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Ian Fleming was a charismatic, adventurer who served as a reserve officer with British Naval Intelligence during the war. A ladies man, he married late in life and was anything but faithful and not much of a father. His son, Caspar, sadly took his own life. He took to writing out of boredom and depression over aging. He was very explicit regarding equipment, cars, clothes, whiskey, guns, but knew little about guns. He even spelled "Biretta" incorrectly in describing Bond's original gun, a .25 caliber. The Beretta model at that time (1953) would have been a Model 418, an anemic weapon and Fleming was corrected by one of his biggest fans, Geoffrey Boothroyd, a legitimate firearms expert. Even with this advise, Fleming screwed up again. Boothroyd recommended a S&W Centennial Airweight equipped with a Berns-Martin Triple-draw holster. Fleming chose the sexier but less effective Walther PPK and the Berns Martin which was designed for the S&W, not the Walther. Prior comments are very accurate in that the PPK would not be a great choice compared to today's options any more than an Aston Martin DB5 or Bond's pre-War Bentley would excel over a new car of almost any variety. This is fiction and Hollywood, however and Walthers and Bentleys are about as sexy as you can get.