My EDC for the last several years has been the Smith and Wesson M&P 2.0 3.6” chambered in 9mm. I really love that semi-auto pistol a lot and had no desire to carry any other pistol, let alone one in 380 ACP.
Even though the new Smith and Wesson Bodyguard 2.0 (launched in March 2024) has become very popular, I had resisted getting one, until now.
Why? Of course, there were situations where I wouldn’t mind having a much smaller carry gun, particularly for appendix carry and during the Summer months. It seemed, the Bodyguard 2.0 was simply too good to pass up, particularly since it was on sale for just $359.99 at my local gun store.
Features of the Bodyguard 2.0
- Very slender polymer grip with fairly aggressive texture, similar to the M&P Full and Compact 2.0 series
- Striker fired
- Flat-faced trigger
- 2.75” stainless steel barrel with Armornite® corrosion resistant finish.
- Black u-notch rear sight
- Front sight has a Tritium insert
- 18-degree grip angle
- Stainless Steel Slide with Armornite® corrosion resistant finish with aggressive front and rear serrations to give the user various points of grip for slide manipulation
- Includes 10-round and 12-round steel magazines
- Optional manual thumb safety
Dimensions of the Bodyguard 2.0
- Overall Length: 5.5″
- Width: .88″
- Height: 4″
- Barrel Length: 2.75″
- Weight: 9.8 oz. (The M&P 2.0 Compact 3.6″ weighs 25.9 oz.)
Pricing
MSRP is $449.99. Street price is about $399.99. I purchased mine on sale for just $359.99.
At the Range
Having sent roughly 150 rounds of Magtech 380 ACP, 95 Grain FMJ, down range, I experienced no malfunctions with the Bodyguard 2.0 and found it to be accurate.
Clearly, the Bodyguard 2.0 is a very small pistol. In fact, it is about the same length and height as the Sig P238, but about 5.4 oz lighter! Despite its diminutive size, I like how the Bodyguard 2.0 feels in my hands even with the 10-round magazine. Surprisingly, it’s not too snappy to shoot either.
Slide Manipulation
It’s worth noting that the slide is a lot harder to pull back compared to a Sig P238 and an M&P 380 Shield EZ, so if you have weak hands/wrist strength, the Bodyguard 2.0 may not be the best choice.
Slide Stop
Out of the box, I found the slide stop to be very stiff, so much so, that with the slide locked back, I needed to push down at the rear top corner of the slide stop lever in order to release the slide. After doing that several times, I was then finally able to push down on the entire slide stop lever to successfully release the slide.
Magazines
The Bodyguard 2.0 comes with both 10-round and 12-round magazines. However, I found that loading the last round by hand in both magazines was difficult. Using an UpLULA pistol magazine loader proved quite helpful.
The Trigger
Unlike the previous generation Bodyguard, the 2.0 is a striker fired pistol with a much better trigger (both shorter pull and lighter pull weight). While Smith and Wesson does not officially state the trigger pull weight, according to my Wheeler digital trigger gauge, a 10-pull average was just under 5 lbs.
The Bodyguard now uses a flat-faced trigger, similar to those on their updated M&P line. While it is a significant improvement over the first generation’s trigger, it’s clearly not as nice as an Apex flat-faced forward set trigger. And to that point, the Bodyguard 2.0 trigger has more take-up that is gritty, with a longer and laggy reset. As mentioned earlier, at least the trigger pull weight is decent at just under 5 lbs on average.
Bodyguard 2.0 trigger pull
Bodyguard 2.0 trigger reset
Final Thoughts
If you are looking for an extremely small, lightweight, striker-fired, semi-automatic “pocket” pistol, with a decent trigger, you may want to check out the new Smith and Wesson, Bodyguard 2.0. So far, I really like the Bodyguard 2.0. If it proves to be as reliable as my M&P 2.0 Compact 3.6″, I will definitely start carrying it.