The .25 Beretta of Ian Fleming's James Bond

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

One of the truly few Bond related videos on KZbin that can be described as exquisite. Beautifully done!

[@billlucas4675]

I'm glad someone follows the literary 007. Excellent post.

[@SolarDragon007]

Fans of the novels seem to be so few and far between when compared to fans who only know the movies.

[@OldManMontgomery]

I read the Ian Fleming product when they came out I did read a few of the pastiche works, but they just were not the same. There are almost a full set in my library.

[@joeboyd8702]

Thank you for this. It was selected to be unoticable. Beautifuly designed and elegant for it's time. An old pistol.

[@Travis_22]

Im surprised Fleming didn't insist on a Beretta .25 being found for the painting. Great post! 🙂

[@RedcoatsReturn]

One of the most stylish gun reviews I have ever seen!

[@brettsimpson1505]

This was the best Bond film I've ever watched - very interesting indeed. Thank you for bringing something of Mr. Fleming's legacy to life.

[@porterhouse_]

Your two Bond videos are perfection personified... and SO satisfying!!! Thank you! YOU ARE THE MAN!!!!

[@SimonDWood-pf4gm]

Marvellous. An excellent video with style, charm and expertise. It's the first time I've seen JB's Beretta in the flesh.

[@TheBoxingCannabyte]

So glad I found my grandpa's 1948 model he used for a few decades as a backup piece as a guard after the war. I believe he had also carried one he'd gotten from an Italian guy-dunno if he was military like my gramps or not-and carried it through the war but lost it near the end in battle. Man my grandpa was a badass! hahah...loved that man. 22 years past and i finally wind up back in his home after decades, inherited it, like winning a lottery. Found pre-64 winchester model 70s, (.270 is my favorite), this, a browning-remington semi-automatic shotgun that is nearly 100 years old and works like a charm, a newer (by comparison) Winchester Model 1200 that i keep next to me while working in my home office along with a .357 snub, an EA-Windicator, really impressive revolver esp for the price.... or my HK USPc .45 and a colt colteer .22 I also discovered All this said after testing the Beretta 418 (finally) yesterday, this 71 year old pistol will be my a backup piece for my wife or myself (since we got other backups like SW Shield 9mm, HK P30SK, Windicator .357, etc.)....The cool-factor of this being Bond's favorite gun just makes me so fucking excited to shoot it. If only the ammo was more popular, and nearly as cheap as .22! Or at least the price of 9mm Ironically it had deeper penetration than (low end target rounds) 9mm, though not my defense rounds. I would trust this gun with my life, not even as a last resort...With my injuries carrying can be an issue even with really good holsters. One reason I so rarely carry my former primary pistol, a SIG Scorpion 1911 .45acp, so a gun this light and easily concealed can be perfect for walking around in the morning in my sketchy neighborhood. Good for 1-3 hostiles at very close range, and probably having to use my knife and h2h knowledge. Which in spite of my extensive training, my injuries negate a lot of my ability so....one reason I depend more on pistols than ever to stay safe. That said my combat PTSD tends to make me more paranoid than I should be.

[@xray86delta]

Bravo! Having actually read the first for James Bond books by Ian Fleming, you did nail it! So many get it wrong! Well done!

[@walter937]

I really like how you kept trace of all the modifications done to the gun or guns, since bond tends to loose his beretta in multiple ocassions, I also like how you used echoes of paris vox 500 as background music, a neat little detail in my opinion.

[@willgillies5670]

from the AJB forums: Bond started working for the SOE in 1941, so it is likely his use of the Beretta also begins in that year. It appears that Bond may have had to replace his Beretta on several ocassions. We can't be sure of all of them, here is a list: 1) "Casino Royale", The Beretta is confiscated by LeChiffre after Bond wreaks the Bentley. LeChiffre is later killed by SMERSH and Bond is left rather the worse for wear - tied to a chair without a seat. Prehaps Mathis retrived the Beretta from French Authorities. 2) "Live and Let Die", Bond's Beretta was secured under his wetsuit for the swim to the Isle of Surprise. Bond is captured, and the Beretta is stripped from him, most likely it was left in Bloody Morgan's cave, and hopefuly retrived before the salt water bath rusted it to a smelly cob. 3) "Moonraker", We know the Beretta was forever lost when Sir Hugo Drax pocketed it after the damp handed Krebs unleashed a flood of newsprint rolls causing Bond to (again) crash his Bentley. Drax still had the Beretta in his pocket when he made a rather explosive visit to "Davy Jones Locker". At the end of the novel M provides Bond with both a new Beretta and a new Long Barreled Colt. Bond takes the shiney new Beretta with him on his holiday in France. "Moonraker" takes place in May 1953. 4) "Diamonds Are Forever", Bond uses the silenced Beretta to kill Wint and Kidd in cabin A49 on the QE. Bond then stages a murder/suicide with the Beretta carefully placed in Wint's hand. It seems unlikely that Bond would ever be able to get this Beretta back from the authorities without revealing his involvement with the two men. This occurs in August 1953 5) The Beretta is finally confiscated by M at the beginning of Dr. No in March 1956. For a Beretta to be a candidate for a "Bond Gun" it could have been made anytime from 1941 to 1953.

[@doonsbury9656]

Ever since I read my first James Bond novel I have always wondered just what his Beretta really looked like. Knowing only enough about guns to possibly be able to shoot myself in the foot...I tried to imagine, from Fleming's description, just what the weapon would look like. Suffice to say I was wrong on just about every point! I had no idea that the bullets were visible when the grips were removed or that the 'Taping" looked as it did. I was even wrong about what the shoulder holster looked like! Thanks for a real look at perhaps one of the most famous hand guns in literature!

[@OldManMontgomery]

The arm showed in this video is identified as a Model 1918 Beretta. It is a .25 ACP - 6.35mm caliber pistol. I have a Model 1919 Beretta, except for cosmetic changes (they changed the shape of the grip safety) they are the same mechanically. Those two have manual safeties (ones that can be volitionally 'switched on or off'). Just for general information: Many of the earlier (pre 1968 or so) Beretta made pistols do NOT have model numbers engraved on the weapons. It is hard to distinguish. There are year of manufacture notations. Beretta also makes a later series of .25 ACP pistols not having a manual or grip safety. But that's not the James Bond gun. All this information available on the internet. By the way Mr Doonsbury (yes, I am familiar with the cartoon strip) the chamois shoulder holster is ridiculous. Any of the Beretta made .25 ACP pistols will nearly disappear in a trouser pocket. A holster is just more evidence of a firearm to hide.

[@gregfarnham5651]

@@OldManMontgomery The handgun in the video is a Beretta Model 418. To my knowledge there is no Model 1918 Beretta. Models 1915, 1915-17 and 1915-19 were produced during the war years, chambered for 9mm Glisenti or .32 ACP, with manual safeties -- no grip safety.

[@OldManMontgomery]

@@gregfarnham5651 You have an insecure point there. Accoprding to the information in "Beretta pistols' by J. B. Wood, copyrite of 2006, the pistols are lumped together as Model 1920, Model 318 and Model 418. They are variants or upgrades of each other. In the intro to bhe chapter, the pistol is called the Model 1919. That does seem to be the first year of production. The basic design was made from 1920 to 1961. Pretty much the same pistol, but just different incarnations. One was even a presentation model, all gussied up and such. About thr only manner or mode of distinction is to read the engraving on the slide and call it accordingly. On a similar subject, perhaps you could join me in convincing the ignorant to call the Colt Government Model or clones "Government Model: or 'clone Goevernment Model' rather than '1911'. M1911 or M1911A1 is such a pistol owned by the government of the U. S. for issue to troops; with appropriate morkings.

[@Treblaine]

Kinda sad that Fleming got peer pressured into making Bond give up his .25 Beretta, especially to replace it with a Walther PPK which is a brutal pistol. It's not particularly small for a .32, it's covered in sharp edges, it's recoil is remarkably snappy and it cannot be safely carried safety off with hammer down yet cannot be carried cocked and locked.

[@DRBR-2020]

Outstanding! Great research and 100% accurate images. Thank you!

[@OldManMontgomery]

Even when much younger - I was reading Ian Fleming when he was still alive - I recognized Mr. Fleming was not a 'gun expert'. The firing pin, 'filed to a point', at one time was thought to promote good impact on the primer and therefore ensure reliability. There is no evidence to support this. Removing grips and 'taping' a pistol butt makes the pistol somewhat narrower. In the case of the early Beretta, it is quite small to begin; removing the grips exposes the magazine to debris. The suppressor makes for greater discretion, but also doubles the weight and size of the arm. A chamois skin holster armpit (shoulder) holster sounds sexy and chic, but in fact is more or less a small bag. Removing the front sight removes any ability to make hits at any distance. Ian Fleming did in fact carry a sidearm when he worked in WWII. But he was issued a pistol and given instruction on how to make it work without hurting himself. Much like hundreds of thousands of service men and women who were instructed 'how to operate' without any idea of comparisons, why it does what it does or even what ammunition is suitable. (The stuff 'we' give you.) But I do like the books.

[@willgillies5670]

In all points, I agree absolutely, however, if I may quote the very fine article on this subject "Since James Bond frequently employs the point shooting technique as taught to British Commandos during World War Two (*2), the lack of a front sight would not seriously affect Bond’s work with his Colt. The point or “instinctive” shooting technique as used by the Commandos teaches that for close shooting the entire pistol is indexed on the target in the shooter’s peripheral vision, the sights were not used." web.archive.org/web/20100409113508/jamesbond.ajb007.co.uk/handguns-of-james-bond/

[@Bigbigpoopi]

I think he meant the small protrusion that indicated the pistol was racked

[@OldManMontgomery]

@@Bigbigpoopi Hmm? Perhaps. The only 'small protrusion' I can recall is the rear of the striker pin and serves (when protruding) as indicator of a cocked pistol. That indicator is 2.2mm in diameter and projects 2.9mm from the rear of the slide, easily seen or felt. There is no feasible reason to file it to a point. (I must confess, it makes as much sense as filing the point of the firing pin.) I see no other protrusion on the pistol. Am I missing something?

[@OldManMontgomery]

Addendum: The initial warning in this video is by and large correct. I take issue with some of the sweeping comments, and suggest one take the advice of 'don't rely on popular fiction - movies or novels - as reliable advice on firearms or probably anything'. The video itself is rather well done. Removing the front side (blade), which is mounted as shown on the slide, not barrel is not a process of 'sawing' but of 'filing'. It serves no point as the sight is small and shaped in such a manner so as not to snag. (Using the sight is a different and subjective matter. I find them very much matched to the ammunition, but quite slow to find and utilize.) A 'sawn' (sawed off) barrel is either pointless or impossible as can be determined by looking at the photographs. There really isn't much to remove. Bear in mind the barrel is only 6.09mm (2.328 ") long from the factory. Little enough velocity as it is. Mounting a suppressor. Since the early 1960s I have never seen a suppressor - silencer - mounted on internal threads. I can find no references to internal thread mounted barrels on line. Threading the barrel on the Beretta shown would be problematic and not more than three rotations at the most. Just for general information: Many of the earlier (pre 1968 or so) Beretta made pistols do NOT have model numbers engraved on the weapons. It is hard to distinguish. There are year of manufacture notations In short: Movies and written fiction does not always provide realistic techniques. Movies are special effects suppliers. Novels don't need special effects.

[@hamishbartholomaeus]

Leslie Charteris got around the silencer issue in The Saint by having Simon Templar hand load his own sub sonics for either his .38 revolver or .25 Beretta, so that the firearm “produced no more than a loud cough in the room”… 😁

[@walter937]

Also I like how you point out all the ''mistakes'' that Mr. Fleming did while writing the books, like making the firing pin sharp. While he had some experience in the navy and handling firearms, he certainly was no expert on the matter.

[@45Vanguard]

It was not actually a mistake when he talked about the firing pin being sharp. Fleming was referring to the back of the pistol where the firing pin protrudes. That way, Bond would be able to touch the back of his gun and feel the sharp firing pin protruding back showing that the gun was cocked.

[@TheGroundedAviator]

He never claimed too be other then basic shooting skills needed by the job.

[@ZeyphodZeyphod]

The Fleming novels were written mostly in the '50's; my understanding is that small caliber "pocket" semi-auto pistols were more popular in the first half of the 20th Century then they are today. Suppose "Bond" found that it was easier to score ammunition in the field for his 25 caliber Beretta since said caliber was a commonly used one. If you are on assignment in Paraguay in 1955 and you have to score more ammunition in the field unexpectedly; you may have found it easier to get 25 caliber ammo from some general store somewhere because it is a well used round. No "MI6" supply house nearby; also the purchase is less likely to attract attention if it was a common size round used by many European ex-patriot types.

[@halfanchovie5144]

VERY well presented!!!

[@surronboys]

I got one of these that looks brand new and the grip safety broke on me after shooting about 30 rounds… it’s a bummer cause u can’t find parts anywhere.. any suggestions?

[@Trader_65-OT]

THANK YOU for this

[@frankberry9642]

I had the pleasure of handling the modified Smith & Wesson because the late Geoffrey Boothroyd was the president of a pistol club to which I belonged. When he lived in Surrey, Geoff and some of his friends used to use it to shoot empty beer cans launched into the air.

[@einstein.1869]

excellent!

[@JosipRadnik1]

I don't know if I should this give a thumbs up for the fine music, the accurate research and the overall great work or if I should this give a thumbs down for brutally mutilating a poor, helpless and innocent little weapon just for the sake of a 6 min long youtube vid....

[@scottsutter3371]

I love my Berretta mod 418. Nice little pocket gun.

[@thepenultimateninja5797]

Did you remove the serial number, or is that some Photoshop magic?

[@DM-kv9kj]

Bond shrugged his shoulders. "I don't agree. I've used the .25 Beretta for 15 years. Never had a stoppage and haven't missed with it yet. Not a bad record for a gun. It just happens that I'm used to it and I can point it straight. I've used bigger guns when I've had to - the .45 Colt with the long barrel, for instance - but for close-up work and concealment I like the Beretta." Bond paused. He felt he should give way somewhere. "I'd agree about the silencer, sir. They're a nuisance, but sometimes you have to use them."

[@nerdyolddude4924]

nice.

[@MPGunther1]

Well Done

[@skylongskylong1982]

If you ever watched the TV series The Saint from the sixties in the early episodes Roger Moore carried a .25 Beretta model 34. The series aired in 1962, in the same year James Bond hit the Cinema. I am not sure if Simon Templar carried this type of pistol in the books, maybe someone better read than me can let me know.

[@and_rew9768]

Beretta the best italian gun 🥇🔝

[@bhartley868]

Fleming was issued in WWII, a Colt 1908, .25 and kept it after the War. He took it yearly to Jamaica. It is listed in his estate records. Where he heard about Beretta .25 , is a bit of a mystery. Possibly from a dossier on a German U boat lieutenant, Fleming was watching at the gambling tables, just like Casino Royale. Or possibly Dusko Popov, the triple secret agent, had one. At any rate Fleming liked the printed look of the Beretta .25 , for his agent James Bond, taking a enemy's weapon and using it against them pleases Fleming...

ian fleming knew how to screw up a handgun. a butchered beretta and boothroyd's abbreviated trigger guard could give a gun guy bad dreams

[@GlenMones-le6yf]

Ian Fleming actually carried. That 25 ACP Beretta during his military career... There's actual photograph with him holding it

[@WildWing-wl7nj]

Nice video, a bit nostalgic, but disagree a bit on modifying a gun. My CZ 75 shoots much better with a BAR STO barrel than the factory version. Also, my Colt 1911 45 is way better as modified by Wilson Combat with new barrel, bushing, slide tightening, extractor and ejector polishing and tuning, checkering on front and back grip, and well as back slide, longer match trigger, high visibility sights, larger safety, custom grips, and a bunch more. You have a bit much to learn, grasshopper, when it comes to whether or not to modify a handgun.

[@Cactusman129]

Imagine actually trying to use this thing in a firefight. You may as well throw rocks.

[@WH250398]

Pretty hilarious to see how ridiculous this thing would actually be... I can't imagine trying to actually hit anything with that.

[@naughtydog1617]

It is so IRONIC that I listen to this type of music when I read the Bond novels! lol