Desert Eagle .357 Mag "Open 10" gun

[Garrett]

So the other day just for fun I ran a Desert Eagle L5 in Open Division at the local club match.  This is the aluminum frame "lightweight" version of the Desert Eagle.  Among other things, it has a comped barrel and the factory mags hold 10 rounds reloadable, even though they are only marked as holding 9 rounds.  Besides being oversized and obnoxious, I thought it might be a viable option if I ever have the opportunity to shoot in a mag restricted state. 

 

I think I would shoot an un-comped gun in Limited if the rules still allowed .357 mag for Major in that division.  I don't recall which eddition of the rulebook last had that exemption, but I don't see it in there now.  

 

The things working against the gun are the excessively powerful cartridge (I was running around 250 PF.  It doesn't like it if you download any), a grip the size of a 2x4, and the safety that requires a double-jointed thumb to disengage.  Once you get past that, you find there are no appropriate holsters that will work with an optic mounted on the barrel, and no good mag holders.  I was able to make an appropriate shim for a Hogue Powerspeed holster.  Kydex mag holders can be built at home, where I discovered the wife doesn't care for the smell of cooking kydex coming from the kitchen stove.  They work pretty well, though.

 

Once you get past all of that, you find the dot doesn't track all that well.  It's okay, but nothing like running a tuned STI with a CMore.  Oh yeah, and those not-double-jointed thumbs need to be a couple inches longer to reach the mag release.  

 

The gun runs great, except when it doesn't.  In my case, that was 5 of the 7 stages where it didn't play nice.  It looks like my barrel is scraping bullet jacket at the gas port.  I was pulling the barrel between stages and cleaning out the little copper disks.  I believe that was leading to most of my malfunctions.  The two good runs are on the video.  Nobody likes watching a bunch of surprise malfunction drills.

 

But in spite of all of that, it was a lot of fun.  Everyone on the squad got a kick out of watching it.  It's fun, but I think I'll go back to a more traditional gun next time.

 

 

[Don_B]

It's all about having fun!!

[RJH]

I like it

[Bdh821]

Nice!  A friend and I did the same with my DE 44 mag!  I was amazed with how fast my friends splits were, while throwing fire balls!!

[HCH]

That’s awesome!!

[sc68cal]

It's a shame you can't load rounds down to 165PF or so, I imagine it'd be a very stable shooting platform