Tell me about the Desert Eagle 50AE

[Edmond]

Guy I know is absolutely in love with this weapon despite never even having the opportunity to hold one. I keep telling him it's a Holly fascination with it.

He seems to think that in a self defense situation, he's just going to whip out two Desert Eagles and go John Woo on everyone.

What are your opinions on this weapon?

What are your experiences with this weapon?

I will admit that I've never even held one before but I don't recall anyone ever using one for a self defense weapon.

 

[Feanaro]

It's a fun target pistol, light recoil for the caliber, accurate, and beefy. But many seem to be picky about their ammunition, the recoil is still pretty hefty, they don't take limp wristing well, and they are farkin' huge. .50AE also costs quite a lot. Muzzle flash is rather big as well. For a target pistol or just plain fun, a Desert Eagle is hard to beat. But self defense? You could... but why?

 

[TooTaxed]

Like to shoot my .45 Colt. Tried one shot out of the Desert Eagle, nearly sprained my wrist! One's enough...back to the .45 LC.

 

[Jake]

They're big, expensive, require a lot of maintenance, are not the most reliable gun made and can cost a lot to feed. But they are a ton of fun to play with. Big boom. Big flash. Big attention getter at the range. Mine has never failed to put a smile on my face. That being said, it is the last gun in the house I'd grab in a self defense situation.

 

[arinvolvo]

If you are doing a lot of hiking around in bear country, then maybe the DE 50 might be a good idea...

But other than that, the 357 DE is much more user friendly and economical to shoot.

 

[BHPshooter]

I handled one in a gun shop... that is the extent of my experience with them. I would LOVE to shoot one, though.

For defense, no way. .50AE would probably go clean through about a dozen BGs.

Wes

 

[GLOCKT]

I'll stay with the Baby Eagle

I've shot a dozen rounds thru a Desert Eagle with a good bub of mine.Quite the experience.I'm 5'7" and 180 lbs,it won't limp wrist well.
I'll stay with my Baby Eagle,that is a shooter of a different nature compared to the Big Brother 50AE.Next to the CZ 75B,the Baby Eagle is my 2nd fun gun!

 

[bnormal2]

Think you could conceal this one???

 

[grendelbane]

I have fired a grand total of 12 rounds through a .50 AE Desert Eagle.

Great fun, and it is a great toy. Self defense calls for a tool, not a toy.

Buy the tools necessary to defend yourself, and then buy toys to amuse yourself.

Just don't confuse one with the other.

 

[Highland Ranger]

Yeah the 50ae is not a delf defense caliber - you wind up shooting through the bad guy and several walls in your house and it would still have enough energy to hurt the neighbors.

Its not just a poor choice - it would be dangerous to use in a self defense situation on anything other than a bear in the back woods.

 

[Rembrandt]

Desert Eagles have a "cult type" following....partly out of respect for the workmanship and uniqueness of the gun, secondly for the fantisizing Hollywood has provided in action movies.

It's a magnificent firearm in design and reliability, but like most tools....one should use the right tool for the right job. It's not an ideal CCW gun, but is great for hunting and target shooting. Extremely accuracte, wonderful ability to interchange calibers and barrels. Recoil is much milder than one would expect thanks to the gas operation.

 

[Kamicosmos]

I've actually thought about utilizing my .357 Desert Eagle as a home defense gun....a couple 9 round magazines of very potent 158 grain 357 magnums is comforting, and the gun is extremely accurate, and being so huge and heavy, has very mild recoil in .357. But...the muzzle flash and concussion is quite noticeable. (Which, I guess that wouldn't be any worse than a .357 Mag revolver anyways...)

Desert Eagles are alot of fun. The .50 isn't bad, a bit more kick than a .44 Mag revolver, but not the wrist breaker that people make it out to be. They are intimidating though, it took me a while to get over the mental....apprehension to be able to shoot a friend's .50 well.

*Ferris Bueler voice* If you have the means, I highly recommend you pick one up.


(Although, I don't quite get the maintainence complaints. Keep it clean and it works just fine. I've had more trouble with bullet choice for my reloads, they require a thick jacket with their polygonal rifling.)

 

[boofus]

I shot a friend's .44mag DE and the recoil wasn't bad. The big heavy slide and recoil spring really do absorb alot of it. It was no worse than say a .45acp +p round. The grips on the thing are huge. They are twice the size of the grips on my Mark 23, which is by no means a small handgun. The huge grips probably contribute to the limpwristing.

 

[N3rday]

They really do have the cool factor, but I would probably not buy one simply because it's so big and heavy. Literally, there have been several ARs that weigh less than this pistol. Of course, I imagine this helps with the recoil some and adds to the cool factor as well. If it's your thing, go for it.

 

[hksw]

A pretty good gun for fun and some hunting, that's about it. Certainly not the first logical choice for defense.

It sounds as if your friend needs a trip to the range to get a good baseline on what guns can do and how they perform.

 

[Logan5]

I own a .50 AE Desert Eagle. When I bought it, the pistol was very expensive and the Speer lawman loads were close to two bucks a round. It's fun to shoot. It's mechanically complex. It's a big, heavy sucker with lots of moving parts. Spare mags cost $60+. It will probably never go up in value in my lifetime. It's probably ok as a carry handgun if your carry holster is a float plane. It's got an undeniable "cool factor" to it, and if you're into engineering it's nifty, but if I could have the money back I would have bought a Roth-Steyr and a Steyr-Hahn, for engineering coolness, or a Freedom Arms .454 for the power factor in a more practical package.

 

[The_Antibubba]

He says "Deagle" a lot, doesn't he?

I'm always annoyed how people who have never shot can so easily dismiss recoil. 50 Action Express, even in a gas-recoil gun, has fierce inertia. Makes a good club, though.

Take him to a range, and let him shoot a real gun.

 

[moredes]

Does my name show a bias?

Heavy recoil, factory ammo is expensive, terrible choice for self-defense (unless the target is a bear). I'd attribute the most common complaint--'jamming'--as a problem caused by poor grip-- limpwristing---a very common shooter's fault that manifests itself with stovepipes, FTFs, and the old 'brass hit me on the head' complaint.

Not a gun for the unexperienced; much concentration is needed to shoot this gun well; all other "usual" requirements (safety, loading & unloading procedures) should be familiar enough to be ingrained reflex. This gun (the .50AE) takes some getting used to if it's your first "big" gun. Most folks, including me, are guilty of limpwrist-induced jams; this ain't no 45acp. And the 'cup and saucer' hold will guarantee a jam; the mag is built to 'float' if it's gonna feed reliably.

I've never seen a 'properly-fired' 50 pose any problems, and I've seen several (like, 8 DE 50's) fired simultaneously by shooters of varying experience.

 

[John Ross]

Though well-made, the DE is a horrible and ugly redesign of Jon Powers' Magmatic. IMI bought the patent from Jon years ago. The Magmatic was a sexy-as-hell gas operated .44 Mag or .45 Colt that looked like an overgrown Colt Woodsman.

IMO the worst thing about the DE is the grip size and angle. It is one of the worst pointing guns out there. That, and the lousy trigger.

You need to handload these big guns if you're going to shoot them, and why any handloader would want a bad-pointing gun with a lousy trigger that throws the brass on the ground is beyond me.

If you like power (as I do), the 500 S&W will pitch 600 grain bullets as fast as the DE will throw 325s. It points better, is more accurate, has a great trigger, and doesn't throw the brass in the dirt. You can shoot it all you want with inexpensive cast bullets (don't try that with the gas-operated DE) and it costs a bit less.

JR

 

[Mikul]

There are only two downsides: the gun is huge and heavy and the ammunition is quite expensive. Advise your friend to hold one and see the price of a box of 50 compared to a .45 before he buys one.

They are accurate, well-made, and reliable. Reports of reliability problems seem to be coming from people who are unschooled in firearms handling and are afraid of the gun.

 

[Edmond]

There are only two downsides: the gun is huge and heavy and the ammunition is quite expensive. Advise your friend to hold one and see the price of a box of 50 compared to a .45 before he buys one.

They are accurate, well-made, and reliable. Reports of reliability problems seem to be coming from people who are unschooled in firearms handling and are afraid of the gun.

He's only seen the gun once in real life. I don't think he saw how expensive the ammo is but he did see how expensive the .44 magnum ammo was and that deterred him from renting a .44 magnum last year.

I personally don't think he can handle the gun; he probably hasn't fired 200 total rounds of anything. I let him shoot my .45acp last fall and he didn't do very well. He was limp wristing that.

I'm trying to talk some sense into him because this is a pretty serious thing. He could buy the gun without even shooting it. If he doesn't like it, he's stuck with it. I keep explaining to him that buying the gun is a one time thing but feeding it with quality ammo is a many times thing.

 

[P. Plainsman]

I have to admit I have always found the Desert Eagle to be vulgar. Tacky rap star vibe. If you want "gonzo plinking," as the IMI ads put it, then a Freedom Arms 83 big-bore revolver is an infinitely more graceful (and American made) piece of artillery.

Nothing in particular against IMI -- they sell some nice guns, from the "Baby Eagle"/Jericho 9mm pistol to the discontinued Timberwolf pump carbine.

But the DE, to me, is gross. Saw one at the range recently -- .50 AE with a "gold" finish. It was all of the worst aesthetic tendencies of autoloaders wrapped up in a single device.

Two cents.

 

[XLMiguel]

Interesting gun, no doubt, big boomers are fun, no doubt, but for a first gun - really stupid, no doubt.

 

[patentnonsense]

What part of the country are you in? Good chances someone here might let your friend try one.

But it's not a starter gun, nor a very practical tool - let him learn to shoot .45 doubletaps in the X, and THEN he can think about trying the DE 50.

 

[RugerOldArmy]

Good quote from this thread:

"Buy the tools necessary to defend yourself, and then buy toys to amuse yourself.

Just don't confuse one with the other."


No personal experience with them. (OK, I fondled one, but it meant nothing!) I've seen the gold-plated-finish ones, and glocks started looking sleek and sexy. (Rembrandt's actually looks much much much nicer.)

Mechanically they're interesting machines.

Balistically .50 AE has numbers.

As a tool? In an auto? I dunno. I don't think anything beyond 10mm appeals to me in an autoloader. If you want this power level there is always nice Ruger & S&W revolvers in .454 or .500 S&W.

A .50 AE for paper punching? Get real.

A .50 AE for defense? Doesn't seem practical?

Hunting? Come now, tell me they're an accuracy match for a Ruger or a big S&W?

Bears? I'd rather have a lever .45-70, .375 H&H, or a pump shotgun w/deer slugs.

It seems like a solution looking for a problem we haven't found yet.

Perhaps just a fling at a range rental.....if they have one that doesn't have that damn gold finish. I'd feel like a pimp, or be compelled to try and shoot it sideways.

But, YMMV, and just my $.02