Desert Eagle woes

[Action_Can_Do]

Hello everyone. I recently purchased a brushed chrome Desert Eagle 50ae pistol and since then it has been giving me some headaches. I handloaded some 300 grn XTPs and went to the range with a grin. The grin soon left me. The gun jammed up. A lot. The magazine did not like feeding when it was loaded to full capacity. When I only loaded 4 or 5 rounds, it did just fine. The jams I was getting were weird. The gun would fail to go fully into battery and the slide couldn't be budged. The only way to clear it was to disassemble the gun to get the round out. At one point I didn't realize the gun didn't go into battery and I squeezed the trigger. The hammer fell and the gun didn't fire. I disassembled the gun and found that the firing pin had hit the primer, but not enough to detonate it. That spooked me. I've also noticed the brass coming out of the pistol (both fired rounds and rounds that jammed) was getting really beat up. Dents and scratchs near the mouth of the case, down the sides, pretty much everywhere. Is my gun a lemon? Does the gun not like XTPs? Bad magazine? If somebody can help me please do!

 

[Mooseman]

Is it a brand new gun? If it is try loading the mag or mags and let them sit for a week loaded. Disassemble the gun and thoroughly clean it in case there's left over factory gunk in there. While it's apart maybe buff the contact surfaces like the rails, etc. I would also try running a few boxes of fmj factory loads before trying the hand loads. Hope it helps

 

[Black07GT]

I used to have a stainless version same cal. I had the same problem with all ammo. Frustrated I sold it to a friend who immediatley put anti seize on the slide. To my knowledge it has never had a problem since. Anti-seize is nasty and gets everywhere but at that point it was worth it.

Before you bash my buddy he offered the gun back, and gave me what I had in the gun.

 

[wyocarp]

Don't give up on it already. They do need to break in some. One of mine has required quite a bit more shooting than the others.

You said you handloaded. I'm not pointing fingers, but I would try some factory ammo just to make sure it isn't the handload setup.

Get a couple hundred rounds through it and see how it is working.

 

[geronimo509]

Everyone so far is right, but I feel the need to tell you to make sure you aren't limp wristing the DE. I had 2 in brushed chrome, one .50 and one 44mag. They were sensitive to limp wristing.

clean it very well, lube it right, try factory loads, load and unload the mags(thats how to break in a magazine) etc...

 

[MachIVshooter]

If it is a used gun, change the recoil springs.

Whether it is new or used, make sure that:

1) your handloads are not too weak/too hot, and are dimensionally correct; It sounds as though you may have bullets that are seated too far out or cases that are not properly sized.

2) you're not limp-wristing it

3) probably the most common mistake to new DE shooters-DO NOT put pressure on the magazine baseplate. The gun WILL JAM.

As for the condition of your brass, that's pretty typical. DE's are hard on cases. Most of mine look as though they've been through WWIII after 3 or 4 loadings.

 

[Redhawk1]

I had a DE in 44 Mag, when I shot factory ammo it would function very good. When I would use the reloads that I made for my S&W 629 it would not go into battery some times.

I had the gun cleaned by my gunsmith, and he also polished the feed ramp and went over the gun, but it did not change much in the fail to go into battery with reloads. Again with factory ammo, it feed just fine.

I sold the gun, I did not want to be limited to factory ammo.

As far as the dented cases, it is normal for the DE. Everyone here has given some great information.

 

[kyo]

are your reloads within specifications of length? Lube your mag with some dry grease

 

[wyocarp]

Nothing about owning a Desert Eagle .50 says: "I'm on a budget." I'm interested in finding out if factory ammo has the same result after 10 boxes. That's roughly about $500-$700.

 

[Storm]

Try some factory ammo and if it works fine then tweak your handloads.

 

[Action_Can_Do]

thank you for all the replies. To answer some of the questions, yes, the gun is brand new. I suspected the problem might be the taper crimp wasn't tight enough, but after recrimping the rounds even tighter, the problem still wasn't resolved. The rounds are at the exact length the hornady reloading manual suggests ( I don't recall exactly what it is at the moment ) so I'm going to load more up and see what happens. I'm going to see if a friend of mine has any anti-seize and I'll try that too.

 

[Action_Can_Do]

Well, here's an update on my troubled Desert Eagle. I put grease on the rails and have put a total of 70 rounds through it. The feeding problem is now gone however the gun is still having problems with failing to go into battery. The first magazine fired through it clean will shoot just fine. Every magazine after that will have an average of 3 failures to go into battery. The strange thing is, when I load up a magazine and manually slingshot the slide through the entire magazine, it works just fine. Does my gun have a gypsy curse?

 

[blikseme300]

First off, I don't have a DE, but it sounds to me you are having the same problem I have faced with some of my reloads and my CZ75's.

The CZ75's barrels, especially the chamber and leade, are much tighter than many other pistols. For example my BHP will eat ammo which will not chamber fully in the CZ75's. (Boolits used are LSW, BTW.) By seating the boolits slightly deeper this problem goes away and the 75's perform flawlessly. There are other posts here on THR and elsewhere that explain this in more detail.

Hope this helps.

 

[mljdeckard]

A friend of mine has one with the .44 and .50 barrels as well. Shooting his brother's handloads, to save money, he dinged up the feed ramp so badly on the .50 that it won't feed. I told him to take it to a smith to see if he can have it polished out, or if it's damaged so badly he has to get a new barrel. The .44 will only cycle with loads like the Corbon defensive stuff.

He wanted to carry it as a defensive gun. I told him that even if he could shoot it well enough, (which he can't,) it is not reliable enough to carry.

 

[PO2Hammer]

If your brass is getting beaten up, it may be causing trouble. If your cartridge rims are dinged, they can create problems by snagging on the sides of the breach face.

Excessive crimping can create a bulge just behind the case mouth, resisting chambering. A cartridge gauge might be a good idea.

Is you gas cylinder clean? (really clean?) If your handloads aren't at max pressure, and your gas ports/cylinder/piston are dirty, your slide might be short stroking a little. Maybe that's why it works when you hand cycle it.

 

[ohioshooter]

I have a DE with both .44 and 50AE and when I bought it, it only had about 20-30 rds of .44 and only about 9 rds of 50 ran though it. all functioned well with factory ammo and I put 16 rds of .44 through it Sat and it was flawless. Haven't tried reloads yet but will let you know once I do.

 

[Action_Can_Do]

PO2hammer: Are the loads supposed to be max loads? I load to one step below max. My gas port is as clean as I can get it.

Blikseme300: My handloads are already slightly below OAL and I'm hesitant to go much shorter because of pressure concerns.

Mljdeckard: You got me curious, so I looked at the guns feed ramp and it looks fine. On the other hand, I have noticed with the last firing session that the magazine follower is not moving the way it should.

 

[WoofersInc]

When you say the follower is not moving right, are you using factory or aftermarket mags. I was having failure to feed on my Eagle with aftermarket mags like you describe. The aftermarket mags did not have the correct cut in the top side where the slide stop fits in. Once I cut them to the same as the factory mags all my issues went away. I have not tried reloads in mine, only factory but it now runs without problems.

 

[NGIB]

Don't have a DE but I've had 1911s before with a tight chambers and even some rough spots in the chamber. Does a round drop freely into the chamber by hand? Just a thought...

 

[Action_Can_Do]

Woofersinc: The magazine I have is factory.

NGIB: I didn't think of that. Unfortunately, I don't have any rounds at the moment.

 

[seeker_two]

He wanted to carry it as a defensive gun. I told him that even if he could shoot it well enough, (which he can't,) it is not reliable enough to carry.

...and I'll bet he wanted to carry it in a SmartCarry....


As for the OP...try some factory ammo first. If it still doesn't work, contact MR for some factory work. If it works, measure the factory ammo and compare with your reloads. You may be off in one or more dimensions....

Hope this works....

 

[rogertc1]

i have a DE 44 MK1..have only shot factory ...no issues as long as the loads are hot.

 

[Action_Can_Do]

I want to thank everyone for the advice. I'm going to try factory ammo when I can afford it (I'm laid off at the moment) and hopefully that will tell me something.

 

[walker944]

So, has anyone that owns a DE had any success shooting reloads through it? I'm interested in getting the .50 AE or .44 mag, but would absolutely expect to be able to shoot reloads. Especially if I get the .50.

 

[FullEffect1911]

I might be able to add a bit of description to the problem Action_can_do is having, since I was with him when we putting the DE through the paces.

The failure to return to battery is a very curious one. As stated slingshotting the slide will get the cartridges to feed and the slide goes into battery smoothly. However when it is fed from normal firing the slide strips the new cartridge and the slide stops just shy of full lockup. At this point the slide is now hopelessly stuck forward in the position. To release it from this jam it needs to be field stripped and wiggled apart. It isn't just a case of pushing the slide into battery or ejecting the problem cartridge, the slide has an almost welded feel to it.

I am nearly certain it isn't from limp wristing. This jam happened with three different people and I can personally say that I clamped down on the thing as hard as I could and it still had the same FTRTB result.

The magazine follower doesn't always follow, there is apparently a steel tab on the side of the follower that seems to really impede it's upward progress. Of course I am quite certain this steel tab is supposed to be there. The follower seems to function normally with only 2 rounds in the mag. I took the mag apart for inspection and all things seemed normal. Even so, the problem is not in the DE's inability to strip a cartridge off the mag as the jam is happening after the round is already nearly home.

The only thing I can come up with is that during the normal recoil cycle the next cartridge is getting feed at an awkward angle causing it to go into the chamber somewhat crooked. But that doesn't even sound like a likely event.

ACD's reloads will drop into the chamber (I am pretty certain I tested this before). After removing the stuck cartridge I can detect no out of the ordinary problems with the brass, other then it being beat up by the DE from previous firings.

I'm guessing problem with the gas system or the rotating bolt.