The new S&W Bodyguard .38 special+P

[WillyPete]

Bought one of these at the last gun show I went to and it has turned out to be a right fine firearm. It's built on the J-frame and has a laser bolted onto the side of the frame beside the hammer shroud.
It can be easily carried in a pocket holster, a belt holster, and IWB holster or an ankle holster with consideration for your clothing covering it if concealed. The hammer is shrouded so drawing it from concealment is less troublesome than when a regular exposed hammer revolver is carried concealed. Because of this shroud, the revolver is double action only.
It used all of the ammo I tried it with, I did not set the laser sight as I wanted to see how the various rounds worked first. Everything I used was consistent in placement on my targets at about 7-10 yards. Now I just have to go back and set the laser.
With regular .38 special rounds, recoil is rather snappy and brisk for my huge hands but, I maintained control and was able to keep the shots in a fair group shooting freehand and even in rapid fire exercises. +P rounds caused much greater jumps and a definite degradation of control. Smaller hands than mine may be able to handle the +P offerings better than I could but, you'd have to check them out for yourself. I could only get barely two fingers on the grip so recoil was a lot more pronounced. It wasn't bad or painful but, it was snappy causing the revolver to jump a lot more than regular loadings.
My reloads did just as good as the regular loads since that's how I loaded them and my specialty loads did quite well. The buckshot rounds kept the pellets within 3 inches at 7-10 yds. and the #8 birdshot snake loads were tighter than I thought they'd be from a rifled barreled firearm at that distance. I wouldn't expect the snakeloads to cause much damage to an attacker but it would give pause or cause them to turn tail.
My +P loads were just as jumpy as the factory loads so, I'm prepared for them but, I will be keeping factory loads in the cylinder for carry use, eventhough there have been no law actions against anyone for using handloads, why take the chance and factory loads perform just fine. I have not found any speedloaders to fit but I did get some speedstrips from Midsay USA for rapid reloads.
IIRC, the price I paid pre-sales tax was $369.00. Not bad for a tiny, quality handgun from Smith & Wesson.

In case you haven't noticed, I'm a big fan of S&W handguns. I have three now and will be getting some more, or at least another one, later.

[side_job]

If you got one at 369 you really did well. That is a bakers dozen or so below dealer cost. I have one listed on GB for four and a quarter. I was not real impressed with the laser controls, I think they would have done better with a grip switch. I think they would do well to offer without a laser to compete with the LCR.

[WillyPete]

I did consider the Ruger LCR at first but, the dealer was selling it at $469 versus the S&W at $100 less. With the laser sight it was no hard guess why I bought the S&W. Well, that and I have two other S&Ws that are phenomenal pistols themselves.
Whenever I manage to get to the range again, I'll concentrate on getting the laser set for the carry load I'll use and if it turns out the laser is less than acceptable, I'll just take it off and use the iron sights. I imagine I'll get the laser to work well enough for the close quarters it was designed for.

[Toepopper]

Having a laser sight gives you a tactical advantage in certain situations, for instance, if someone should break into your home at night and you shine that laser on his chest, any sane person would stop and throw up his hands and yell out DON"T SHOOT! Its similar in effect to racking the slide on a pump 12 guage and will have a deep psychological impact on the intruder because he knows whats coming next.

[WillyPete]

True that Toepopper. It's a great tool but, if it does not provide the aid it is designed to provide, it is mostly useless. Granted the psychological effect can be a serious deterrent to the bad guy, if he decides to continue his aggression and I cannot depend on it to do its job, i.e. the dot is far enough off to miss completely, I'd rather use something else that will be a help rather than a hindrance.
Of course, this is all academic until I manage to get to the range and sight in my laser to see if it will perform as expected. In the meantime the pistol is secreted away and I have another one or two or several or none that will perform admirably.