the Walter PPK. The name itself is instantly recognizable to Bond fans and individuals around the world. You might have a faint image of it if you've never seen one before, a silhouette, a fleeting memory of Sean Connery or Roger Moore or Daniel Craig or Timothy Dalton or whomever the case may be, wielding it on screen, heroically, or maybe reading about it for the first time on the page, being introduced to Fleming. Whatever your first touchpoint is, thanks to James Bond, the Walther PPK is undoubtedly one of the most iconic handguns of the 20th century, without a doubt. And that's kind of the power of pop culture. And so today, the story that I'm going to share with you is one that is very personal. It's the story of my very first Walther PPK, how I got it, what it matters to me, how I still use it today, and of course, its connection to James Bond. Let's dive right in. So starting out, this is my first Walther PPK, chambered.

In 380, this is a Smith and Wesson production pistol, which they have been much maligned for, and for good reason too. The vast majority of these handguns during their production run actually were under recall for a variety of hazardous issues, like discharging with the safety on and stuff like that. Not ideal. However, I'm very blessed that this model happens to be one of the final years of production, 2012, and it is not a recall gun. It actually works incredibly well. It's a workhorse. It's a pistol I actually got the year it was produced in 2012. In that year, I was an eighth grader going into my freshman year of high school. And the truth of it is, if you think I'm a nerd for doing this channel, you have no idea how deep that stuff actually goes. This was a gift from my parents, which was very generous, and it was the handgun I really learned on, aside from my dad's CT Gold Cup, series 70. And it was because that summer

It was, you know, my birthday, which was cool. Um, but also that year, I'd actually gone to Nationals for debate and was a semi-finalist. I was a semi-finalist in the eighth grade. Um, and so there were a couple of other things that happened that summer that were really exciting, that I was really proud of, and it kind of all accumulated into a, well, you know, one big thing. One big thing, Caleb. Um, as like a, as a, as a congratulations, as a birthday gift, whatever the case may be. Um, kind of compile it and compact it all together, and you get to choose one, and the choice that we whittled it down to was my dad wanted me to have a handgun. He wanted me to learn on a platform, and it's not like he was a huge handgun shooter, but he knew I really wanted one because of James Bond. And so we were between the Walther PPK and the Walther P99, which at that time was a Walther P99 as or gen 3 variant, which I

was pretty young at the time, and I had no idea what that meant. I had no idea that it was no longer the screen-accurate gun that was still being produced. All I knew was my dad said, Hey, which one do you want? Do you want to go for the P99 or the PPK? And I deliberated for hours. I think he was going to kill me at some point because of the amount of time I was talking to him, Hey, so you know, I was thinking about this, but then that. And I actually have distinct memories of him just standing there going, You just need to pick, man. And so, you know, he and I went through it, and we got the PPK, and we picked this one. And I remember everything about the night that we brought this gun home, my dad and I reading the manual ferociously, trying to figure out why the gun kept locking open like this, and we could not for the life of us get it to close. You know, it took a little bit to

figure out that the slide lock was actually all internal, and the magazine was in fact holding it open. We came to that conclusion on our own, and we figured that out. So, so proud of us. But I remember that, and then I remember taking it out, shooting, and everything that went along with that. And you know, I was 13, 12, somewhere in that range. And this is my gun. I had the Airsoft version of this gun. I mean, I grew up shooting it all the time and loving it, and you know, hanging out with friends, and there they had all their setups, and I just had this, and you know, like an MP5, whatever, as happy as can be. But I moved on to the .380. So, this gun has been with me for a significant amount of time, and for a shorter I've been alive. This gun has been there for half of it, really, and it's been a constant companion. Um, when I turned 19 in the state of Missouri, you can start concealed carrying a firearm at 19. This is the

handgun. I qualified with um. It's the gun that I began carrying immediately. I carried it in the Vega IB 333 suede inside the waistband holster, which was in is the holster that Daniel Craig used during his run as James Bond um. You see it first in Skyfall. Well, you don't see it, but it's there, and you really see it in Spectre. Puts it on top of the dish and such in 2015. And so when I turned 19, I started carrying this gun in that in that configuration um. Spare magazine in the pocket, that sort of thing. And it was fun. It was really, really great. And it's still today my primary carry firearm um. I've got a 32 Walther PPK from the 1940s that's needing a little bit of love. And I I carried it for a while before it started becoming a little more dilapidated again. But I've shot a number of classes with this gun aside from the con skill carry qualification um. A couple with Chuck.

Haggard. Actually, we did a low-light pistols class, which was amazing. Actually, now that I think about it, I had taken a low-light class when I was still in the industry, when I was like in high school. It was a class that was offered at the store I was working at, so I took a low-light class then with the PPK, and then later with the PPK, and really no issues at all. Um, which again, based on its lineage of Smith and Wesson pistols, I'm very proud of. It's a gun that just keeps running and running and running. Now, it's unfortunate, right, as a Bond fan to go, Okay, cool, you have a PPK, but you know everyone knows if you want the Bond PPK, you need a 1960s iteration with the brown bake light grips. Um, the beautiful round nose pre-1 1967 ideally because that gets you away from all the import stamps. Um, and in 765 mm, it's the Bond gun. It's the one that we hear about.

in Dr. No, even though it's not the one we see, it's the one you hear about. In that one, it's the one you see in the hands of Sean Connery all throughout the '60s, and it's just kind of that iconic piece that everyone feels is like the gun, which is completely true. But the Smith and Wesson gun has had its day in the sun. In 2023, when we finally got, or sorry, 2021, it's just been a long time since we've actually gotten a new movie. But in 2021, when No Time to Die released, the Walther PPK by Smith and Wesson and .380 auto was, in fact, the hero gun. Pretty cool. The entire movie, the only PPK we see is this generation. There's a few details that give that way, um, SS the beaver tail, um, really, really cool, and it makes me so happy to know that this gun that was already kind of just my Bond gun, it was the one that I had grown up with, had learned to shoot.

on and still carry to this day now in a custom holster that I've designed with the holsters. The uh, it's called the Spectre Mark III, not to shill too hard, um, designed around James Bond's holster but actually has a Kydex shell with a suede wrap and the DCC discreet carry Concepts clip with the Walther branding on it, which is super cool. So anyway, I digress. I still carry this setup pretty frequently um. It's my primary carry most of the year. It's what I reach for on a daily basis. It's what I shoot very, very often, and it's a gun that I continue to use and one that I don't think I ever will get away from despite adding all the other Bond guns to the collection. You know, this one to me is incredibly special. It's showing its age. You know, Smith and Wesson's bluing on these particular models was pretty lackluster, and so even the suede holster was actually wearing the slide pretty aggressively um with you.

know holster wear on either side, but honestly, I don't care. It's a workhorse. It's going to be abused. It looks great, half beaten to death, and I look forward to continuing to use it because this is the gun that got me into self-defense. It's the gun that got me into daily carry. It's the one that I will always enjoy, and it's the one that I've taught so many people to shoot on as well. And so, you know, it's not just a tool; it has its memories. And in so many ways, it's because of this gun that the Walther PPK, to me, isn't just James Bond's gun; it's my gun. It's the one that I know best. Because of owning this one as long as I have, I can now rebuild Walther PPKs from the ground up. You take it apart to the smallest part, hand-fit pieces, put it back together because I learned on this growing up. I forced myself to become competent, so that's

that's kind of the story of my first Walther PPK. Um, I kind of want to do this with a few more of the guns that kind of mattered to me. I hope you guys enjoy this kind of like personal story stuff here. Um, because at the end of the day, you know, like the people who collect watches or the sorial items or anything else, it's not just getting the item that matters, it's the miles you put on it and the stories that you can tell with it that I think are the most impactful. And so while for me it's really cool that Daniel Craig finally carried my favorite gun and my setup of the gun on screen, it's even cooler just to have it on my own and to have all those stories associated with it. So hope you guys enjoyed. Like I said, we'll go through a few more guns like this in the collection. I've got a handful of really fun Bond pieces that I think have some cool stories associated with them. So

Thanks again for stopping by the channel. Be sure to like and subscribe, and let me know what you think in the comments. Cheers.

No Time to Die’s Walther PPK - My First Pistol

No Time to Die’s Walther PPK - My First Pistol