James Bond Switches to PPK
- Thread starter Ganderite
- Start date
I own PPKs and 1935s (and 1934s) and would not say the PPK is nicer to shoot. I find it a little snappy in 32 and very snappy in 380. But the accuracy is always surprisingly good. I really prefer shooting the 1935 in 32. Very comfortable and quite accurate. But it is a bigger, heavier gun.
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Well, compared to the 25 he was carrying previously (though if you read the books he kept a Colt 45 revolver in his glove box) it would be, I guess. - dan
Agree. A ppk in 22 is a joy to shoot though. And MMC used to make adjustable sights for it too. - dan
Yes.
The left one of the bottom four.
The the second one over at the top left is also a Beretta. It is a 32, as is the 1935. Maybe in other movies where he actually used the 25 Beretta we get to see what it actually was. Maybe a 950.
The pistol in this scene does not look like a 25. Too big.
The left one of the bottom four.
The the second one over at the top left is also a Beretta. It is a 32, as is the 1935. Maybe in other movies where he actually used the 25 Beretta we get to see what it actually was. Maybe a 950.
The pistol in this scene does not look like a 25. Too big.
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Yes.
The left one of the bottom four.
The the second one over at the top left is also a Beretta. It is a 32, as is the 1935. Maybe in other movies where he actually used the 25 Beretta we get to see what it actually was. Maybe a 950.
The pistol in this scene does not look like a 25. Too big.
Agree. 25's are quite small. - dan
As a young boy, I was reading the James Bond novels in the mid-60's. By the mid-70's, I finally had some handguns. One of my first auto pistols was a S&W Model 39-2, which I carried around on many of my early adventures. I always thought the PPK in any caliber was pretty short on stopping power, and so "in my own mind" I had James Bond armed with a Model 39 in 9 m.m. . Not the best maybe, but the 39 hit the civilian market in 1955 I think. The first James Bond novel was published in 1953 I believe. If Boothroyd had simply skipped over the pocket pistols and given 007 a Model 39, Skaramanga's line in "The Man with the Golden Gun", who in the book carried a gold plated Colt Commander in .45 IIRC, asked Bond what he carried to which Bond replied: "Walther PPK, 7.65 Millimeter."
Skaramanga's reply of "Yeah, that's a stopper" would not have seemed so incredible had it been a Model 39 in 9mm.
That original Model 39 got sold off around 1979 or so, I used the money to buy the 1911 I used through my early days as Director of IPSC/Manitoba. That same year, I was in Deming, New Mexico at the M.M.C. Sight Company shop which at that time was located in Deming, to get a new set of sights put on that very 1911 by the in-shop techs. On a desk was the Model 59 that Skeeter Skelton, a gunwriter for "Shooting Times", who lived in Deming, was doing an article on. "Shooting 10,000 rounds through a Model 59!". They were just over 5,000 at that point. I did not meet Skeeter, but had a great party with the M.M.C. sight crew that evening. Skeeter later noted that his Model 59 frame broke at the slide-stop entry hole around 9,500 rounds but continued to function to finish the test. I already knew that could happen as the Model 39 I had sold that very year broke in the same location after only a few hundred rounds in the hands of the new owner. Oooops. I had sold it cheaper than I wanted to because I needed the money, but I sure didn't think it might break. Oh, well.
Years later, Colonel Phil Maher, the U.S. Consul in San Miguel dug me up a Model 3904 to "bring to the party" when I would sometimes go to help him on consular stuff. Or more actually, he did any actual "consular stuff", but would invite me only when something might go testy on him as sort of a backup. I used to refer to those jobs as "Colonel work" rather than Consular work. He had been dismayed when I showed up the first time to a potentially bad situation with only my 5-shot Model 49 snubby, which was all I had at the time. He got me the 3904 -- as he had my snubby -- from the effects of an American who had died naturally and I took a photo of it along with his 669 on my couch the night he brought it over.
Because he had a letter on Consular stationery saying I could carry the 3904 while working on "Consular business" that was co-signed by the General at the 16/A Military Zone in Sarabia, Gto., I carried that 3904 all over Hell's creation. Generally I used a Galco "Original Jackass" rig, but I also had a Galco "Air Marshal" inside-the-pants holster for it. I had the guys at the Queretero Custom Shop apply a spray-on finish to the frame that they got from Brownell's and it held up amazingly well. I don't think I did much else to it, although I did convert it to .380 Cal along the way because there was no downside to doing so. .380 Cal is about 9 mm +P in power, being a 142 grain LSWC bullet at 1020 - 1030 fps from a 4-inch barrelled Glock or 3904.
I broke a trigger bar on it around 2003 and had to get one from Numrich and get it into Mexico. Not hard then, not hard now. So the design has some flaws: the broken trigger bar completely ties up the gun. You cannot shoot it, you cannot dislodge the sear and hammer. But I fixed it. I sold the gun and holster to a friend when I left Mexico. However, I carried it everywhere inside Central Mexico: Mexico City, Guadalajara, on a sailboat between Puerto Vallharta and Mazatlan and all around both towns. Plus everywhere in the State of Guanajuato and also much of Queretero and all the way to Pachuca, Hidalgo several times for meetings at the head office of the Ice Cream Store chain I was a part of. I have always felt that James Bond should have had a Model 39. The gun has it's flaws, but I'd still take it over a lot of what's out there. And I don't mean for range work. I mean for Colonel work, or any reasonable facsimile thereof. Bond would have done well with one as well I think.
In the book, Boothroyd mentioned that he had fired 10,000 rounds through a variety of pistols, I believe. Not just the PPK. So the Model 39 of the time would have survived his tests I think, since he wasn't firing 10,000 rounds through just one pistol. I think they beefed up that area around the slidestop entry hole by the time the 3904 came out. Mine fired easily more than 10,000 rounds and never cracked. It also never jammed. But that broken trigger bar....one doesn't forget something like that, either.
Skaramanga's reply of "Yeah, that's a stopper" would not have seemed so incredible had it been a Model 39 in 9mm.
That original Model 39 got sold off around 1979 or so, I used the money to buy the 1911 I used through my early days as Director of IPSC/Manitoba. That same year, I was in Deming, New Mexico at the M.M.C. Sight Company shop which at that time was located in Deming, to get a new set of sights put on that very 1911 by the in-shop techs. On a desk was the Model 59 that Skeeter Skelton, a gunwriter for "Shooting Times", who lived in Deming, was doing an article on. "Shooting 10,000 rounds through a Model 59!". They were just over 5,000 at that point. I did not meet Skeeter, but had a great party with the M.M.C. sight crew that evening. Skeeter later noted that his Model 59 frame broke at the slide-stop entry hole around 9,500 rounds but continued to function to finish the test. I already knew that could happen as the Model 39 I had sold that very year broke in the same location after only a few hundred rounds in the hands of the new owner. Oooops. I had sold it cheaper than I wanted to because I needed the money, but I sure didn't think it might break. Oh, well.
Years later, Colonel Phil Maher, the U.S. Consul in San Miguel dug me up a Model 3904 to "bring to the party" when I would sometimes go to help him on consular stuff. Or more actually, he did any actual "consular stuff", but would invite me only when something might go testy on him as sort of a backup. I used to refer to those jobs as "Colonel work" rather than Consular work. He had been dismayed when I showed up the first time to a potentially bad situation with only my 5-shot Model 49 snubby, which was all I had at the time. He got me the 3904 -- as he had my snubby -- from the effects of an American who had died naturally and I took a photo of it along with his 669 on my couch the night he brought it over.
Because he had a letter on Consular stationery saying I could carry the 3904 while working on "Consular business" that was co-signed by the General at the 16/A Military Zone in Sarabia, Gto., I carried that 3904 all over Hell's creation. Generally I used a Galco "Original Jackass" rig, but I also had a Galco "Air Marshal" inside-the-pants holster for it. I had the guys at the Queretero Custom Shop apply a spray-on finish to the frame that they got from Brownell's and it held up amazingly well. I don't think I did much else to it, although I did convert it to .380 Cal along the way because there was no downside to doing so. .380 Cal is about 9 mm +P in power, being a 142 grain LSWC bullet at 1020 - 1030 fps from a 4-inch barrelled Glock or 3904.
I broke a trigger bar on it around 2003 and had to get one from Numrich and get it into Mexico. Not hard then, not hard now. So the design has some flaws: the broken trigger bar completely ties up the gun. You cannot shoot it, you cannot dislodge the sear and hammer. But I fixed it. I sold the gun and holster to a friend when I left Mexico. However, I carried it everywhere inside Central Mexico: Mexico City, Guadalajara, on a sailboat between Puerto Vallharta and Mazatlan and all around both towns. Plus everywhere in the State of Guanajuato and also much of Queretero and all the way to Pachuca, Hidalgo several times for meetings at the head office of the Ice Cream Store chain I was a part of. I have always felt that James Bond should have had a Model 39. The gun has it's flaws, but I'd still take it over a lot of what's out there. And I don't mean for range work. I mean for Colonel work, or any reasonable facsimile thereof. Bond would have done well with one as well I think.
In the book, Boothroyd mentioned that he had fired 10,000 rounds through a variety of pistols, I believe. Not just the PPK. So the Model 39 of the time would have survived his tests I think, since he wasn't firing 10,000 rounds through just one pistol. I think they beefed up that area around the slidestop entry hole by the time the 3904 came out. Mine fired easily more than 10,000 rounds and never cracked. It also never jammed. But that broken trigger bar....one doesn't forget something like that, either.
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I was born in 1957. If you are younger than me, and healthy, I will trade years with you but not memories. But I'm sure, once I get back into Mexico and Central America again, you can just come and visit. It's cheaper than trying to make oneself young again and down there it's often quite exciting. Adventure shared makes for fond memories many years later when you cannot remember what you had for breakfast this morning.
Yes.
The left one of the bottom four.
In 1986, I think, I went to the "James Bond match" held by the Winnipeg IPSC guys on an indoor range in Winnipeg. It was in the winter months, and everyone was supposed to dress like James Bond and use the guns and gear of the novels. I went with one of my best friends -- at the time and now -- who now is one of the owners of CSC. I borrowed his Walther PPK in 7.65 Millimeters.
I did a lot of things wrong at the match -- instead of dressing like Bond, I dressed like Don Johnson from Miami Vice -- but somehow I still won the match. It was the only time, as I recall, that I shot the PPK in .32 caliber. I owned a PPK/S while I live in Canada before moving to Mexico and in Mexico I saw and shot several. I shot one just last March on the San Miguel range -- again a PPK/S in .380 -- that belongs to my host when I stay in San Miguel these days.
Better than nothing, I still think they just don't hit hard enough. But fun, and snappy to shoot, no argument.
Born 1970, so you have a few, but only a few, years on me. I am beginning to know more people who have taken, or are taking, the plunge of moving south to a place of more freedom and opportunity. I may very well do the same. Adventure certainly does make for memories, and although I’ve had some, a few more wouldn’t go amiss.
I think Bonds concern was mostly about concealability, he even removed the grip panels to reduce the width of the gun. In his business the pistol he carried was a last resort weapon when things really went wrong, or sometimes a tool of intimidation, or a weapon of quiet assasination at very close range.
