Sig P238 vs. S&W Bodyguard 380

+1 for the Sig P-238

The Sig, of course!

I've got a Sig that I've had for a year. I carry in a pancake holster, or throw it in my purse (in the holster) usually. It's been everywhere. I've put hundreds of range rounds through it with not one misfeed or failure of any sort. I've also put at least 100 rounds of hollow point through it without a problem. It's really easy to conceal, and I love it. I'd recommend it to anyone.

I would not get the S&W because of the retarded location of its laser. That said, I have no experience with the P238 so I can't comment.

I would agree with those that say the Colt Mustang's thumb safety is a little bit easier to take off than that of the SIG P-238. I usually carried it in an IWB holster as I also had concerns about it possibly coming off with carrying it in my pocket. The P-238's safety is more positively engaged, and while I would never say "it couldn't happen", I do feel the SIG is quite suitable for Condition 1 carry.

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Size and weight of the P238 is too close to the much more powerful Kahr PM40 so I just don't see how I could hide the P238 but not the PM40. In the peak of our summer heat, the P3AT (replaced by the LCP, which has since been replaced by the Bodyguard) is sometimes the best I can do.

I would not get the S&W because of the retarded location of its laser.

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Its not a retarded location, its very well thought out for one handed (either hand) point shooting using the middle finger as the trigger finger, ideal for these super small pistols. Read up on "point shooting" if you are unclear on the concept. This is the mode of operation where these mouse guns are most effective used.

As I said the P238 has the best sights and trigger of all the small .380s but its by far the biggest & heaviest of them being very close the Kahr PM series in size/weight).

I'd love mine if it worked, if its a lemon or not will be determined after I call them Monday.

I have always fancied guns that were very small for their caliber despite them all being an absolutely last choice for actual carry. This recent crop of .25ACP size-weight pistols in the much more powerful .380ACP pioneered by the Kel-Tec P3AT are very popular for a good reason -- rule one of the gun fight: Have a Gun!

wally said:

Size and weight of the P238 is too close to the much more powerful Kahr PM40 so I just don't see how I could hide the P238 but not the PM40. In the peak of our summer heat, the P3AT (replaced by the LCP, which has since been replaced by the Bodyguard) is sometimes the best I can do.




Its not a retarded location, its very well thought out for one handed (either hand) point shooting using the middle finger as the trigger finger, ideal for these super small pistols. Read up on "point shooting" if you are unclear on the concept. This is the mode of operation where these mouse guns are most effective used.

As I said the P238 has the best sights and trigger of all the small .380s but its by far the biggest & heaviest of them being very close the Kahr PM series in size/weight).

I'd love mine if it worked, if its a lemon or not will be determined after I call them Monday.

I have always fancied guns that were very small for their caliber despite them all being an absolutely last choice for actual carry. This recent crop of .25ACP size-weight pistols in the much more powerful .380ACP pioneered by the Kel-Tec P3AT are very popular for a good reason -- rule one of the gun fight: Have a Gun!

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I have a PM9 and a P238 and there is enough difference in size that for me the P238 is much more pocketable than the PM9 which is the same size as the PM40.

I totally agree with Kokapelli.
I own a Diamondback 380 and a Kahr PM9 and the size difference is greatly different when you compare them and the loaded weight of the pistols and I think my Diamondback is even smaller than his Sig and is certainly lighter.
I will just say this...Once the makers of all these new wave of highly concealable lightweight 380 makers get the bugs worked out of them they will be worth a treasure in years to come because whether you accept it or not they truely do have enough bite to make it count in a bad situation and they are so damn easy to carry an anorexic could carry one and no one would know the better.
They most definitely have their place.

Buckweet...
Just got the S&W BG .380 for the wife this week. GREAT LITTLE PISTOL IMO. Insight made laser functioned smoothly with light touch despite what I've read online. It ate 150 rds. of so-so Winchester .380 White Box flat nosed from China-Mart without a burp. My non-shootist wife got 1-2" groups at 15' and mine were 2-4" at 25' standing. No bench shooting yet for zero-ing the laser etc. We also shot 40 rds. of Speer GD which were a little hotter then the Winchester. A soft shooter to me, a long but not bad trigger for a DAO and it's not striker fired. It's well made, decent adjustable windage sights, easy to strip and clean and I liked being able to see a round through the chamber notch...nice for the $$$ and it's growing on me. Take one down and check out the parts. S&W has a winner here IMO. I like the balance with a loaded clip but the extra non-extended floor plate they give you would never work for my hand. The only negative ... S&W only pack ONE magazine but I'm happy mine has had zero problems so far.

I PREFERRED the feel of the SIG P238, but this is the wife's gun and its better for her to carry a DA she can bring into action without any thought to it. (I'm glad we did not buy the expensive Kahr380 as this S&W shot just fine.... AND....without the "you have to shoot 200 rounds before a Kahr breaks in right" blah, blah. The small safety is a bit stiffer then the Sig, but it's not needed. A nice tight slide on mine and it locked back on empty nicely...this is a great pocket pistol IMO and I would not hesitate to carry it if I didn't have a real gun with me. (Joke.) I'm waiting for the Sig P290 myself for my pocket pistol and I hope it isn't a dog. I might still get a Sig P238 because it just feels so good and I love SAO pistols but I won't pocket carry it. Good luck to you.

I go with the SIG as I have 2 Colt Mustangs and its a copy of them. The S&W is just ugly I looked at one last week . I would be embarrass to even take out of my pocket
I wish every one stop with the plastic and go back to steel or alloy frame pistols.
Their all starting to look the same

Here is a photo of my P238 on top of my PM40:




Here are a few comparison shots of the LCP, Bodyguard380, P238 and PM40:






Clearly the LCP is the smallest, PM40 the biggest, but the PM40 is well above the league of the .380s in power!


The key factor for me is weight as I rarely pocket carry but frequently were clothes with inadequate belt possibilities


Fully loaded:

PM40: 21oz.
Bodyguard: 15oz.
LCP: 12oz.

Empty:
P238 15oz.

The P238 empty is as heavy as the Bodyguard loaded, and 25% more than the loaded LCP.



But I'm happy today, got a chance to go to the range yesterday and took my P238 along figuring I'd get a few photos of its failures to go into battery before calling SIG and for the first time I had zero failures to go into battery!

Ran through a variety of ammo types totaling 125 rounds, only had two last shot ejection failures, but both of these were with the Colt Mustang mags I'd gotten from CDNN that also are failing to lock the slide back. The factory mag and the 7-round extended mag were both perfect (this is convenient as I can load 25 rounds at a time into the four mags).

When I cleaned it there was about 1/2" of shiny area at the front of the frame I didn't notice last time. Guess mine was a little too tight and just need a couple of hundred rounds to work out, seems I gave up too soon last time in frustration after the first and what seems to have been the last failure to go into battery. Time will tell if the problem is really gone, but it is the best shooting of all the little .380s.

Edit: Forgot to mention the pistols were lined up to touch a 2x4, to align the rear most part of the pistols. My camera has a view finder grid so I tried to keep things as square and straight on as possible.

wally said:

Here is a photo of my P238 on top of my PM40:

Here are a few comparison shots of the LCP, Bodyguard380, P238 and PM40:

Clearly the LCP is the smallest, PM40 the biggest, but the PM40 is well above the league of the .380s in power!


The key factor for me is weight as I rarely pocket carry but frequently were clothes with inadequate belt possibilities


Fully loaded:

PM40: 21oz.
Bodyguard: 15oz.
LCP: 12oz.

Empty:
P238 15oz.

The P238 empty is as heavy as the Bodyguard loaded, and 25% more than the loaded LCP.



But I'm happy today, got a chance to go to the range yesterday and took my P238 along figuring I'd get a few photos of its failures to go into battery before calling SIG and for the first time I had zero failures to go into battery!

Ran through a variety of ammo types totaling 125 rounds, only had two last shot ejection failures, but both of these were with the Colt Mustang mags I'd gotten from CDNN that also are failing to lock the slide back. The factory mag and the 7-round extended mag were both perfect (this is convenient as I can load 25 rounds at a time into the four mags).

When I cleaned it there was about 1/2" of shiny area at the front of the frame I didn't notice last time. Guess mine was a little too tight and just need a couple of hundred rounds to work out, seems I gave up too soon last time in frustration after the first and what seems to have been the last failure to go into battery. Time will tell if the problem is really gone, but it is the best shooting of all the little .380s.

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Pictures not working for me!

Something went wrong with the site. I see the pictures but they are not in my "attachments" list in the control panel. I uploaded them again and redid the links. Usually can't upload the same photo twice so something is foobar.

If they don't work now there is nothing more I can do if the site is broken.

They are in my attachments listing now so they should work.

To me there is no comparison ,the S&W 380 is a superior design and a lot more practicle and safer to carry and is only half the price. Cops can buy one for $269 and consumer $349 its a great deal.

The Sig is over priced and is only single action, and must be carried in a holster to safely carry it.

The S&W you can chamber a round in it put the safety on and put it or store it where ever you want safely.

I've owned the S&W for about 4 months and put about 90 rounds thru it with out cleaning it and during CCW qualification , I fired a 298 score out of 300 and my wife did hear ccw class last saturday with it , no cleaning at all and she fired a 289 out of 300 with it, the gun fires like a champ and never stops shooting straight and true.

This is one of the best guns S&W ever came up with, I wish they would make it in a compact 9mm or 40 sw

Update range report - bad

The same lady brought her Sig P238 today and 50 rounds of the same Federal Eagle 95 grain FMJ used previously. 4 stovepipes, 5 failures to go into battery, 1 failure to extract. Problems occurred with both magazines. The gun was clean, slide rails were oiled and she is not a limp wrister. The ammo sounded normal and felt normal. I am not a gunsmith so I am at a loss to explain such a drastic plunge in reliability.

Any reasonable chance of a out of spec box of Federal ammo?

Time to return the gun to Sig?

That's bad news. Did she let anyone else shoot it?

That would be the first thing I would do and if it continues like that I would be on the phone with sig.

I will probably take some heat for this

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Yes. But at least you are honest.

I owned a Colt Mustang which the Sig is a copy of

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That's your reasoning?
The Sig is not a copy of the mustang. Close. yes.
You reject the Sig because of the Colt?

Anyway, I have a Sig 238 and the safety is VERY positive. In a pocket holster with the safety AND the trigger covered, I see no way for a ND.

was using a leather purpose made for the gun

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Yeah, purpose made, okay, was the safety covered by the leather? I'll bet not.

Scratch off the DeSantis Nemesis also, the safety is not covered.

If the Sig being S/A bothers you, don't get it. But I find the Bodyguard rather unattractive.

The Sig has the least recoil of any gun I own, the slide is easy to rack, it has real night sights, the slide locks back, and it looks good. And mine has been 100% reliable.

I stopped carrying it in favor of the Seecamp, which is an easy pocket carry.

Or if your pockets are deeper (pun) check out the Kimber Solo Carry. Beauty.

Do not do it!!!!

Stay away from the P238 it is the absolute worst piece of crap ever made!!!! On top of it Sig Sauer treats you like a red headed stepchild once you are dumb enough to buy one of these pieces of junk! Colt made them and Sig Sauer blew them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Joker19 said:

Stay away from the P238 it is the absolute worst piece of crap ever made!!!! On top of it Sig Sauer treats you like a red headed stepchild once you are dumb enough to buy one of these pieces of junk! Colt made them and Sig Sauer blew them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Sig must have screwed upon mine because it has been flawless.

kokapelli said:

Sig must have screwed upon mine because it has been flawless.

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Mine too!

Make it 3 Mines good.

Make that 4, mine is good too!

Stay away from the P238 it is the absolute worst piece of crap ever made!!!! On top of it Sig Sauer treats you like a red headed stepchild once you are dumb enough to buy one of these pieces of junk! Colt made them and Sig Sauer blew them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Joker, I am a red-headed stepchild and none the worse for it. I was dumb enough to buy one of those pieces of junk. I had to send it back and was treated great. Obviously, they didn't know I was dumb and a red-headed stepchild. Why, they even threw in another mag when they returned my piece o'junk. 500 rounds down range (with the original spring) since returning and still zero problems. My biggest worry is that the wife will confiscate it, forcing me to buy another.

tales of take down pins dropping out of her Bodyguard

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Takedown pins??

There aren't any. You lock the slide back rotate the lever and pull it out, I don't see how its possible to come out on its own unless re-assembled grossly incorrectly.

The LCP being derived from the Kel-Tec P3AT does have a take down pin. Unlike the P3AT, I've not had issues of it walking out while shooting.

The sig 238 is a great little gun IME with several, and it definitely gets my vote