A stunned man found a rusty pistol in a village river.
Stephen Russell was carrying out his hobby of magnet fishing.
But he was shocked when he plucked the Beretta gun from the water.
The black weapon had the make clearly visible, but it was covered in rust and weeds.
Stephen, of Headcorn, near Maidstone, Kent was left puzzled as to how it ended up there.
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James Bond used a Beretta gun in the early Ian Fleming novels.
Other magnet fishing enthusiasts rubbished claims it wasn’t real.
Jurg Roessen said: “Toy guns I found were made of a zinc alloy and they all corroded white instead of brown or red.”
Steve Froud said: “Definitely looks like the real deal to me.
“I’d say that the serial numbers would be difficult if not impossible to get off now.”
Keith Palmer said: “Looks like James Bond dropped his Beretta .25.”
Magnet fishing involves searching waterways for objects using a strong neodymium magnet.
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