July 2001

Carry Classics: Bodyguard Vs. The S&W 342PD & Colt’s Agent

We were caught in an alloy quandary trying to pick from Colt’s classic Agent, the high-dollar S&W 342PD, and S&W’s newly slimmed-down Bodyguard. Now we know which one to buy.

Colt’s Agent is supposedly out of current ûproduction, but we found quite a few of them ûto buy. The question is, should you buy one?

Perhaps the loudest noise in the lightweight revolver boom was Smith & Wesson’s five-shot 342Ti, which was constructed with titanium components. This snub-nosed revolver was reviewed in the March 1999 issue of Gun Tests and performed at the top of the list against rivals such as the Ruger SP101, two revolvers from Taurus, and Smith & Wesson’s own 642, another Centennial model featuring a fully enclosed hammer system. The 342Ti’s strong point was that it was so light it could actually be forgotten in a coat pocket. Its weak point was that it was shipped with a beautiful wood grip that could tear your hand to shreds in short order.…
 
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