Desert Eagle .50 AE Lots of FTE's

This gun has maybe 150 rounds through it, so having anything fall apart by now is proof of poor engineering. Disappointing, but then it's a range gun, not something that actually has to work.

I received 2 Kahr rubber-Jujube springs and a DPMS AR15 spring. I'm going to see if I can install the metal AR15 spring, which has the remarkable property of not dissolving in the presence of gun-cleaning products. I assume it's okay to have metal-to-metal contact, since other guns do it that way. Hope so, anyway. If not, time to buy more parts.
 
I learned some things about the Desert Eagle, and I think they will be helpful to other people, so here I am again.

I received two Kahr Jujube extractor "springs" in the mail, along with a DPMS steel AR spring. I decided to use the DPMS spring, for reasons which will become clear.

I looked at the manual, and I watched Youtube. I figured this gave me enough information to disassemble the gun and replace the Jujube. WRONG.

It turns out I have a California gun. Humiliating. California doesn't want anyone to have a .50-caliber pistol that actually works, so they forced Magnum Research to add an annoying hindrance to the firing pin stop. It's a big pain to remove the firing pin, and the instructions are not in the manual. No conceivable excuse for that blunder. You have to push two pins in instead of one.

Kahr sells the 49-state firing pin and stop, and they fit in the California guns. Cost: $50. I have these parts on the way. The stop is black, so it won't match the gun. Maybe I can fabricate one from stainless.

I have to blame this on Garcia's National Gun in Miami. It was a terrible gun shop, but I tried to support them because they were local. How they managed to get me a new California gun, I can't even guess. I was a loyal customer, and they never even got to the point where they recognized me or said hello when I walked in the door. This is why I buy online or at big stores. I've had lots of problems with local shops. They don't seem to appreciate the precarious position they're in, or the fact that people are doing them a huge favor by giving them business.

The old extractor Jujube wasn't just damaged; it no longer existed. I found some bits of reddish grease that used to be the spring. No exaggeration. Had I not known what I was looking at, I would never have known there used to be a spring.

I'm sure Magnum Research had some kind of justification for using this stuff instead of a real spring, but it has not worked out for me. A spring that dissolves in oil or gun-cleaning solvent is a bad idea.

Removing the bolt is unpleasant but not terribly so. The extractor is held in place with a pin which is not tight. You can push it out with a punch. Then you have to put the new spring in, line up the extractor with the bolt, and shove the new spring in. That's all there is to it.

I have not fired the gun since reassembling it. I don't know if the real metal spring will have any effect on shells hitting me in the face, but they should eject, so I have that going for me.
 
I fired 7 rounds to see if the gun was working. I wore a face shield. Far as I can tell, only one round hit the shield. It's hard to tell, because your mind goes blank for an instant when this gun goes off.

The extractor is working fine now. I don't think I'll go back to the dissolving OEM springs.
 
the DPMS steel AR spring that you mention, can you tell whether it's a AR-15 extractor spring, or an AR-10 extractor spring? this is good info. thanks for posting your findings.

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ETA: NVM: I see in posts above that it's an AR15 spring. thanks. yeah, Reading is fundamental.
 
I found that the .44 Desert Eagle was very sensitive to ammo. It shot Samson/IMI fine. Anything else was a "maybe." The .44 Magnum is primarily a revolver round, and no matter what the specs said, a lot of it was way wimpier than it was supposed to be. Revolvers don't care, so I guess they got few complaints. Owners of autoloading shotguns have the same problem in finding shells that will cycle their guns.

If it's cycling Samson ammo and not Precision One, I'd be giving the squinty eye to the Precision One ammo. Maybe someone at your local range could be persuaded to let you fire a few rounds across their chronograph.

On the other hand, the short-recoil action of the LAR Grizzly and the AMT Automag V seems to be more flexible than IMI's implementation of a rotating bolt gas system; you could use this as an excuse to buy another .50AE gun to use up the wimpy ammo...
 
Swifty Morgan said:
I fired 7 rounds to see if the gun was working. I wore a face shield. Far as I can tell, only one round hit the shield. It's hard to tell, because your mind goes blank for an instant when this gun goes off.
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Hmm. the .44 Mag Dessert Eagle I shot was the only .44 (in my limited experience with it) that I found comfortable to shoot. The DE soaked it up pretty well.
 
TRX said:
I found that the .44 Desert Eagle was very sensitive to ammo. It shot Samson/IMI fine. Anything else was a "maybe." The .44 Magnum is primarily a revolver round, and no matter what the specs said, a lot of it was way wimpier than it was supposed to be. Revolvers don't care, so I guess they got few complaints. Owners of autoloading shotguns have the same problem in finding shells that will cycle their guns.

If it's cycling Samson ammo and not Precision One, I'd be giving the squinty eye to the Precision One ammo. Maybe someone at your local range could be persuaded to let you fire a few rounds across their chronograph.

On the other hand, the short-recoil action of the LAR Grizzly and the AMT Automag V seems to be more flexible than IMI's implementation of a rotating bolt gas system; you could use this as an excuse to buy another .50AE gun to use up the wimpy ammo...
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IIRC TRX, your 44 mag Deagle is a Israeli made one so naturally it would like Samson/IWI/IMI made ammo. ;)
 
"Deagle" is a pretend pistol in a video game.

They wanted to call it a Desert Eagle, but the name block in the game didn't have enough spaces so they called it "DEagle".

I have Desert Eagles in .357 and .44 Magnum. Don't have any "Deagles", don't have the game, either...

and while I have shotguns and revolvers as well, I don't have any "shottys" or "wheelies" Last "wheelie" I did was on a Hodaka Super Rat about 40 years ago..:rolleyes:
 
44 AMP said:
"Deagle" is a pretend pistol in a video game.

They wanted to call it a Desert Eagle, but the name block in the game didn't have enough spaces so they called it "DEagle".

I have Desert Eagles in .357 and .44 Magnum. Don't have any "Deagles", don't have the game, either...

and while I have shotguns and revolvers as well, I don't have any "shottys" or "wheelies" Last "wheelie" I did was on a Hodaka Super Rat about 40 years ago..:rolleyes:
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Yes 44 AMP, but it become "common place" to call a Desert Eagle a "Deagle" just like "shotties" "wheelies" ect., everyone knows what you're referring to with the listed terms unless you're a total "noob". :)
 
For starters, if Samson ammo worked for you in the past, order some of that and see if that clears up the issue. That will tell you if it's an ammo problem.

Swifty Morgan said:
Today I fired the gun, and most rounds failed to extract. The ones that did extract generally hit me in the face... I know how to shoot it. I hold it very firmly, and it worked for me in the past.
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Your grip may still be part of the issue. A solid grip is part of it. But where does the gun track when you shoot? The gun wants to twist in the grip when firing, which points it just right so it will eject at one's forehead.

I find when I start to get malfunctions, I'm also getting pegged in the forehead. This is an indicator that I'm making the gun recoil straight up, or reasonably so. I really have to pay attention to how I'm allowing the gun to recoil. The smaller calibers tend to be much easier in this regard.

Back to ammo, I've had my .50 barrel for a half dozen years now, and I've probably got less than 100 rounds of factory ammo through it. OTOH, I've reloaded a lot of ammo for it. A slow magnum powder tends to work best. I shoot almost exclusively H110 (big fireballs) and AA#9 (less flashy). I have tried AA1680, but it did not cycle the action. In .44 Mag I have also used Lil Gun, which works well. Other powders that didn't work were Blue Dot and HS-7.

FYI, the factory ammo I have run through it was a box of 300 gr. Hornady Custom XTP, and a couple boxes of Reed's Ammo 335 gr. Gold Dots. They all ran well for me.

lee n. field said:
Hmm. the .44 Mag Dessert Eagle I shot was the only .44 (in my limited experience with it) that I found comfortable to shoot. The DE soaked it up pretty well.
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I originally bought a .44 Mag. I didnt' buy a .50 barrel for several years, as I figured the .44 could do anything teh .50 could, at less cost per round. When I finally did buy a .50 barrel, I was surprised at how much more recoil the larger caliber produced. Actually, not so much the recoil as the amount of muzzle flip. The difference between the two was more than I had expected it to be.
 
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Has anyone here tried a ported barrel? My barrel doesn't have a rail, so I'm thinking it would be nice to get a new one anyway, and ported barrels are available. In fact, now that I think about it, I haven't seen a non-ported barrel in brushed chrome yet.
 
I've got one of the lightweight L5 models in .357. They come with a 5" ported barrel. I also have a .357 barrel for the MK-XIX. Shooting them back-to-back, they feel very different. The ported barrel is... abrupt. You still get the blast, but it's back on target before you recover. The unported gun then feels like a slow roll up and then back down. You really have to experience them. I can't very well describe the difference.

I tried to make a video comparison, but it really doesn't show as much as I would like it to.

https://youtu.be/oGvOz3cvlYw

I haven't ever tried a ported .50 barrel, but I've got to imagine the difference would be even greater, where the larger cartridge has more gas to work with.
 
I have a real allergy to selling guns, so I feel determined to make this thing work. Maybe a new ported barrel would be helpful. Or I could send the old one to Mag-na-Port. I wonder what they charge.
 
Swifty Morgan said:
I have a real allergy to selling guns, so I feel determined to make this thing work. Maybe a new ported barrel would be helpful. Or I could send the old one to Mag-na-Port. I wonder what they charge.
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Well if "you know what you're doing", you could probably could port the barrel yourself there Swifty. ;)
 
I'm an amateur machinist, but I make plenty of mistakes!

I can get the gun ported for under $200, but they won't be able to put a picatinny rail on it.
 
I bought a case of 180 Grain 44 Mag for my DE and it wouldn't eject them. The only thing that will work in mine is 240 grain and hotter the better. They are cool looking guns, but it is crazy on how many people you hear have trouble with them for what they cost.
 
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