Desert Eagle

[Texgun]

I have a chance to make a trade an end up with a Dessert Eagle .50 AE.
 I wonder if it would be a good deer hunting gun.

[DEPUTY]

I have a 50 it is boomer for sure and ammo isnt cheap! accuracy wasnt that great. after 50yds, heavy clunky chunky. but it sure turns heads at the range recoil is hard with that big massive slide moving

[Texgun]

Thanks Deputy. I kind of think it would be more of a novelty than anything else.

[Mikey]

Tex:  In addition to the Deputy's input, Gun Test Magazine recently ran a comparison between the Desert Eagle and one of the other big semi-auto boomers and I don't think the DE was very well rated.  As you mentioned, more of a novelty.  Mikey.

[Redhawk1]

I have a chance to make a trade an end up with a Dessert Eagle .50 AE.
 I wonder if it would be a good deer hunting gun.

I would not get it, if it were me. Now it it was a BFR in 500MAG I would not hesitate. If you plan on doing any hunting with a DE50 you would want something with better accuracy. JMHO.

[Castaway]

On an aside note. You can't down load the Derrert Eagle for pleasant plinking.  Every round must be full house to cylce the action.

[Dogshooter]

Mine was the most expensive brick I ever had. Hated it. Got rid of it.

[Old Griz]

:cb2: I used to sell one on occasion, but at a little over $1000 each, I didn't sell too many. Are you going to carry that heavy anchor on your hip? If so have fun keeping your pants up. You'll walk funny, too, if you don't have a cement block on the other hip to balance things out.

I only fired one a few times at the range. The gentleman who had one made the age-old mistake of crossing his left thumb over the right. That massive slide took quite a chunk out of his thumb. He handed it to me and asked, "Do you want to shoot it?" (Does a cat have a climbing gear?!?), and he went off in search of a bandage. I was amazed at how little felt recoil it had, but I couldn't hit well with it. Maybe with practice, but at over $1+ a shot, I probably wouldn't practice as much as I needed to. I'll stick to .44 mags!

[Old Griz]

:cb2: Sorry, meant to add that I think the earlier guns, I believe the Mk II, were of better quality. They were made in Israel and were sized according to caliber. The original .357s, .44s and .41AEs were built on a smaller frame than the .50s. You could also get a 10" (or longer) hunting barrel as well. When they started making them here in America, it was a one-size-fits-all frame, based on the .50, and quality went down the tubes.

I believe that if the Israelis quit making something (especially a weapon!), then there must be something wrong with it, or they found something a whole lot better!

[Raging480]

I guess all the satisfied Desert Eagle shooters are on their own forum.  I recently acquired a NIB Mark VII Desert Eagle chambered for .41 Remington Magnum.  I don't know where it has been hiding all this time, since they stopped making the .41 maggies in the mid 80's.  I put one of those new fangled J-Point red dot sights on it, and just took it to the range for the first time.  I fired 50 rounds of handloaded Hornady XTPs (19.5 grains of W-296), and then 10 more rounds, stoked a bit hotter, 20.6 grains.  My first 5 shot group at 25 yards with the hotter loads resulted in 3 shots in one hole, a fourth shot made the group about 3/4", and the 5th shot opened it up to about 1.5".  Yeah, what am I going to do with such a lousy gun?  :-D .  With a little practice, I want to get 3" groups at 50 yards, and I believe it is possible.  I will admit that I do not have a holster for it yet, so I can't comment on the easy, or lack thereof, of carrying it around the woods.  I will be sure to post this fall with results from the hunt(s).