There aren’t many guns I hate. I like some genuinely awful guns. However, I hate the original Smith & Wesson Bodyguard .380 ACP. It was my first pocket gun, and it turned me off to pocket guns for nearly a decade. I still preach from the pulpit that the original sin of concealed carry pistols was pocket .380s.
Simply put, I don’t like them. I don’t like their recoil, their crummy sights, the long triggers, and their limited capacity. With all that vitriol in mind, I wasn’t super excited when I heard about the Bodyguard 2.0.
However, I was pleasantly surprised when the gun hit the internet. I expected a rehash of the original .380 Bodyguard, much like how the Ruger LCP II wasn’t intrinsically different from the original LCP. What I saw was a bigger gun with a higher capacity, better sights, and a trigger that wasn’t the equivalent of a Warner Brothers superhero movie.
In pictures, it looked closer in size to something like the Sig Sauer P365 than the original Bodyguard, which is big for a 380. It seemed to have entered a realm where .380 ACP really shines as a lower recoil alternative to 9mm. It turns out I was way wrong.
The Bodyguard 2.0 Smaller Than I Thought
This thing suffered from some of the same bad advertising the original Sig Sauer P365 hit. They didn’t show it next to anything for scale. You can list measurements in inches all you want, but unless you whip out a ruler and start drawing, it doesn’t really give you a good idea of the weapon’s size.
The Bodyguard 2.0 was way smaller than I expected it to be. S&W should have released a photo of the gun in an average person’s hand. That would have captured just how tiny this gun is. It’s bigger than the OG bodyguard .380, but still small enough to easily fit in your pocket.
The grip is long enough to fit most of my hand, with just a bit of my pinky hanging off with the flush-fitting magazine. The barrel is still 2.75 inches long, but the overall length grew to 5.5 inches. The gun is only .88 inches wide and weighs 9.8 ounces.
The longer rear end allows room for a striker-fired system. It also provides more room for the short recoil system to cam, which helps reduce recoil. The longer grip provides more control and houses a 1.5-stack magazine. The flush-fitting magazine holds 10 rounds, and you also get a slightly extended 12-round magazine. It’s a pocket-sized P365.
More Than Meets The Eye
The gun is small—super small—but still manageable. Most pocket-sized guns skimp on features, but I feel like S&W paid careful attention to what users wanted before releasing the Bodyguard 2.0. The gun isn’t optics-ready, and it doesn’t have a rail because both of those would be stupid on this gun.
It does have a big, high-visibility front sight with a blacked-out rear sight. The contrast is excellent, and the sights are easy to see and use. The trigger is flat-faced with a trigger safety that covers the entire width of the trigger. It’s large and easy to use.
The slide features super aggressive serrations that dig into your hands. The slide is small and thin, so the serrations help ensure a positive grip on the weapon. The grip itself also has an aggressive M&P 2.0-type texture that keeps the gun locked in your hand.
S&W didn’t shirk the controls, either. The slide lock seems to be the same size as the standard M&P. The magazine release is smaller but sticks out quite far from the frame and is easy to reach. The Bodyguard 2.0 certainly isn’t your normal pocket pistol.
At The Range With The Bodyguard 2.0
The Bodyguard 2.0 promises to be a much more capable handgun than the original Bodyguard .380. Promises can be made, but can they be kept? My biggest gripe with the original pocket .380s, which includes the Bodyguard 1.0, the LCP, and the P3AT, was recoil and control. These tiny guns were tough to hold onto, slapped your hand, and made accurate follow-up shots difficult.
After dumping the first magazine worth of .380 ACP ammo from the Bodyguard 2.0 onto a target, I will happily report that it’s no longer an issue. Recoil is a bit snappy, but it’s completely controllable. I even had a P3AT to the range to see the difference, and it’s night and day. The Bodyguard 2.0 handles very well.
You can quickly place multiple rounds on target in short order with total accuracy. I could fire the entire magazine as fast as I possibly could without the gun escaping a standard IPSC-sized A-zone. I used a Desantis Superfly from a pocket carry position and fired a Bill Drill, which I cleared on the first try in less than three seconds. My group opened a bit, but they remained within the A Zone.
The slightly longer grip and the more aggressive grip texture help a lot in the control department. It’s much easier to shoot and control. You can get a decent high grip on the gun, but be wary of slide bite. It’s a real risk with this gun.
The contrast between the bright front sight and the rear blacked-out sight makes it easy to find and see in varied lighting conditions. The sight is easy to track, and you can keep it moving like a blur between shots.
Spitting Lead
The little Bodyguard has an excellent trigger overall. Smith & Wesson is slowly creeping away from the old striker-fired triggers, and the M&P 2.0 is a shining example of a good, duty, or defensive striker-fired trigger. The trigger is smooth with a hair of grit and hardly any overtravel. It’s quick and easy to use.
In the accuracy department, the gun is a solid performer…after some adjustment. Oddly, the front sight was pushed off center, and I was hitting left consistently. This doesn’t seem to be an isolated problem. Two other shooters with Bodyguard 2.0s reported the same odd sight alignment issue. Check yours and make sure that the front sight is centered.
Once the sight was pushed back to center, I was dead on at various ranges out to 25 yards. If I tried to shoot the original Bodyguard at 25 yards, I’d be afraid to miss the berm. With the 2.0, I’m knocking poppers down and ringing gongs. Admittedly, the short sight radius magnifies even small sight alignment mistakes.
It’s perfectly capable of typical defensive handgun use, but it’s still comforting to know that my pocket pistol can reach 25 yards. We also get a very reliable gun. It had no problems running through every single round of ammo I put through it.
A Redeemed Bodyguard
The Smith & Wesson Bodyguard 2.0 completely redeems my opinion of the Bodyguard .380 lineup. It’s a very capable little gun that performs admirably. I’m utterly shocked, to be honest. I’m seriously considering replacing my current pocket gun with the Bodyguard. It’s a bit of poetic justice that I’m strapping a Bodyguard .380 on when it was the gun that initially deterred me from pocket carry.
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