James Bond's Beretta

Alpo

Alpo

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We all know, or we should all know, that Bond originally carried a 25 caliber Beretta. And I have seen stated here and there on the internet that it was a Model 418.



I have never seen that in one of the books. When they took his 25 away from him, they specified that he was not only getting a Walther, but a Walther PPK. So we know what gun replaced it. But I never saw a model for the Beretta. Just a Beretta 25.



It's like the long barreled Colt 45 he has hidden in his car. Is it a New Service? A Single Action Army? Or maybe just a government model - that comes with a 5 inch barrel and that would be considered long when you compare it to what he normally carries. But the books don't say. Just that it's a long barreled Colt 45.


So if anyone knows where in the Bond books it specifies that his Beretta was a Model 418, would you please tell me that book so I can reread it, and satisfy my own curiosity?
 
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I think it was a 418. Google can't be wrong, right?

In the movie, Dr. No, when Major Boothroyd handed Bond the "PPK", sharp eyed viewers said it was a PP. I think later in the same movie, where he sat in the dark hotel room waiting for his killer, he had a Browning 1910(?) with a silencer, then from another camera angle the gun was a 1911.
 
Ian Fleming wasn't a gun guy and it shows in the books. At the time he wrote them, with the Beretta, I believe the 418 was the only 25 Beretta had in production. So logically, he used a 418. The movies weren't much better. Remember these were UK productions. The prop houses didn't have the selection we have in the US. At least in the early movies, a gun was a gun. Remember the poster with the pellet gun? They forgot to bring the PPK to the photo shoot, fortunately the photographer had his pellet gun. Close enough.

I have one by the way. Fun little piece. Very small, you could almost hang it on your key chain.
 
Funny coincidence.
I bought a 418 at a gun show one year. I collect 25 & 32 mostly prewar pistols.
Showed it to the girlfriend. She asked “What are you going to do with it?”
I replied, put it on your key chain.
 
I worry a lot about fictitious guns. However, back in the early 1970s, I did have the opportunity to buy Ian Fleming’s Ruger Mk1 .22 with considerable documentation. I don’t remember the price, but it was somewhat less than $1000. Anyway, I passed.
 
Ian Fleming apparently liked this Colt Official Police (or possibly Army Special)...
Ian-Fleming.jpg
 
Re:1934 Beretta, obviously that is not a .25. However, at some point in the distant past, I saw a net article (or reprint) showing a 1934 as cut down for some spy agency.

Never was able to find the article again… IIRC it was a significant size reduction.
 
I have lots of Berettas, including a 418. Only good for a keychain? Not hardly. A 418 was the only gun my father ever owned and carried. It prevented a robbery attempt against him one night many long years ago.
 
Ameshawki said:
Official Police, it came up for auction many years ago. Many many years ago.
Click to expand...

Personally…I’d like to have Ian Fleming’s Studebaker Avanti. I tried to track it down but the best I could determine it no longer existed…destroyed somehow.
IMG-0886.jpg
 
Last edited:
kb1903 said:
who cares? It's a movie.
Click to expand...
Actually, if you read my original post, it's a book.



I don't care about the movie. In the movie the "25 caliber Beretta" was either a 1934 380 or a 1935 32 ACP. But it was not a 25.



But my question was not about the movie. It was about the book.



Now if, as somebody up the thread said, the 418 was the only 25 Beretta made at the time, then yes, it would have to be a 418. But I had never seen it stated in one of the books. It's all over the internet - and we all know how accurate the internet is - but I'd never seen it in any one of the books.
 
Does it matter. No, not really.

But for many, finding flaws and inconsistencies in movies can be entertaining.
Not just guns but other things like disappearing props, wardrobe incongruity, time of day changes in a scene….
 
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