Ruger LCP vs. Smith Bodyguard

[dcrguns]

I do lots of training and sell lots of guns. Almost all of the guns made today are very well made and will function as designed. I will say that I carry either the Glock 43 or the Glock 19 everyday and either one will do anything I need it to do.
The LC9S is the new striker fired version of the old LC9. It is a much better system than the old long trigger that the LC9 was introduced with. If you decide on the LC9, make sure it is the S model. Can come with a safety or without one. Your preference. I prefer the Pro model that has no safety.
The Bodyguard and the LCP are also a fine firearms. I have shot them many times and they function very well. I do like the mag release on the bodyguard better than the LCP, and the bodyguard seems to be easier for most people to shoot well. I think it fits most people's hands better than the LCP, but it is a little bigger and is more expensive than the LCP. The Walther PPS M2 is a little quirky and I have had issues with it failing to feed properly with different ammo. The Walther PPQ is one of the best handguns being made today and is a fine concealed carry firearm.
If you have any specific questions you would like to ask, feel free and I will try to answer them if I can.
Just be sure and train with any gun you get. Make sure and practice. That is the failing of most people when it comes to firearms. They don't shoot enough.

 

[texmexpipe]

Glock 43 all the way if you want a 380, but between the two you states I'd go with the LCp over the body guard. The body guard just isn't my personal pref. It doesn't do what I want it to very well. I've shot all of these (several hundred rounds in each case). If you are a 1911 guy maybe look at a SiG 938 it's a single stack 9 single action only trigger. Expensive though in comparison to the others.

 

[dcrguns]

The Glock 42 is the 380 model, the Glock 43 is the 9mm version. The 42 is smaller and lighter than the 43 but it is also a .380 caliber and does not pack the punch of the 9mm.

 

[fitzy]

I carry a Kahr PM9. Small and lightweight. Easy to conceal.
I'd rather have a .45 for the stopping power but I personally wouldn't carry a 1911. Too darn heavy.

 

[dcrguns]

The Springfield XDS in .45 is an excellent carry option, if you want to carry a .45 without the weight of a 1911.

 

[pagan]

@bigtex, gotcha pard, just giv'n ya crap :rofl: West Tx hear

 

[emsjunky]

I actually carry a keltec p11. It's a double stack 9 small enough to pocket carry. I really like it.

 

[mawnansmiff]

All this talk of you guys going around carrying guns frankly gives me the shivers. Best I don't ever upset any of you :wink:
Regards,
Jay.

 

[tbradsim1]

I've been carrying the Star PD 45 caliber for many years.

 

[ssjones]

Through my job, I travel all of the East Coast, in restaurants, travel plazas and truck stop (late nights, early mornings, cash business). Until last month, I never felt the need to have a gun with me (I have several pistols at home, and enjoy shooting them for recreation).
I stay in a lot of hotels, usually well chosen and regular stops on my now 17 year travel routes. Last month, at 2 AM, in a nice Marriott hotel, a man and woman were banging on my door at 2:30 in the morning. I was standing on the other side of the door in t-shirt and underwear, hoping they didn't try to kick the door in. I had with me a small penknife and nail clippers. Fortunately, I was able to convince them that I was not the "Jeff" they were looking for and they left. There is typically one person on duty in a rural hotel overnight and police would have been 30 minutes a way. That prompted my recent purchase.

 

[jerwynn]

My wife carries the Sig P238... OUTSTANDING GUN!! Engineered every bit as good, if not better, than Kimbers. She's actually taken to carrying it almost all the time and many times, I don't even notice it. She has a Walther PPKS and a Kimber Stainless 1911 in 9mm. The Sig is The One, however.
My most frequent common carry is the Smith&Wesson "Wyatt Deep Cover", a S&W custom-shopped 637 snubie revolver. I retrofitted it with a longer-enough Hogue grip(I have huge hands) and it is by far, one of the easiest carry's around when I'm out and about. For home protection, my choice is a full-size Springfield Armory XD-m 9, about which I also can't say enough good! And 19 rounds ready to go.
Heroin related crime around here is up hundreds of points. Several major distribution points are within 2 miles of my house. One block north of where I am, there have been home invasions and automotive break-ins. On the surface, this area looks like an idyllic paradise. The sad reality is different. We are not reactionary crazoids, we just don't want to be easy victims. Retirement aged and older couples, and then especially older singles, are frequently targeted. Both of us are originally "country kids" for whom shooting sports etc are just a happy part of the cultural package. If, now, we must protect ourselves with those skills, we have another tool to do so. I also carry pepper spray, mainly for idiots that can't or won't control their dogs when out walking. It also gives another non-lethal option if needed otherwise. The first strategy is always to simply avoid all trouble if at all possible. But we're ready if it can't be avoided.

 

[mawnansmiff]

"That prompted my recent purchase."
And therein lies the start of the never ending circle!
Regards,
Jay.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I am not really a gun enthusiast, but I started to carry when I had to make the drop for the store at night. I had always told myself that I would not be a slave to the thing like my dad was. A lot of these models are lost on me, and I try to avoid conversation about guns to keep from looking like an idiot, same reason I avoid talking about rugby, ha ha. My dad always had a .38 under his dress jacket, but he also had a trunk full of gold jewelry, and he also hid diamonds in the sugar bowl at home at night. The family store when I was a kid had a couple of smash and grabs, but never anything life threatening, thank goodness.

But, working art festivals with my jewelry and cash on hand, on camping trips, and hikes, I'll always carry. Other than that, I really never go anywhere that I don't feel safe. I am pretty much a "people" kind of guy who talks to everyone. Maybe I am foolishly optimistic, but I have a pretty good faith in people in general. I just don't trust them as much when I have something on me that could easily make me a target.
I also have a couple of rifles and a shotgun for hunting, but I sometimes forget that those could be weapons. I think of them like hammers and saws, tools to get the job done.
But, it's interesting to hear other peoples reasoning and choices of weapon. Although I have to google most to the guns listed here, ha ha.

 

[aldecaker]

@Smiff- Well, some say "an armed society is a polite society". Trouble is, we often remember to be armed but forget to be polite!

 

[lifesizehobbit]

I know that revolvers tend to be less and less of a carry choice since they're typically 5 or 6 shots before reload. However my wife carries the Ruger LCR .38spl. Polymer frame, stainless barrel/cylinder, hidden hammer and Hogue grips. She preferred revolver for it's simplicity and we chose this model since the grips absorb a lot of the normal shock transferred up the radius bone. This is a light, easily carried revolver with a trusted round.
My personal choice is Spfld XD-9sc.

 

[lochinvar]

I have shot the LCP and, if you are comfortable with it, it seemed to be well put together and the trigger was heavy, but smooth. I can't get with pistols that small, they get lost in my mitts. Sigs are great if you are comfortable with that range of price. I wouldn't trust my life to Kimber. My daily carry consists of a Colt Commander in .45 or a S&W 686 3" .357. About the smallest gun I was ever comfortable with was the old Soviet 9mm Makarov (I know still bigger and heavier than your two). It was always supremely accurate and I could not get it to jam, even with the dirtiest Combloc ammo out there.
All that rambling aside, try a few if you have a rental range around you, or a buddy who has one. I've gone through a lot of money trying what ,on paper, was my perfect gun, only to find that my perfect gun is a 1911 or a Smith and Wesson Hand ejector (any frame, J, K/L or N). Really the handgun I recommend to most for small gun carry is a S&W Centennial (5 shot .357 or 38 NO hammer).

 

[shutterbugg]

I've always been a wheelgun guy. Ruger Vaquero in .44mag, S&W's in .357mag and .38sp including a 5-shot which is great for carry but I wish it had the shrouded hammer. Thought about just cutting the hammer off but haven't done it. The semiautos just never appealed to me. Round capacity and quick reloading is really only needed for LEO and military. If you're a good shot, 5-6 rounds should really be enough unless you're being attacked by a gang, and then unless you've got an Uzi they're gonna get you before you get all of them. I have a Glock 9mm but frankly they're plastic POS's which make them light to carry but also the recoil takes them way off point unlike a nice heavy revolver. I can place a tighter circle with my .44mag SA hogleg than the damn Glock.

My Colt Python will be traveling with me, my second pistol I purchased in 1972. It's now worth a small fortune.

Yeah I regret not buying one of those. Avery Brooks as Hawk the hitman, in the old Robert Urich TV show Spenser for Hire, carried one of those. That rib down the barrel is pure gunporn art. It's little brother .22 Diamondback had it too, wish I'd got one of those as well.

 

[brian64]

Of course if you're going to play the Glockophone, only a Glock will do.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQ96jyfefCk

 

[tslex]

I carry a 1911 (full size Government model) in a TT Gunleather OWB. With the right holster (and TT is the RIGHT holster) it is by no means an unpleasant load. That said, you have to be prepared to find an pay for the right holster for your body type. I like the way it conceals becuase of its slim profile; but the key for me is that after 40 years, I don't shoot any other pistol as well as I shoot the 1911. Being accountable for every fired projectile makes that my prime mover, after ensuring reliability.
But even though I carry the, 1911,when I get in the office, I have to either keep my jacket on all day (not comfy) or find a compromise. So once in the office, I pocket carry my Kahr PM9 in a Hedley pocket holster. (Again, pocket carry is a compromised method to begin with, so the right holster to keep the gun properly oriented in YOUR pocket, is key.) I like the PM9, it has been tremendously reliable (after getting some work done when purchased), and runs full power loads. But that said -- and to finally get to the OP's question -- if I were buying a small concealed carry pistol today, I'd by the Glock 43 without hesitating. Ruger and Kel-Tec have their place, but I won't stake my life on either of them. And the SW Bodyguard (agreed, it's hard not to think of the J-frame) has a trigger I just can't get around.
I suppose it's all personal preference once you have a pistol you know will run flawlessly, perhaps with one exception: I don't know why anyone would carry a .380 these days with all the same-sized subcompacts that can run +P 9mm.
ETA agreement that you can't go wrong with a hammerless/shoruded J frame in .357. You can practice in cheaper, kinder .38SPL, then load with serious .357. That gun and a speed strip with 5 extra round and you are not undergunned at all -- presuming you have put in the range time to get the most out of a snubby.

 

[aldecaker]

Depending on how much water I've drunk that day, my 1911 may or may not actually be wider than I am. Even with that spindly body type, I agree that with the proper holster, a 1911 is a cinch to carry.
One minor point of disagreement, though, and this is opinion only. I feel that if you are going to carry a .357 for serious work, you should practice with the rounds you will actually be using. Again, opinion only, but I think practice with the overall feel of the rounds, leading into recoil management and returning to an on-target condition for follow-up rounds, is very important. So, by all means, practice with .38s, but do not neglect at least adequate practice with .357s as well, if that's what you will be carrying.