Desert Eagle 50 AE cal Handgun

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Desert Eagle Mark VII handgun: General overview, shooting/reloading ammo economics, and firing.


Transcript:

Hi, its Dr. Bilderburger. Here's my DE, hollywood star, video game legend, but thats not why I got it. In fact I bought it used from someone who was sucked into the glamor image, fired it once and said, too much gun. Thanks to that idiot, I got one basically brand new for cheap.

I bought it for fun factor and for its engineering! This pistol differs from most in that its action is more like a hand held assault rifle than any pistol. It operates using a gas tube system, and even features a rotating bolt which positively locks with the barrel, like an M16. So, a rifle on the inside, and big honkin handgun on the outside.

You can see it disassembles quickly and easily, a barrel change can be done in 2 seconds if you're good. Were looking at the barrel which has polygonal rifling, sadly you cannot see at this video resolution. All in all, Desert Eagle is a masterpiece of engineering.

Ammunition: left to right, speer Gold Dot factory produced ammo, the other 3 are my handloads. Why handload? Currently its 2$ or more per shot with most 50 action express ammo, but you can get components and make them for as little as 36 cents a pop.

50 cal Carbide reloading dies cost too much, so I got the Lee steel dies, just means you have to lube the cases. Spray lube seems to work.

I use use the lee handheld priming system. Unfortunately 50 cal cases are too fat... unless you take some material off the priming tool with say a dremel tool, you saw me measure a case, the priming tool opening, and then prime the cases.

Powder! For this load, I use winchester 296, a slow burn powder, good for making high velocities and big fireballs. My 300 grain bullet loads clock in at an average of 1500fps (with 25fps standard deviation), and check this out, you can even see rings of fire, and this is in broad daylight.

Reloading is simple, but its not child's play, observe all safety precautions in your reloading manuals. Here I measure my powder weight several times so I am confident that I not overcharge a case and make a bomb out of it. This 50 recipe calls for 34.5 grains of Win296 for a 300gr bullet.

Here I charge my case on the third stage with this progressive press, then press the bullet into the case and give it a crimp on the forth stage. I measure to make sure that the cartridge overall length is within spec. I am looking for about 1.580 inches, and thats about what I get. There we go, components to finished cartridges!

Lets make noise, break stuff, and experience big recoil.


Reload Data:

Load (Cal, BBL, Load): 50 AE, 6 in (Desert Eagle), Win 296 - 34.5gr - CCI 350 - Ranier 300gr PFP, COAL = 1.590

Comment: 7/19/08, northern NE

FPS Data: 1522 1513 1466

Number of shots: 3
Average Velocity (Mean): 1500
High: 1522
Low: 1466
Extreme Spread: 56
Standard Deviation: 25
StDev Percent: 1.7%


Disclaimer: Do not use my numbers for your reloading data. If you reload ammo, look up your data in an established reloading manual and likewise excecute your reloading practices from said manual. If you blow yourself up, its your own damned fault and you are probably an idiot on top of all that. By clicking to this video, you agree.

Channel: Sports
Uploaded: August 31, 2008 at 10:04 am
Author: drbilderburger

Length: 00:03:23
Rating: 5.00
Views: 13839

Tags: Desert Eagle 50 handgun 50AE shoot gun reloading ammunition Lee prime ammo powder measure Deagle modify tour disassemble

Video Comments:
drbilderburger (November 18, 2008 at 8:20 pm)
oh, the gun was $850.00
drbilderburger (November 18, 2008 at 8:19 pm)
At 25 meters or less, the 12 Gauge is king! You can absolutely destroy your targets. Add high capacity to that, like with a 20 or 30 round drum (semi-auto magazine fed shotguns) ... total destruction! On a subnote, I just got my MD-Arms 20 round drum for my Saiga 12 :)

Most handguns' effective range is very limited, and at that they dont do that much damage, compared with rifles and shotguns. So I totally agree.

Think the rules are born of ignorance, maybe?
drbilderburger (November 18, 2008 at 8:06 pm)
Even before I bought this gun I never intended to shoot factory produced ammo, besides factory loads being too expensive, I like rolling my own, I do it for every other caliber I shoot. To get an feel for what the gun is like with a standard load, I did buy one box (20 rounds) of Speer Gold Dot 300gr GDHP. It was $38.75 for 20 rounds!

And I agree, a good message to all ... stock up on everything (so you save money)!

Also, theres not supposed to be a wait period. NICS must be busy then...
drbilderburger (November 18, 2008 at 7:55 pm)
Yeah, a bit.

Afterall, according to the numbers, 50AE has as much energy at 100 yards as a 44 Magnum does at the muzzle. Thats a pretty significant jump in power. It lets you know its there. And I'm not a particularly big guy either, only 180 pounds and out of shape. I've seen people handle it better.
drbilderburger (November 18, 2008 at 7:48 pm)
Unlike many popular pistol calibers, there isn't a factory crimp die for 50AE.

The Lee bullet seating die doubles as a crimp die. Its got 2 things to set, amount of crimp, and bullet depth. The finished rounds look plenty good.
alexd9474 (November 18, 2008 at 3:23 am)
how much did you pay for it + 2$ for every bullet wow thats alot well stock up while you can because i heard the prices of bullets and guns are tripling and stuff oh yeah i went to the george r brown gun show in houstin this weekend and my uncle bought one (cant rember how much he bought it for though :)but the wait to get that gun was B&*#$
Tehwalkman1995 (November 17, 2008 at 10:50 pm)
Fuck that recoil is heavy!
mashoutman (November 17, 2008 at 10:18 pm)
What crimp die are you using? I cannot find a Lee factory crimp die for .50AE.
Pageyindahouse (November 17, 2008 at 9:05 pm)
I don't get why in the UK u r allowed a high powered rifle or a 12 gauge shotgun (with a lisence) but not a handgun. A high powered rifle or a 12 gauge shotgun could do much more damage to the human body than a average handgun. I dont understand tht ???

Nice vid, Recoil looks huge!!
drbilderburger (November 17, 2008 at 7:49 am)
Thanks, i learn new things every day.

RCBS makes good presses for sure! I wish I had one, but the price was up there.

Thats the Lee Loadmaster Progressive press I am using. When I first started reloading, actually used it as a fully progressive press, but now I concentrate on quality of my loads rather than speed and quantity. Decap and resize as a separate step, I hand prime cases, then i use the remaining stations on the press 1 at a time, like a glorified single stage press. Go figure!