The SKYFALL holsters
Asp9mm
Over the Hills and Far Away.Posts: 7,504MI6 Agent
Thought it was time to post this. Four different holsters were supplied to the SKYFALL production, but only two were seen onscreen in the final cut, albeit very briefly.
A contact of mine has confirmed many a time that Bond uses a custom shoulder holster in SKYFALL and the teaser poster for SPECTRE but he's always insisted Kirkpatrick Leather also supplied the shoulder holster for the SKYFALL production too, which never made any sense as none of the parts from the holster in the released pictures match anything from Kirkpatrick.
Someone on the RPF who we talked to at length about it back in 2011 then made the assumption it was a Kirkpatrick and this has since become repeated ad nauseum as fact. With the Omega advert and other snippets from the PTS, it was obvious it wasn't a Kirkpatrick, but a custom holster. And with further evidence from the guy that supplies the Bond Armoury Dept about the holster they used, it's known that the retention strap/thumbreak on the custom holster had a Sam Browne retention pin to hold the gun in securely during stunts with a shoulder strap from a commercially available holster maker (still unidentified but suspected to be a modified Galco piece). Furthermore, the stunt double for Craig has a very different (and another custom) holster from the one Craig uses. Both are hand stitched and lack the perfection of high end custom makers and factory produced items.
A similar holster to the one Craig uses in the PTS sequence in SKYFALL can be seen in the SPECTRE teaser poster, but in brown which has been weathered heavily. You can see the Sam Browne bolt clearly here.
Anyhoo, I've since found out, that this, or any of the SKYFALL custom holsterd could not hold the modified SKYFALL PPK/S as the retention strap went underneath the tang/beavertail, and quite unlike most modern holsters which go above the tang and around the hammer. This is because it would impede your draw as the strap would sit directly across the part the web of your hand would need to grip to get the pistol out. Here is the holster showing how it fits the regular PPK perfectly....
And here is the same holster with the PPK/S in it. The retention strap just can't work on this prop due to the different dimensions compared to a real PPK....
Because the tang/beavertail and grip was more pronounced on the highly customised and fabricated PPK/S, they bought in a commercially available holster that has the retention strap in the correct position around the hammer/rear of the slide, and it turns out it WAS the Kirkpatrick. It's never seen on screen and was only used in the Komodo pit fight when you see the thug remove Bond's sidearm, but it was used as it fit the PPK/S perfectly....
If you want one, the same model is still available from Kirkpatrick Leather and has remained unchanged since 2011. Get it in black....
http://www.kirkpatrickleather.com/shoulder/holster/detective-carry-137/342
The third holster is used in all of the London scenes thereafter, and can briefly be seen when Bond jumps onto the moving Tube train...
This is the Vega IB333 inside the waistband suede holster, similar to the one he uses for his P99 in Casino Royale.
The fourth is an oddity as it was supplied but never used, or was cut or hidden from shots when Bond was undergoing his firearms evaluation. Like the Peltor ear defenders, it was British military issue and made for both the Browning Hi-Power and Walther PPK and mostly used by undercover operatives in Northern Ireland and also UK Special Forces in undercover roles. Originally designed by UK holster maker for the MOD, Paul Evers.
These used to be quite common, but are now quite rare in all of the forms. Paul Evers also made the holsters for the SAS CRW teams and were famously used in Operation Nimrod in 1980.
A contact of mine has confirmed many a time that Bond uses a custom shoulder holster in SKYFALL and the teaser poster for SPECTRE but he's always insisted Kirkpatrick Leather also supplied the shoulder holster for the SKYFALL production too, which never made any sense as none of the parts from the holster in the released pictures match anything from Kirkpatrick.
Someone on the RPF who we talked to at length about it back in 2011 then made the assumption it was a Kirkpatrick and this has since become repeated ad nauseum as fact. With the Omega advert and other snippets from the PTS, it was obvious it wasn't a Kirkpatrick, but a custom holster. And with further evidence from the guy that supplies the Bond Armoury Dept about the holster they used, it's known that the retention strap/thumbreak on the custom holster had a Sam Browne retention pin to hold the gun in securely during stunts with a shoulder strap from a commercially available holster maker (still unidentified but suspected to be a modified Galco piece). Furthermore, the stunt double for Craig has a very different (and another custom) holster from the one Craig uses. Both are hand stitched and lack the perfection of high end custom makers and factory produced items.
A similar holster to the one Craig uses in the PTS sequence in SKYFALL can be seen in the SPECTRE teaser poster, but in brown which has been weathered heavily. You can see the Sam Browne bolt clearly here.
Anyhoo, I've since found out, that this, or any of the SKYFALL custom holsterd could not hold the modified SKYFALL PPK/S as the retention strap went underneath the tang/beavertail, and quite unlike most modern holsters which go above the tang and around the hammer. This is because it would impede your draw as the strap would sit directly across the part the web of your hand would need to grip to get the pistol out. Here is the holster showing how it fits the regular PPK perfectly....
And here is the same holster with the PPK/S in it. The retention strap just can't work on this prop due to the different dimensions compared to a real PPK....
Because the tang/beavertail and grip was more pronounced on the highly customised and fabricated PPK/S, they bought in a commercially available holster that has the retention strap in the correct position around the hammer/rear of the slide, and it turns out it WAS the Kirkpatrick. It's never seen on screen and was only used in the Komodo pit fight when you see the thug remove Bond's sidearm, but it was used as it fit the PPK/S perfectly....
If you want one, the same model is still available from Kirkpatrick Leather and has remained unchanged since 2011. Get it in black....
http://www.kirkpatrickleather.com/shoulder/holster/detective-carry-137/342
The third holster is used in all of the London scenes thereafter, and can briefly be seen when Bond jumps onto the moving Tube train...
This is the Vega IB333 inside the waistband suede holster, similar to the one he uses for his P99 in Casino Royale.
The fourth is an oddity as it was supplied but never used, or was cut or hidden from shots when Bond was undergoing his firearms evaluation. Like the Peltor ear defenders, it was British military issue and made for both the Browning Hi-Power and Walther PPK and mostly used by undercover operatives in Northern Ireland and also UK Special Forces in undercover roles. Originally designed by UK holster maker for the MOD, Paul Evers.
These used to be quite common, but are now quite rare in all of the forms. Paul Evers also made the holsters for the SAS CRW teams and were famously used in Operation Nimrod in 1980.
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Comments
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
MI-6 can't afford fine clothing--too many holster overages.
Kind regards,
Craig
The knowledge on this site is phenomenal
Thank you -{
I wonder if Higgins will do a post like this on his trainers ? X-(
DG
"People sleep peacefully in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." Richard Grenier after George Orwell, Washington Times 1993.
There are truly some well informed people on this site
Cheers :007)
www.justgiving.com/inMemoryOfLewisCollins
www.helpforheroes.org.uk
I had a similar one from Price Western in the early 80s when I was carrying the PP, the holster itself doubled as a belt pancake , got rid of it when I changed to the Ruger , now wish I had kept it
And brought back to topic... -{
I know the PWL rig you mean. Those things were well made and sturdy. I had the same one and it had different slots for two angles of carry on the belt if I remember correctly. I wish I'd kept mine too
Asp Towers must be like the Bondcave.
That's the one , brilliant off duty holser ,especially when you needed to carry 24hrs a day. I have a couple of ex RUC PWL uniform belt holsters still knocking about one for the PP and one for the Ruger,picked them up on a surplus stall last year
Bond’s Beretta
The Handguns of Ian Fleming's James Bond
Still available, page 6 https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/pwluk.com/documents/PWL_Brochure_web.pdf
I think this should be revisited. For nearly 20 years it's been documented that it was a Galco Executive worn in both GE and TND, but no. He wore this, the Galco was only worn in the Atlantic hotel/Paris Carver (Stoke Poges/Teri Hatcher) scenes in TND. The Galco looks cool, but in action sequences with stunt resin, rubber and practical PPK's, retention would be a problem. Brilliant Sir Donk. Da fings we learnses {[]