If you can handle a GP100, you can handle a "Deagle." The Desert Eagle Works A Lot Like A RifleĪn interesting feature of auto magnums, including the Desert Eagle, is that conventional pistol firing systems aren't able to handle the internal ballistics (the pressure, recoil energy) of big bore magnum cartridges, so a different design has to be used. By contrast, a Model 29 revolver (that's the "Dirty Harry" gun) weighs about 3 lbs with a 6.5-inch barrel.įiring a big, heavy magnum pistol is certainly a bit more strenuous than shooting a full-size Glock 9mm, but is hardly unpleasant. The heaviest version of the gun weighs almost 4.5 pounds the lightest version of the gun weighs 2.9 pounds. The Desert Eagle chambers and fires some very powerful calibers as far as pistol cartridges go.but just like a big ol' honkin' revolver for a big ol' bullet, the sheer mass of the gun absorbs a lot of the recoil, so it's not as bad to shoot as you'd think. Recoil Is Not That Bad With A Desert Eagle While the gun is not really "affordable" (MSRP is almost $2,000) the ammunition is, or at least can be, and is actually available.unlike other auto magnum cartridges are or ever were for that matter. Unlike AMT and Wildey pistols, you don't have to worry about the supply of an uber-niche cartridge. The Desert Eagle was designed so the magazine and feeding/extraction system works with rimmed cartridges, so existing magnum calibers (.357 Magnum. You see, the boutique auto magnums that have come and gone all use proprietary ammunition, which is (and always was) hard to get as well as expensive. The first emerged in the 1970s, with guns like the AMT Automag and the Wildey Magnum.but the Desert Eagle had something a little different. Over the years, a lot of different designers and companies have tried to make a semi-auto pistol with big bore magnum power only to fail. It isn't so much that nobody made any it's that basically all of them failed commercially. The Desert Eagle is a rarity, in that it is a commercially successful semi-automatic magnum pistol.
So what's so cool about the Desert Eagle besides it just being a big gun? The Desert Eagle Is A Commercially Successful Semi-Auto Magnum
But then again.who says cool guns have to be practical? Granted, it is also a gimmick gun and aggressively impractical for the most part. It has a clever design that would somewhat defy the reputation it has as a gimmick gun. It's become a part of gun culture, for good or ill.Ī lot of people see one and just think "big gun.big bullet make big want one" but there's a lot more than meets the eye with the Desert Eagle.
A lot of people consider it a bucket-list handgun, a pistol they would love to own at some point, and it's been in a number of iconic movies, TV shows and video games.