James Bond the super spy created by Ian Fleming is a character that we all know from the popular novel ovels s and and mov movies. es. This This page page focu focuse ses s on the the pistols that Mr. Bond carried with him on his adventures. Beretta Modelo 418 Up until the movie Dr NO the only pistol James Bond carried was the little Ita Italian .25 Beretta Modelo 418. James was was very very fond of this this compact compact lit little tle gun gun and and was was relu eluctan ctantt to give ive it up, even ven though it jammed on him in a novel, and nearly cost him his life.....he spent 6 months in hospital recove recoverin ring g from from the the seriou serious s injuries sustai sustained ned in that mission....and HQ was not impressed. In the movie, James Bond actually had a Beretta Modelo 1934, presumably because the studio could not not get get the the prop proper er and and corr correc ectt mode modell 418. 418. The The Beretta Modelo 418 is pictured below:
Th This clos close e con conceal cealme men nt gun gun is also also known own as a pocket pistol in that it is very compact and can be carried quite easily and unobtrusively in the trouser pocket, although James Bond used a small shou should lder er hols holste terr that that is more more befi befitt ttin ing g a spec specia iall Agent. Agent. Below Below is pictured pictured the standard standard holste holsterr for the the 418, 418, Bonds was was actu actual ally ly made ade of soft soft thin hin chamois leather.
The Beretta model 418 had a small pin that protruded from the back of the slide to indicate that the pistol was cocked and ready to fire, this is just visible visible in the photo photo below. below. In the novel, novel, James James Bond actually filed this to a sharp point, presumably so that he could feel it easier and know without looking that the gun was ready to fire.
Th This clos close e con conceal cealme men nt gun gun is also also known own as a pocket pistol in that it is very compact and can be carried quite easily and unobtrusively in the trouser pocket, although James Bond used a small shou should lder er hols holste terr that that is more more befi befitt ttin ing g a spec specia iall Agent. Agent. Below Below is pictured pictured the standard standard holste holsterr for the the 418, 418, Bonds was was actu actual ally ly made ade of soft soft thin hin chamois leather.
The Beretta model 418 had a small pin that protruded from the back of the slide to indicate that the pistol was cocked and ready to fire, this is just visible visible in the photo photo below. below. In the novel, novel, James James Bond actually filed this to a sharp point, presumably so that he could feel it easier and know without looking that the gun was ready to fire.
There is a grip safety feature on this gun too, a little lever on the back of the butt has to be depre depressed ssed in the the hand before before the gun gun will fire. fire. In the novel, James Bond actually took the grips off and strapped tape around the handle so that the safety was permanently depressed.
The guns hammer is secreted within the slide so as not to snag on any clothing when its drawn out for
use, often misleadingly 'hammerless' pistol.
referred
to
as
a
Bond's Beretta was of course adapted for a silencer too, there was a thread reamed on the inside of the bore into which the silencer screwed into.
The The pist pistol ol fire fires s a smal smalll bull bullet et .25 .25 cali calibe berr bull bullet et which is just 6.35mm in diameter as shown below to almost actual size.
This round would not penetrate any sort of body armor at all and would be totally useless against today's standards of military kit and flack jackets etc that are readily avail ailable to any budding ing insurgent, spy etc.
It is only really effective and indeed accurate over about 15 yards. As an upfront and personal weapon though it is quite adequate, James Bond would generally fire more than one shot into an assailant.
The
PPK
In the first Bond movie Dr No the armorer from Q branch, Major Boothroyd is seen issuing 007 with his now legendary Walther PPK which replaces his much loved Beretta. This immediate change to Bond's gun was originally inspired by a letter that Ian Fleming received in the 1950's from a Mr. Geoffrey Boothroyd who was a firearms expert based in Glasgow, UK, who wrote to Fleming thus: " I like everything about your James Bond character except his deplorable taste in weapons, a .25 caliber Beretta is utterly useless as well as being a lady's gun...and not a very nice lady at that "
Ian Fleming 1908 - 1964 After Fleming's correspondence with Boothroyd it was decided that 007's best weapon for concealment and reasonable power would be the Walther PPK. Ian Fleming actually met up with Geoffrey Boothroyd some time in the late 1950's where they happily conversed for many hours on all the ins and outs of guns that James Bond should carry.
Ian Fleming and Geoffrey Boothroyd, photo taken sometime in the late 1950's The next novels, of course, that Fleming wrote had James Bond now suitably armed with the Walther PPK and gone for good was the .25 Beretta. In the movie Dr No it was decided that the armorer from Q branch should be named after Geoffrey Boothroyd ' in honor for his help and his friendship with Fleming. This is a transcript of what was said to James Bond when he was called into 'M's office in the movie Dr NO... M: (speaks to Bond) Take off your jacket !...............Give me your gun. Yes, I thought so.....this damn Beretta again. I†™ve told you about this before. (M looks at Boothroyd) You tell him.....for the last time!
MAJOR BOOTHROYD: (inspects James Beretta) Nice and light.....in a lady†™s handbag (purse-USA)....no stopping power. M: Any comments OO7 ? BOND: I disagree sir, I†™ve used a Beretta for ten years.....I†™ve never missed with it yet! M: Maybe not, but it jammed on your last job and you spent six months in hospital in consequence. If you carry a double O number it means you†™re licensed to kill not get killed....and another thing, since I†™ve been head of MI6 thereâ € ™s been a 40% drop in double O operative casualties, and I want it to stay that way, you†™ll carry the Walther.....unless of course you†™d prefer to go back to standard intelligence duties.
BOND: No sir, I would'nt.
M: Then from now on you carry a different gun, show him armorer. MAJOR BOOTHROYD: (shows James the new pistol) Walther PPK 7.65 millimeter with a delivery like a brick through a plate-glass window, it takes a Brausch silencer with very little reduction in muzzle velocity...the American CIA swear by them.
M: Thank you Major Boothroyd. MAJOR BOOTHROYD: Thank you sir. (nods to Bond) Goodnight sir. M: Any questions 007 ? BOND: No sir. M: Alright then...best of luck.
BOND: Thank you sir. ( Bond picks up the Walther PPK in its box, whilst hiding the Beretta underneath, and optimistically walks towards the office door ) M: (without looking up from his desk, he calls across) 007 ! BOND: (stops and turns) Sir ? M: Just leave the Beretta. Bond saunters back, reluctantly places the Beretta on M's desk and with a slight sigh, walks out. Nice try James ! The pistol was first developed in Germany in 1931 by Carl Walther Waffenfabrik Ulm/De. It is a compact 7.65mm (.32ACP) semi-automatic, designed for concealment and undercover operations use, and was hence designated PPK which stands for Polizei Pistole Kriminal or Police Pistol Criminal, indicating its use as a detectives gun. Below is shown a 7.65mm /32ACP cartridge at almost actual size, its quit small looking isn't it! but it still possesses enough power to drop one of Bonds enemies stone dead at close range. (15 yards)
The basic specifications of the Walther PPK are: Length: 155 mm - Barrel length 83 mm - Weight: 590g a magazine capacity of 7 rounds.
The Walther PPK has a streamlined appearance and has achieved notoriety for its compactness and reliability. It is true the 7.65mm round has got reasonable stopping power, but only at short distances of about 15 to 20 yards, and its accuracy over those distances is questionable. This did not
stop MI5, MI6, Deutsch BND, French SDECE, Israel's Mossad and a host of other secret operative units from adopting it though. Below are pictured Pierce Brosnan and Roger Moore both with Walther PPK's
The pistol is very easy to 'take down' or 'field strip' into its basic components for cleaning, one simply pulls down on the front of the trigger guard, tugs it over to the left slightly and then pulls the slide off the top. This exposes the barrel, return spring and the underside of the slide so it can be oiled and cleaned.
Putting it back together is the reverse. To Mr. Bond's delight, the Walther PPK can be adapted to fit a silencer which either screws or friction fits onto the end of the barrel. Normally the barrel of a pistol is slightly extended to accommodate a silencer but was never depicted in the bond movies. The 7.65mm round that the pistol fires is not that powerful over longer distances than 20 yards and
this power along with its accuracy would be reduced even further with a silencer...
...but for close quarter work as in a few yards, it would be more than adequate. I know it might sound a bit sentimental but the PPK with a silencer fitted looks like it was specifically made for Bond...kind of smooth and streamlined like his Tuxedo! Similar to the Beretta, the PPK has an inbuilt safety feature of a small pin that protrudes about 1mm out of the back of the slide. This indicates that there is a bullet in the breech, if there is no bullet loaded then the pin will remain flush. The Walther PPK was also designed to fire a more powerful 9mm Kurz / .380ACP and an interesting rumor has it that this was the caliber of the PPK that Bond, as played by Pierce Brosnan, used instead of the 7.65mm caliber...the blank rounds as
used in movies would have been a bit louder as a result. I present a picture of this more powerful version of the PPK below. This particular pistol is actually made in the USA under license from Walther. It is identical to the 7.65mm version in every aspect except of course the barrel is of a larger diameter and the magazine is different integrally to accept the larger cartridges. Below is the 9mm kurz/380ACP cartridge and .380 PPK.
The 9mm ASP This pistol was developed in the early 1970's by American Gunsmith genius Paris Thoeodore for use by US undercover agents who required a powerful handgun that was easy to conceal. It was a
customized version of the normal Smith & Wesson Model 39 double action semi-automatic. The bullet it fired was the powerful 9mm Parabellum that had good stopping power over distances of 50 yards or more.
Below: 9mm parabellum cartridge (almost exact size )
The ASP (Armament System Procedures ) was a compact pistol which was specifically designed not
to snag on clothes when drawn out for use, this was also helped by it being Teflonâ„¢ coated along with special 'guttersnipe' sights which was like an open tunnel to aim through, this meant the gun did not need a front sight. The front sight on any pistol is always the first thing to catch or snag on clothing, this could cost Bond his life. The image below shows what its like to aim through this unique sight.
With all the edges smoothed and rounded, along with a spurless hammer this gun was almost 100% snag free and could be drawn, aimed and fired in quite a fast fashion, typically suited for Mr Bond. The butt and magazine was made from transparent lexanâ„¢ so that James could see at a glance if the pistol was loaded or not. It was also useful in a shootout for James to see how many rounds he had left and this simple but effective solution provided the answer.
" Unseen in the best places "
The ASP was the weapon of choice for James Bond in no less than ten of John Garner's Bond novels: Role Of Honor - Nobody Lives Forever - No Deals Mr Bond - Scorpius - Brokenclaw - The Man From Barbarossa - Death is Forever - Never Send Flowers - SeaFire and Cold. Overall a very good choice of pistol for James Bond as the ASP, even though a bit dated now, is still one of the best concealment pistols ever designed. John Gardner actually discovered the ASP when doing research for the James Bond character in a book titled The Handgun. The book's author was Geoffrey Boothroyd who as stated earlier, was Ian Fleming's old acquaintance, and the man who recommended to Flemming that James Bond should carry a Walther PPK instead of the Beretta.
The
P99
In the 1997 movie Tomorrow Never Dies we see Bond played by Pierce Brosnan, select the Walther P99 to apparently become his new weapon of choice, the old PPK being signed off as being past its sell by date.
The Walther P99 is chambered for the powerful, versatile and world wide commonly available 9mm Parabellum cartridge as shown below
As for our intrepid super spy carrying a small, light and easily concealed pistol, the P99 at 180mm (7.1in) long and weighing 700g (25 oz) empty, is not the best choice and it is quite bulky too.
The P99-C DAO ( Double Action Only ) compact would have suited him much better and I have pictured a P99C below. This gun offers the same power, but is designed to be easily concealed, especially underneath Tuxedo jackets!
Anyway, the P99 was manufactured by Carl Walther GmbH Sportwaffen.Ulm.De and was designed to be carried primarily by the German Police, but other law enforcement and military units have also adopted it such as the Polish Police and the Finnish Army's Military Police and even their Special Forces. The Pistol was made with a lightweight polymer frame with steel slide that was treated with a Teniferâ„¢ anti-corrosion coating. The pistol's hammer was secreted within the slide and was of more of a striker with its red tip showing from the rear when the gun was cocked ready to fire. Amongst four integral safety features there was also a chamber is loaded indicator on the slides right hand side.
The butt has interchangeable grip parts to suit the individuals hand size for best comfort, with an
ambidextrous magazine release button that is built into the trigger guard with the addition of a decocking lever for extra safety. The Walther P99 is chambered for either the 9mm parabellum, .40S&W or 9x21mm cartridges, it is a double action semi-automatic that holds 16 rounds of 9mm, 15 in the magazine plus one already loaded, or 11+1 rounds of the powerful .40 S&W. The Walther P99 is powerful, accurate and has now become a favorite of 007 James Bond. But if I could have helped out with a suitable replacement to the Walther PPK, then I would not have chosen the Walther P99. Instead I would have opted for the ultra reliable, very light and more compact Austrian Glock 29 chambered for very powerful 10mm auto or the Glock 27 chambered for .40 S&W caliber, or even the Glock 30 .45GAP Caliber. These guns are all the same dimension as the Glock 29 pictured below.
All of these Glock pistols are compact, easy to conceal and carry around unobtrusively, but more to the point, they are extremely powerful and could have dropped Jaws with one shot ...James, dear boy...are you listening?
Smith & Wesson Model 29 .44 Magnum In Live and let Die, Bond, played by Roger Moore used a nickel plated Smith & Wesson Model 29 .44 Magnum, with what appears to be the 8 and 3/8th inch barrel. The revolver initially appears to be a Ruger Redhawk .44 magnum in the publicity shots, but the Ruger Redhawk was not available until 1979, some 6 years after the release of the film.
Below is shown the.44 Remington Magnum cartridge almost actual size.
I managed to source a couple of images of Roger Moore with this gun to illustrate its usage in the movies. Its heart warming for all gun aficionados that Bond appreciates the .44 Magnum as a versatile weapon.
Here are all the featured cartridges lined up for good comparison, along with some more notable calibers. I think it is safe to say that the .25 caliber cartridge is a wee bit small...and does indeed befit an old ladies handbag/purse All cartridges are shown at approximate actual size. ACP stands for Automatic Colt Pistol and is a standardized / universal cartridge for any gun of that caliber. GAP stands for Glock Auto Pistol. Kurz means short.
.25 / 6.35mm
7.65mm . 9mm Kurz . 9mm 32ACP 380ACP Parabellum
.40 S&W
.357 Magnum
.45 ACP
.45 GAP
Interesting bit of
.44 Remington Magnum
Trivia
The original publicity shots of Sean Connery holding a pistol was a bit of a blooper, as the gun he was holding was in reality just a Walther .177 caliber air pistol.
When Sean Connery went to the photo-shoot nobody had thought to bring a Walther PPK. One of the photographers practiced a bit of air pistol shooting and he had the airgun in his car, so he fetched it and that is what they used. It was just a
case of " Here you are Sean, now hold this gun and stand there "
No one, of course, told Sean Connery or the rest of United Artists production crew that it was just an air pistol...until much later, too late in fact as Sean Connery, holding this gun was used in ever publicity photo from 1962 until the great Bond movie You Only Live Twice was made in 1967. James Bond also used several other pistols and revolvers both in the novels and in the movies, and this page briefly covers them. I have in many instances spared all the technical specifications on the guns mentioned, such as left or right hand twist of the bore rifling, the trigger pull weight, the energy in ft/lbs of the bullets impact, the sight radius, the bullets trajectory etc.
James Bond isn't interested in all that, he takes aim, pulls the trigger, the gun goes bang and the baddie drops dead, and that's it. The first Bond gun we will look at in this section then is the Smith & Wesson .38 Centennial Airweight. This was the gun that was recommended by Major Boothroyd for James to carry alongside his Walther PPK. Nicknamed a snub-nose because its barrel is only 1 ¾ of an inch long for ease of concealment. In the Dr No novel, Bond uses this gun on Crab Key to kill 3 of Dr No's men, until he surrenders to the armored 'dragon' tank and has to discard it.
The revolver is very light at 15oz empty. It is compact and also very reliable, as revolvers are not prone to jam up. This particular model is also of the "hammerless" variety in that the hammer is concealed within the frame of the gun so that it cannot snag on clothing, and is also easier to carry
in an ankle holster or loose in the pocket. Furthermore, this revolver can be aimed and fired from inside a jacket pocket if the situation needs be. The .38 special cartridge it fires is also quite powerful and this revolver holds 5 of them, the gun sights up on a close target as easy as pointing your finger. There is no hammer to cock, you just point, pull the trigger and shoot. COLT NEW SERVICE.45 The Colt .45 Army Special, as mentioned in the novels, was actually the Colt New Service as Colt did not make the Army Special in .45 caliber as stated by Ian Fleming...that was a slight error !
The Colt New Service was the revolver that James Bond kept secreted in his car in the novels, usually under the seat in a special 'trick-box' or in a concealed compartment in the cars dashboard. It had a 7½inch barrel and held 6 bullets. It is a very powerful gun that fires the .45 LC Long Colt cartridge, a cartridge that was favored by cowboys of the old west because of its stopping power and accuracy. James Bond chose a good gun when he decided to have this as a back up. WALTHER P-38 The World War II German Walther P-38 was used several times by James Bond played by Sean Connery in the movie Goldfinger when he took it from one of Goldfinger's guards. It is a semi-automatic pistol that fires the 9mm parabellum cartridge, it is a good all round caliber that is quite accurate and powerful.
It is quite an antiquated gun first developed in 1938 by Walther for use in the German Army, but either way it is still lethal regardless of its age, and James put it to good use ! COLT .38 The Colt Police Positive .38 revolver is one that featured in the novels, and was a revolver that Bond actually kept under his pillow as he slept. The gun had been modified as shown below, in that Bond had made a 'snub-nosed' revolver by having the barrel sawn off to make the gun lighter and easier to handle. This was purely a defense gun but was never actually used in either the novels or the movies.
Below is an image of what this gun would look like, with the barrel sawn off.
Sawing the barrel off this gun only proves one thing, that secret agents such as James Bond always prefer compact and easily concealable guns. There is no need to saw the barrel off these type of guns nowadays, as all firearms manufacturers present their models in a 'snubnose' variation, in that they make guns with barrels at an inch long or just over. A prime example is of a gun that I once owned, a Smith & Wesson Model 66 .357 Magnum with a 1½inch barrel, as seen below. The recoil was a bit naughty on full factory .357 magnum cartridges, but with lighter loads was quite controllable. A
short barrel also meant that accuracy over 10 to 20 yards is greatly reduced.
Bond always seamed to favor the Colt revolvers in the novels, maybe it was because Ian Fleming knew more about them, or indeed actually carried them himself during his time in Naval Intelligence. COLT DETCETIVE .38 SPECIAL The Colt Detective .38 Special 'snub-nose' Revolver was carried by Bond on many missions in the novels and was also seen in some of the movies. This venerable old Colt was widely used by undercover agents all over the world. Many undercover agents preferred to use a revolver because as stated earlier, they were less likely to jam up as a semi-auto did.
Bond trained with this gun at the Special Intelligence Service shooting range. Its accuracy suffered over 25 yards, but this deficiency never marred the gun as it was seldom used in anything but close quarter combat shootouts. The .38 special was almost on par with the power of a Smith & Wesson .357 Magnum and could put a 'slug' straight through a car door and out the other side, and can stop a 250Lb male dead in his tracks...as long as he isn't wearing body armor. If an assailant is geared up in protective body armor then a much higher velocity round would be required, with a specially selected bullet head such as armor piercing tungsten tipped and Teflon™ coated, to penetrate or rupture it and damage the person wearing it. The .38 special just doesn't offer enough power to penetrate body armor.
The .38 special won't cut it indeed, but at the same time it won't go through a bad guy, exit and carry on to kill the Bond Babe standing close behind, so the question of a high power bullets needs to be considered very carefully. One aspect is that unlike military combat, James Bond shootouts would most likely to be in built up and populated areas, so the power of the round would need to be adequate but not excessive. In Live and Let Die Bond uses this Colt Detective Special to kill two of Mr. Big's men in the car park. They were just wearing t-shirts so the .38 special hit them like a freight train, the power was more than adequate to put them both down. Chambered to fire six .38 special cartridges, the gun is light, easy to carry and conceal, and it is not surprising that James Bond elected to carry this gun as well, it was probably tucked away with his shaving kit! Walther P5 The Walther P5 was used by Roger Moore in Octopussy and Sean Connery in Never Say Never Again, it is the slightly bigger brother of the now famous Walther PPK.
The gun was reputed to be one of the best semiautomatics available, being both reliable and powerful, firing a 9x19mm cartridge from a locked breech. It was quite light and looked the part for James Bond to carry. I think that this gun was a close contender to the one that was going to replace the PPK, but as stated on another page the Walther P99 got that one! BROWNING FN10 The Browning FN1910 was used by James Bond in Dr No to kill Professor Dent who after sneaking into Bond's room, fired 6 shots into the bed where Bond had covered a pillow over with the bed sheets.
Bond had stayed up expecting him to call. After a brief exchange of words Bond shot him...and then remarked " ...and besides...you've had your six ! "
James Bond's FN1910 was probably chambered for the .380ACP caliber rather than the smaller . 32ACP, and was equipped with a silencer in the Movie, which can affect power and accuracy, but when you are eliminating an enemy that is only a few yards away as Bond did, then this is not a concern.
ARMALITE AR7 EXPLORER Because James Bond is a spy, my web pages have only focused on handguns, I have not included any rifles or carbines in these pages as Bond would not carry them around with him. Rifles are a bit conspicuous and are not really very easy to conceal under that dinner jacket! A super spy like Bond relies on stealth, camouflage and the ability to blend in, especially at the Casino. Toting anything around larger than a pistol is not in the line of work for a secret agent.
However, Bond was actually issued with a rifle in the movie From Russia With Love. Q Branch gave him an Armalite AR7 Explorer survival rifle which was included in his attaché case, along with the magnetic tin of exploding talc (naturally), throwing knives, 40 rounds of ammo, Walther PPK and 20
gold sovereigns. What businessman Universal Exports wouldn't be without this!
from
The AR7 Explorer suited Bond quite admirably, as it's a 'take-down' rifle. It can be very easily dismantled down into its basic parts, these being the stock, (that houses all the parts) the barrel and the receiver. The magazine that holds 8 rounds is also secreted in the stock. A unique feature of this gun is that if the shoulder stock is accidentally dropped in the sea or a lake etc, with all the parts inside...it will float.
All Armalite AR7 Explorer rifles are manufactured in .22LR caliber...except for the one that was issued to James Bonds by Q-Branch. This particular AR7 was specially modified to chamber the larger . 25ACP (quarter of an inch diameter) caliber cartridge. The rifle is pin point accurate up to and beyond 50 yards. Below is a target that was used by an AR7 at 20 yards.
The .25ACP round is more powerful when emitting from a rifle than that of a handgun. The extra power of a rifle is due to its longer barrel that helps retain the expanding gases longer to accelerate the bullet along faster.
Generally speaking, rifles are always more deadly and powerful than handguns, because of their larger cartridges as well as their longer barrels, but Bond is hindered by his very occupation to using a rifle, and alas, hones his skills more for handgun shooting. But this is not to say that James Bond cannot shoot a rifle, and accurately too.
In the movie From Russia With Love, Bond utilizes the AR7 Explorer, equipped with a silencer and an infra red telescopic sight, to successfully assassinate a Soviet Agent who was over 100 yards away, and who climbs out through a window in the side of a building that is painted with a huge advertisement.
" Hey stop the jibber jabber, I'm trying to take on a shot here! " Later on Bond uses the AR7 again, this time to shoot at a helicopter, he manages to shoot one of the crew who is about to drop a hand grenade, the guy subsequently drops the grenade inside the helicopter which then explodes. The AR7 Explorer might only be a small rifle, but it did the trick and Bond survived. The AR7 Explorer also appeared in the movie Goldfinger when " Bond Babe " Tilly Masterson, unsuccessfully stalks around in the woods with intention of assassinating Auric Goldfinger. Goldfinger's tough Korean manservant OddJob, ends up breaking Tilly's neck by skimming his steel rimmed bowler hat, frizzbie style at her...its not just James Bond who has the gadgets !
More recently, the AR7 Explorer is available to all and any budding secret agents in three exciting flavors: Black Teflon - Silver Blur and Hi-Definition Cammo Woodlands. It must be noted that all AR7 rifles are chambered for the .22LR rimfire cartridge and not the James Bond .25ACP
These last three pages have illustrated the majority of guns that have featured in the great and exciting James Bond movies and novels. Mr Bond may have used one or two more other guns but these have been the most notable. I hope that you have enjoyed these pages on The Guns of James Bond and with the new movie Quantum of Solace starring Daniel Craig now showing in cinemas, let us hope that James Bond will continue to thrill us all with his adventures and in many more movies to come. And if I can just leave you with one of my favorite and somewhat poignant lines from the Bond movies.
