There are several major brands of pocket gun on the market that most consumers consider before purchasing that I have personal experience with: The Ruger LCP, the Smith & Wesson Bodyguard 380 and the Sig Sauer P238. So after shooting experience each, watching them in the rental counter for a year and discussing the firearms with countless consumers and a few coworkers, here are my final recommendations based on a series of rankings similar to the Competition Gun Comparison but adapted for these little carry guns. My first ranking category will be Reliability, many people buy these pocket guns to put 50 rounds through them and then never practice with them again but its important to look at the build quality of any gun designed for carry. My second ranking category will be Availability of Accessories, this category will address which gun has the most holsters available and which one has the widest variety of sights. My third ranking category will be Shooting Experience, which will address how easy the gun is to shoot. My final ranking category will be what is most important to a majority of the consumers looking at these guns, and that will be Concealability based on size and weight.
Smith & Wesson Bodyguard 380
Reliability
1. Sig Sauer P238
2. Ruger LCP
3. Smith & Wesson Bodyguard 380
While not perfect I have always found the Sig Sauer P238 to be the most reliable of the three firearms. The Bodyguard 380, on the other hand, I have received less than ideal feedback on. Not only has our rental counter gun been back to the factory a few times but (literally) everybody I know who has put more than 400 rounds through the gun has seen it break in some fashion or another. Smith & Wesson will fix it.
Availability of Accessories
1. Ruger LCP
2. Sig Sauer P238
3. Smith & Wesson Bodyguard 380
I put the Ruger LCP at the top because there are more holsters and mag pouches available for the firearm, which tends to be the most important thing to most people shopping for a pocket gun. The P238 is easier to customize in regards to sights and grip panels.
Shooting Experience
Ruger LCP
1. Sig Sauer P238
2. Smith & Wesson Bodyguard 380
3. Ruger LCP
The P238 is by far the most pleasant to shoot, with a single action trigger and enough weight to prevent the ridiculous snap you get with the other two. The Bodyguard 380 has better ergonomics than the Ruger LCP but still it has that long double action trigger pull that will give your forearms and trigger finger a good work out. The Ruger LCP is flat out unpleasant to shoot, it’s small, it’s snappy, it has horrible sights and a long double action trigger pull.
Concealability
1. Ruger LCP
2. Bodyguard 380
3. Sig Sauer P238
The Ruger LCP is the clear winner in this category, weighing in at only 9.4 ounces the LCP is not only smaller and lighter than the other two guns but has a much wider variety of accessories available for carry. It was more difficult to differentiate between the P238 and Bodyguard 380, since there are more holsters and accessories available to carry the P238 but the Bodyguard 380 is a few ounces lighter.
Overall
Sig Sauer P238
1. Sig Sauer P238
2. Ruger LCP
3. Smith & Wesson Bodyguard 380
The Sig Sauer P238 is my carry gun of choice, I think it’s an excellent firearm for its size and what it’s designed to do. There are holsters and sights and accessories available, it’s shootable, it’s reliable and what more could I want? The Ruger LCP is a better option for actual pocket carry though, and I recognize that there is a difference between my small appendix and bra holsters and the boys’ pocket holsters. The Ruger’s weight makes it better for true pocket carry. The Bodyguard 380 has a built in laser.