[slumber1]

According to the movies Q made Bond get rid of the Beretta, paraphrasing more suited for a woman's purse, for the Walther.

Bond author Ian Fleming knew spycraft having worked for British Intelligence during WWII but he didn't know much about guns. In the first few Bond stories he had the secret agent carrying a .22 caliber Beretta. One of his readers wrote and told him the .22 was more of a womans pistol, hence Fleming upgraded Bonds firepower to the Walther.

[elcid1970]

Bond’s first gun was a Beretta Model 418 in .25 cal, “with its taped magazine and sawn barrel” as Fleming described it. He was directed to turn it in for a Walther PPK in .32 ACP “which has an entry like a brick through a plate glass window”.

You’re right about Fleming’s gun knowledge.