Francisco Scaramanga (left) and James Bond in ‘The Man with the Golden gun’.

In Ian Fleming’s novel The Man with the Golden Gun, the Golden Gun is a gold-plated .45 calibre revolver; however, for the film, it was a single-shot weapon that fires a custom made 4.2-millimeter golden bullet. The instant kill technology relies on the bullet shattering akin to a fragmentation grenade. Francisco Scaramanga uses such a weapon to emphasise his peerless skill as a pistol marksman and the fact that he needs only one bullet to kill a target. The gun also separates into a gold cigarette lighter, a gold cigarette case, a gold cuff link, and a gold pen so as to avoid detection.

Scaramanga used the golden gun in numerous assassinations of officials, political enemies, gangsters, and a 00-agent, Bill Fairbanks (002). Scaramanga later used the Golden Gun to kill British scientist Gibson and Scaramanga’s employer, Hai Fat. But, when Scaramanga is killed, and his island is destroyed, the Golden Gun is presumably also destroyed.

The Golden Gun ranked sixth in a 2008 20th Century Fox poll of the most popular film weapons, which surveyed approximately two thousand film fans. In October 2008, the golden gun was stolen from the company Elstree Props which is based in Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire. At the time, the prop was estimated to be worth of £80,000.

Although Scaramanga prides himself as being an expert marksman with a golden gun, he wasn’t the first Bond villain to do so. 007’s earlier rival, Auric Goldfinger, also carried a golden gun and often killed his victims with one shot through the right eye.