Round Up: Modern Pocket Guns

Pocket pistols, be they semi-automatic or compact revolvers, still represent a good portion of the guns in many peoples’ everyday carry repertoire. Smaller guns tend to be easier, lighter and more convenient to carry. Pocket-pistols of either type have had historically comparable magazine or cylinder cartridge capacities, and you might recall some information posted several months ago with some baseline comparisons between both categories. With that said, one of the more interesting trends we’re seeing of late is .380 ACP pistols with newer designs that can fit more than 6 rounds into their magazines. Even when shifting cartridges to one of a smaller diameter, most pocket revolvers will still hold between 5-8 cartridges, but in the niches of pocket carry, they can still confer some advantages.

Smith & Wesson Bodyguard 2.0 (.380 ACP): MSRP $449

The Smith & Wesson Bodyguard 2.0, chambered in .380 ACP, is the newest product in this round-up, having just been released this past summer. This latest iteration completely reimagines the concept of the Bodyguard pistol in the modern era, as the slide, frame and most importantly, the magazine capacity have all been revamped. The previous .380 Bodyguard models held only six rounds while the latest models hold up to twice the capacity. Both slide and frame contours resemble the M&P/ M&P Shield profiles, which already happen to be some of the most ergonomically friendly options in the market. 

Ruger LCP Max (.380 ACP): MSRP: $479

Similar in concept to the Smith & Wesson mentioned above, but a little older, the Ruger LCP Max also had the same goal in refactoring yesterday’s form factor in a modern striker-fired .380 ACP semi-automatic pocket pistol into something more relevant to today. The Ruger LCP Max also includes a revamped magazine capacity over the original Ruger “Lightweight Compact Pistol” from six to 10 rounds. Dimensionally, the Ruger LCP Max is neck-to-neck compared the new Bodyguard 2.0 with some of the differences boiling down to mere fractions of an inch.  

Heritage Manufacturing Roscoe (.38 Special): MSRP: $363.99

The Heritage Manufacturing Roscoe is one of the newest compact revolvers from Brazil to make it to our American shores this year. The Roscoe is patterned directly after the classic 5-shot Taurus Model 85 revolver, and these new guns can be had with either two- or three-inch barrels. In the case of the two-inch models, Heritage Manufacturing sets out to offer their customers a no-nonsense classically styled but still useful shiny and blued 5-shot .38 Special snub-nosed revolver at a very reasonable price. From a modern carry perspective, its exposed hammer can be a liability, but it does go nicely with the vintage styling of this pistol.  

Smith & Wesson Ultimate Carry J-Frame (.32 H&R Mag. or .38 Special): MSRP $759

Perhaps the most highly anticipated snub-nosed revolver announced at SHOT Show in 2024, the Ultimate Carry J-Frame revolver was designed in collaboration with Lipsey’s Guns and American Fighting Revolver. This J-frame is available both in .32-caliber or .38-caliber and is decked out with some very fine VZ Grips G10 stocks for EDC along with what are objectively some of the best defensive iron sights on any snub-nosed revolver. Ultimate Carry revolvers forego the traditional fixed rear sight that’s carved into the rear part of the frame’s topstrap and instead have a separate wide, U-shaped rear sight notch in conjunction with a high visibility XS Sights Tritium Big Dot front sight.

Taurus 856 UL (.38 Special): MSRP $376.05

The Taurus 856 family represents the Brazilian gun-making giant’s family of compact-frame 6-shot .38 Special revolvers. The company offers a wide configuration of their 856 revolvers, with both steel and aluminum allow frames. Alloy frame Taurus 856 revolvers are known as UltraLite and these probably represent one of the best values between ease-of-carry, cost and accessibility. The frames are only slightly wider but can hold one additional round of .38 Special compared to most traditional compact-frame revolvers. UltraLite models can be had with bobbed hammers and with different color anodizing on frames.

The Takeaway

Regardless of whether one’s preferred compact pistol is a revolver or a semi-automatic, their trade-off besides the reduced capacity (maybe not so much with the new Smith & Wesson Bodyguard 2.0 or the Ruger LCP Max) is that these guns are categorically more challenging to shoot, and they require more sweat equity to master. Ultimately, it’s hard to ignore how easy and convenient they are to carry.