because the triggerguard of the Bodyguard is a bit smaller, and is undercut at the back. My older son has massive meat paws, and with the flush magazine his pinkie was left hanging, but he could still get all of his fingers around the gun with the extended magazine in place.

The rear of the frame is shaped very high with a bit of a beavertail, allowing your hand to sit as high as possible. In fact, this gun might have the lowest bore of any semiauto I’ve ever tested. The top of the slide is less than a finger’s width from the top of my trigger finger when laid straight along the frame.

In addition to the frame being molded so you can choke way the heck up on it, it was smartly textured. The front and back of the frame have aggressively textured areas, whereas the sides of the frame — likely to be pressed against your body — are nearly smooth. There are textured areas on either side of the frame above the front of the triggerguard, for your support-hand thumb.

gaad-smi-smith-and-wesson-bodyguard-20-07-1200x800 — The Bodyguard 2.0 features a high-grip undercut at the rear of the triggerguard, positioning the pistol low in the hand. (Photo by Mark Fingar)

Another nice touch is the steel takedown lever; it sports aggressive texturing that matches that on the frame. If you look closely, you’ll see the front of the grip has a gentle outward bulge to fill your hand just a little more, but it is still skinny and small.

The steel magazine release is textured and sticks out from the frame, but not any further than the slide stop. The magazine release is reversible, for you lefties. The Bodyguard 2.0 has a single-sided slide stop, though. It is possible to drop the slide using this lever as a “slide release,” but it is admittedly small. You might be better served just working the slide.

When you disassemble the Bodyguard 2.0, you’ll see that it has a dual-spring recoil system. The .380 ACP is no powerhouse, but this is a 9.8-ounce pistol without a magazine in it. Markings on the inside of the gun showed the polymer frame was made at the facility in Springfield, Massachusetts, but other parts of the pistol was manufactured and assembled at S&W’s new Maryville, Tennessee plant.

gaad-smi-smith-and-wesson-bodyguard-20-08-1200x800 — The grip is molded with M2.0-like texture at the frontstrap and backstrap sections, as well as on the extended magazine spacer. (Photo by Mark Fingar)

The magazines are black and steel, containing bright orange polymer followers. There are numbered index holes on the right side of the magazines at “6”, “8”, “10” and “12”. The grip extension on the 12-round magazine was textured to match the frame texturing.

I headed to the range the day after I picked up the Bodyguard 2.0, both excited and curious. Simply based on its size and weight, I assumed recoil with the Bodyguard 2.0 would be snappy. I was curious as to how the unusually low bore and tilting barrel would affect handling.

Recoil was not bad. During my first range session I put 150 rounds through the Bodyguard 2.0 in 20 minutes, which got the front of the slide too hot to touch. Besides the heat, my hands did not feel sore or abused. For a gun of this size and weight, this is a huge win. With a gun this light, you will notice the difference in recoil between various loads.

The pistol points very naturally, and I love the big front sight. The great trigger helps, too, but I discovered that if you’re not on the gun, paying attention to the ever-important sight alignment and trigger control, the fact that it’s light and small means that a little error will produce a large group. There’s a reason why some perform accuracy testing with guns this size at 15 yards. (G&A’s protocol for almost all pistol tests is 25 yards.) At 7 yards, between the low bore and good trigger pull, I could do mag dumps and keep all my hits in the center zone of an IDPA target.

gaad-smi-smith-and-wesson-bodyguard-20-09-1200x800 — Texturing appears on grip surfaces and on controls, including the magazine-release button, finger index and takedown lever. (Photo by Mark Fingar)

I experienced a few issues while shooting, but no real problems. Let me explain:

With some types of ammunition, I wasn’t able to load the magazines to capacity; the magazine springs were very strong. This will probably sort itself out in time.
The pistol was reliable with every type of full-metal-jacket (FMJ) and jacketed hollowpoints (JHP) tested except the Barnes TAC-FPD. It’s interesting, as Barnes’ hollowpoint has a rounded, nearly FMJ profile. At least one round out of every magazine would hang up on the feed ramp. That’s not a gun problem, that’s an ammo incompatibility problem. The cavity of Federal’s Hydra-Shok Deep looks like the jagged mouth of a piranha, and yet the Bodyguard ate those up.
At least half the time, the slide didn’t lock back on empty magazines; there’s only so much room on a little gun. My thumb pressed down on the slide stop. The magazine followers were not defective.

gaad-smi-smith-and-wesson-bodyguard-20-10-1200x800 — Disassembly and reassembly of the Bodyguard 2.0 is a familiar affair. With the magazine removed and slide locked back, the takedown lever rotates down for fieldstripping. (Photo by Mark Fingar)

In summary, I love this pistol. I think Smith & Wesson has a huge win on their hands. I will be buying my sample. It’s got great features, and that includes maximum capacity for minimal size. My personal opinion: I wouldn’t recommend it as a primary, simply because it’s a .380. As a backup gun or a concealed-carry pistol — when you can’t carry anything bigger — it’s a winner.