James Bond's gun

[NPS,LE]

Today saw latest Bond flick, Quantum of Something or Other.
Actually, ok movie. But what the dickens is that sub-compact he uses to stop all the bad guys? Just make believe? Looks bit like an old Walther 32 I once messed around with. Thoughts?

[SavageMOA]

one of my favorite websites www.imfdb.org

it's an online database of hundreds of movies and the guns used in them

[collector14]

We went to see it last Friday. I was surprised to see the old Walther .380. One of the few things from the older Bond movies that survived.

[nate45]

I was surprised to see the old Walther .380

I have not seen the new film, but Bond of old used a .32 ACP Walther PPK, a small point, but...

[CDH]

While not listed, someone seems to have identified the pistol being carried in the lead girl's thigh holster as a Rohrbaugh.

Don't know for sure, but the pic that was shown sure looked like it.

[blume357]

the author of the Bond Books didn't know diddle about guns... In the first Bond movie, which was not based on the first book by the way, they make 007 take the Walther (I always thought it was a 380) and trade in his Berretta 25?... saying something really stupid about the knock down power of the Walther....

The one thing that happened is that the Walther PPK became known as the:

"Sex in a holster" pistol.

[ActivShootr]

Bond carried an S&W model 40 prior to the Beretta, I believe.

blume357 is right about Flemming not knowing about guns. He had an advisor on the subject whose name eludes me at the moment. Mr. Flemming named him in one of his books as "armorer to James Bond".

[collector14]

Nate45 is correct, it was 7.65mm (.32). The gun collector that advised Femming was Geoffrey Boothroyd.

[ActivShootr]

Boothroyd. Thats it! Thanks collector14.

[45Marlin carbine]

early on he carried a Beretta .25acp (his personal choice for carry - and maybe another brand small caliber) this he replaced by the Walther .32 then in 'Dr. No' a .380acp Walther and S&W .38spcl 'Police Positive'.

[buzz_knox]

saying something really stupid about the knock down power of the Walther

Fleming's experience with firearms came from his intelligence background. His first couple of books had Bond using either what Fleming had carried/handled or what Fleming thought a spy might use. When Boothroyd wrote him and let him know what the issues were with those selections, Boothroyd became "Q."

The "like a brick through a plate glass window" bit was a mistake in the script.

[Mark Milton]

The problem was not so much Fleming or Boothroyd as it was the British film producers and directors who made the movies.


Boothroyd did know his guns. He advised a snubby .38 and a .32 Walther for concealed carry and specific holsters.
The mistake was when Fleming changed the holsters around and had Bond tote the Walther in the upside down rig made back then only for snubby revolvers.
Bond also carried a .45 revolver in the books as a car gun.

The people who made the movies knew nothing about guns.
In the books, Bond swapped a .25 beretta for a .32 walther. In the film made from that book, Bond actually swaps a .380 Beretta for a .32 Walther.
As if that is not bad enough, in one of the movies a bad guy fires a Colt .45 and Connery (as Bond) says, "That's a Smith and Wesson, you've had your six."

LOL...
In Never Say Never again, they upgraded Bond's gun to a 9mm Walther. In some of the Moore films he carried revolvers such as the .44 magnum or a .357 snub from time to time.

In the new film he is back to the .32 Walther again and a captured Sig 9mm...

[lechiffre]

i posted this n another forum:

in dr. no james bond is issued two guns a S&W centennial and a walther ppk. he loses the s&w.

in casino royale he has (in addition to the beretta .25) a colt .38 with a sawn barrel. he sleeps with the colt under his pillow. also in his bentley he has a long barrel .45 colt.

in moonraker he trains with a colt detective special.

ian fleming knew little about guns. it was suggested to him by geoffrey boothroyd that bond carry something more than a .25. boothroyd offered the centennial or ppk as better choices for concealment and the s&w model 10 for longer range. fleming mistakenly had the character armorer boothroyd issue bond a centennial for longer range work and a ppk for concealment.

[darkgael]

Deleted. It was repetitive.....idea already mentioned.

[Webleymkv]

Bond's literary gun depends greatly on which book written by which author you're reading. Ian Fleming typically armed Bond with the Berretta .25 (most likely a 950 Jetfire) and later his PPK and S&W Centennial Airweight .38 Spl. John Gardener armed Bond with a variety of different handguns. In just the few books I've read, Bond has used a GP-35 Hi-Power 9mm, ASP 9mm, and Ruger Super Blackhawk .44 Magnum. The latest author, Raymond Benson, seems to stay with Walther products including a .32ACP PPK loaded with Glasers and a .40 S&W P99. I have to assume that the P99 used in most of the movies was a 9mm as it debuted in Tomorrow Never Dies which was made in 1997 (the P99 didn't come out in .40 until 1998). The gun in Quantum of Solace does appear to be a blued PPK (presumably in .32ACP) although I could have sworn I saw a PP in a couple of shots.

[nate45]

Ian Fleming typically armed Bond with the Berretta .25 (most likely a 950 Jetfire) and later his PPK and S&W Centennial Airweight .38 Spl.

It was a Beretta 418

I'm sorry I don't care if people laugh, I can't stand it. I had read all of Fleming's Bond books 3 or 4 times each before I was 15.

In From Russia With Love the .25's silencer got hung up and slowed down his draw, which in turn allowed Rosa Kleb to stab him with a knitting needle dipped in poison.

This in turn led M to have the armorer evaluate Bonds weapon in the beginning of the next novel, Dr. No.

The armorer recommended that Bond use either an .38 Special S&W Centennial or a Walther PPK 7.65.

Bond carried the S&W with him when he went to Dr. No's Island, but after he was captured by Dr. No's men and they took it away from him it was never heard of again. From then on he used the .32 ACP Walther.

What Bond uses in movies or books written by other authors is irrelevant, there is only one original and still the best Bond, all the rest are a pale imitation.

[Webleymkv]

It was a Beretta 418

Did Fleming ever actually say which model it was? The only one I ever read where Bond used it was To Live and Let Die in which it was described as a Berretta .25 Auto with a "skeleton grip" (whatever a skeleton grip is).

In From Russia With Love the .25's silencer got hung up and slowed down his draw, which in turn allowed Rosa Kleb to stab him with a knitting needle dipped in poison.

This incident was mentioned in Dr. No as well wasn't it. If I remember correctly, Bond was carrying the gun in a chamois Berns-Martin Shoulder rig with the silencer attatched (Fleming was obviously not a gun person and a Berns-Martin wouldn't work with an auto and I can't see why somone would use a shoulder rig to carry such a small handgun)

Bond carried the S&W with him when he went to Dr. No's Island, but after he was captured by Dr. No's men and they took it away from him it was never heard of again. From then on he used the .32 ACP Walther.

Seems to me like Bond keeps either a S&W or Colt .38 Snubby either in his car or under his pillow in a couple other Fleming books but I could be mixing them up with some later novels. I find some of the changes in the firearms between the novels and the movies to be interesting as well. For example, Scaremanga's transition from a Colt SAA and Remington Double Derringer to a strange single shot pistol in the Man with the Golden Gun adaptation.

[nate45]

Seems to me like Bond keeps either a S&W or Colt .38 Snubby either in his car or under his pillow in a couple other Fleming books but I could be mixing them up with some later novels.

He also did have a long barreled .45 in a secret compartment in his car.

I found this a list of Bond's weapons. List of James Bond firearms

For example, Scaremanga's transition from a Colt SAA and Remington Double Derringer to a strange single shot pistol in the Man with the Golden Gun adaptation.

Thats a good example of how the movies are not nearly as good as the books.

Scaramanga used a gold plated, highly engraved 7.5 inch .45 Colt SAA. He loaded his own HP gold amalgam ammo for it too.

[Webleymkv]

Scaramanga used a gold plated, highly engraved 7.5 inch .45 Colt SAA. He loaded his own HP gold amalgam ammo for it too.

It was a gold jacket with a silver core wasn't it?

[nate45]

It was a gold jacket with a silver core wasn't it?

I went to the novel.

According to Chapter 3 of The Man With The Golden Gun "Pistols" Scaramanga, in his dossier it says that 'He uses special bullets with a heavy, soft (24 ct.) gold core jacketed with silver and cross-cut at the tip, on the dum-dum principal, for maximum wounding effect. Himself loads and artifices this ammunition.'

Did Fleming ever actually say which model it was? The only one I ever read where Bond used it was To Live and Let Die in which it was described as a Berretta .25 Auto with a "skeleton grip" (whatever a skeleton grip is).

No, he never says what Model Beretta it was.

The Beretta 950 was first produced in 1953 the same year the first novel was released, but Fleming wrote it in '51 and '52. He also alludes to Bond having carried it for some time, so it is most likely a 418. Since Bond is Ian Fleming or a Walter Mitty version of Fleming, a 418 is what Fleming would have used. You do realize that after being in the assistant to the Dir. of Naval intelligence, that he was head of the Reuters bureau in Moscow. I imagine he was reporting more than the news.

[kennybs plbg]

Question, Is not the 380acp a 9mm across the pond?

kenny b

[nate45]

Question, Is not the 380acp a 9mm across the pond?

It is a 9 mm everywhere.

[kennybs plbg]

It is a 9 mm everywhere

Granted, I should have worded that differently.

kenny b

[nate45]

All of these are synonymous with the .380 ACP, but I'm really not sure what they call it in England.

9x17mm
9mm Kurz
9mm Corto
9mm Court
9mm Short
9mm Kratak
9mm Browning Short
9mm Scurt

[Que]

so it is most likely a 418

Almost certainly. Here's one of mine (with later style grip safety)