As
it is the 64th birthday of Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin
Netanyahu, I will present the IMI Desert Eagle pistol as the Weapon of the
Fortnight. The information is from Wikipedia.
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A IWI Desert Eagle with an aftermarket
magazine surrounded by Magnum Research 50AE JHP bullets and an aftermarket
magazine.
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Type
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Semi-automatic
pistol
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Place of origin
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United
States
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Production history
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Designer
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Magnum
Research
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Designed
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1979–1982
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Manufacturer
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Magnum
Research
·
(2009–current)
Magnum
Research and Israel Weapon
Industries
·
(2005–2009)
Israel
Military Industries
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(1998–2005)
·
(1982–1995)
Saco
Defense
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(1995-1998)
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Produced
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1982–present
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Variants
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Mark I
Mark VII Mark XIX |
Specifications
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Weight
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Mark
VII
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1,766 g (3.9 lb) (.357 MAGNUM)
Mark
XIX
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Length
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Mark
VII
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10.6 in (269.2 mm) (6in barrel)
Mark
XIX
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10.75 in (273.1 mm) (6in barrel)
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14.75 in (374.7 mm) (10in barrel)
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Barrel length
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6 in
(152.4 mm)
10 in (254.0 mm) |
Cartridge
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Action
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Effective range
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50 m
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Feed system
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Detachable
box magazine;
capacities:
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9 rounds (.357)
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8 rounds (.41 and .44)
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7 rounds (.440 Cor-bon and .50AE)
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Sights
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Iron sights and optional optics
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The
Israel Military Industries Desert Eagle is a large-framed gas-operated semi-automatic
pistol designed by Magnum Research in the US together with IMI in Israel. Over
the past 25 years, MRI has been responsible for the design and development of
the Desert Eagle pistol. The design was refined and the actual pistols were
manufactured by Israel Military Industries until 1995, when MRI shifted the
manufacturing contract to Saco Defense in Saco, Maine. In 1998, MRI moved
manufacturing back to IMI, which later reorganized under the name Israel Weapon
Industries. Both Saco and IMI/IWI were strictly contractors: all of the
intellectual property, including patents, copyrights and trademarks, are the
property of Magnum Research. Since 2009, the Desert Eagle Pistol has been
produced in the USA at MRI’s Pillager, MN facility. Kahr Arms acquired Magnum
Research in the middle of 2010. The Desert Eagle has been featured in roughly
500 motion pictures and TV films, considerably increasing its popularity and
boosting sales.
Magnum
Research has marketed various versions of the short recoil Jericho 941 pistol
under the Baby Eagle and Desert Eagle Pistol names; these have no functional
relationship to the Desert Eagle and bear only a moderate cosmetic resemblance.
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Collection of two drawings taken from patent
4619184, slightly modified (mirrored one drawing), and put into one image. Used
to illustrate the Desert Eagle pistol's gas operated mechanism.
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Design details
The
Desert Eagle was originally designed by Bernard C. White of Magnum Research,
who filed a US patent application for a mechanism for a gas-actuated pistol in
January 1983. This established the basic layout of the Desert Eagle. A second
patent application was filed in December 1985, after the basic design had been
refined by IMI (Israel Military Industries) for production, and this is the
form that went into production.
The
Desert Eagle uses a gas-operated mechanism normally found in rifles, as opposed
to the short recoil or blow-back designs most commonly seen in semi-automatic
pistols. When a round is fired, gases are ported out through a small hole in
the barrel near the breech. These travel forward through a small tube under the
barrel, to a cylinder near the front of the barrel. The separate bolt
carrier/slide has a small piston on the front that fits into this cylinder;
when the gases reach the cylinder they push the piston rearward. The bolt
carrier rides rearward on two rails on either side of the barrel, operating the
mechanism. Its rotating bolt strongly resembles that of the M16 series of
rifles, while the fixed gas cylinder/moving piston resemble those of the Ruger
Mini-14 carbine (the original patent used a captive piston similar to the M14
rifle). The advantage of the gas operation is that it allows the use of far
more powerful cartridges than traditional semi-automatic pistol designs. Thus
it allows the Desert Eagle to compete in an area that had previously been
dominated by magnum revolvers. Downsides of the gas-operated mechanism are the
large size of the Desert Eagle, and the fact that it discourages the use of
unjacketed lead bullets, as lead particles sheared off during firing could clog
the gas release tap, preventing proper function. Switching a Desert Eagle to
another chambering requires only that the correct barrel, bolt assembly, and magazine
be installed. Thus, a conversion to fire the other cartridges can be quickly
accomplished. The rim diameter of the .50 AE (Action Express) is the same as
the .44 Remington Magnum cartridge, consequently only a barrel and magazine
change is required to convert a .44 Desert Eagle to the larger, more powerful
.50 AE round. The most popular barrel length is 6 in (152 mm), although a
10 in (254 mm) barrel is available. The Mark XIX barrels are machined with
integral scope mounting bases, simplifying the process of adding a pistol
scope.
The
Desert Eagle is fed with a detachable magazine. Magazine capacity is 9 rounds
in .357 Magnum, 8 rounds in .44 Magnum, and 7 rounds in .50 Action Express. The
Desert Eagle's barrel features polygonal rifling. The pistol is primarily used
for hunting, target shooting, and silhouette shooting.
Variants
Mark I and VII
The
Mark I, which is no longer produced, was offered with a steel, stainless
steel or aluminum alloy frame and differs primarily in the size and shape of
the safety levers and slide catch. The Mark VII includes an adjustable
trigger (retrofittable to Mark I pistols). The Mark I and VII are both
available in .357 Magnum and .44 Magnum; the Mark VII has been chambered for
.41 Magnum. The barrels had a 3/8" dovetail, to which an accessory mount
could be attached. Later Mark VII models were offered in .50 Action Express
with a 7/8" Weaver-pattern rail on the barrel; the .50 Mark VII would
later become the Mark XIX platform. Barrel lengths were 6, 10 and 14 inches for
.357 Magnum and .44 Magnum, but only 6 or 10 inches for .41 Magnum.
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Interchangeable barrels for a Desert Eagle
Mark I.
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Mark XIX
The
most recent model, the Mark XIX, is available in .357 Magnum, .44 Magnum,
and .50 Action Express (or .50 AE). This model comes in a variety of different
finishes, such as brushed chrome or titanium gold. Magnum Research offered this
model in .440 Cor-bon caliber, a .50 AE derived case. There were less than 500
original .440 Cor-bon Desert Eagles imported into U.S. in December 2000. Mark
XIX barrels are available in 6-inch and 10-inch lengths only. Both the .357 and
.44 Magnum XIX version have exterior barrel fluting, whereas the .50 AE
versions do not.
The
DE44CA (Desert Eagle .44 Magnum California)
is the only XIX that is approved for dealer sales to the public in the State of
California: it differs from standard XIXs in that it has a firing-pin block
incorporated in its design.
Current-model
Mark XIX Desert Eagles now have a new-style Picatinny rail along the top of the
barrel, as opposed to the dove-tail style rail on previous models. Magnum
Research also now offers a proprietary muzzle brake for both the .50 AE and .44
Magnum versions to help reduce recoil.
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Mark XIX Desert Eagle pistol with a box of
Speer 325-grain .50 AE ammunition
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Jericho/Baby Eagle
While
IMI makes a cosmetically similar pistol, originally called the Jericho 941 and
marketed by Magnum Research as the "Baby Eagle", the guns bear no
functional equivalence: the Jericho/Baby Eagle design is a standard double
action, short-recoil design derived from the CZ-75. The one functional
similarity is in the IMI developed cartridges. The .41 Action Express (or .41
AE) developed for the Jericho 941 used a rebated rim, so that the pistol could
switch between 9 mm Luger and .41 AE with just the change of a barrel.
This is because the .41 AE was based on a shortened .41 Magnum case with the
rim and extractor groove cut to the same dimensions of the 9 mm Luger.
This allowed the same extractor and ejector to work with both cartridges. The
.50 AE has a similar rebated rim, cut to the same dimensions as the .44 Magnum.
This is what allows caliber changes between .44 Magnum and .50 AE with just the
change of the barrel and magazine. Beginning January 1, 2009, KBI began
importing the Jericho (using its original trade name). KBI Jericho pistols can
be distinguished from earlier Jericho models by the addition of an accessory
rail just forward the trigger guard. The Jericho 941's name was derived from
the two cartridges it chambers, with the conversion kit.
Micro Desert Eagle
Magnum
Research has also introduced a pistol called the "Micro Desert
Eagle". It bears very little resemblance to the Desert Eagle, and does not
share the barrel and ammunition swapping abilities of the Desert Eagle as yet.
The only thing it shares is the gas-assisted blowback system. It is a pocket
pistol, in the same class as the Walther PPK and SIG-Sauer P230/232. It is only
available in .380 ACP caliber. It is meant for personal protection in close
quarters. It is manufactured in the US by Magnum Research. Its average weight
is 14 oz depending on the type of ammunition loaded. The original design is
licensed from a Czech company, ZVI, and its Kevin pistol.
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The Baby Desert Eagle from the private
company, Israeli Weapons Industries. Imported by Kahr Arms circa 2012
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