Posted on my blog. The discussion would be better to happen here though, and maybe some of my Twitter followers, few though they are, may stop by here too.

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Microsoft XNA MVP

The obvious guide is James Bond.

# of weapons that are carryable. ammunition for said weapons
You'll have your standard issue pistol in your shoulder holster with only a handful of bullets. Plus a very limited number of other special weapons, such as a knife hidden in the base of your briefcase, cigarettes that fire poison darts, and your talc bottle that's actually an exploding tear gas canister.

Most weapons would be improvised from things lying around, such as chairs, vases, and statues

reload time based on location of ammunition
It's unrealistic to have ammunition lying around. Spies are not armed to the teeth -- they always improvise. The only thing that should have ammunition is your own pistol, and ammunition for it wouldn't be readily available out in the field, only when you rendezvous with support agents through whom you communicate with MI6.

how much gear should be reasonably allowed to be carried, even considering strength.

Class items differently:

Discreet items can only identified as anything special by spies with certain experience. eg, a fake faberge egg with hidden listening device, a magnetic watch, or a fountain pen filled with aqua regia. You could have no more than 4 of these on your person, whether in hand or in inventory.

Normal items can be like your pistol or an ATAC machine. Identifiable by all. You could have no more than 2 of these on your person, either in hand or in inventory. ie, One for each hand.

Large items can be like a chair or table, that is difficult to carry and you cannot use other items while you have one of these in hand. You cannot add these to your inventory.

Normal and discreet items could be carried in a briefcase, which offers greater capacity. Additional items should be kept at your hotel, or left with your support agents.

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I ain't pushing no moon buttons.

I didn't even think about improvised weapons from things lying around. I already have a interface for allowing items in the world to be usable, but wasn't thinking about using it for weapons. That'll require some thought about how the combat system works to allow it, but it's a great idea.

I like the idea of classifying items with some being not what they seem. I hadn't thought about that either. The reason for needing items disguised as ordinary objects would be having missions where the player could be searched or in public and have to use the items discretely. That's another thing to consider.

Obviously for some missions like search and retrieve/destroy and infiltration where the player may need to carry things like cameras, listening devices, explosives, etc. a backpack would be required to allow a lot of gear to be carried that wouldn't fit into a briefcase sized container.
You get for great feedback.

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Bored? Head on over to my blog and see what I'm up to.

Microsoft XNA MVP