45 acp or Desert Eagle for deer?

[Bowhunter57]

nilescoyote,
Thank you, for the reloading tips! You've given me more help than I've received from Magnum Research's forum.

I'm going to try some of my reloads on the local groundhog population, as soon as they come out of hibernation.
Are you in Niles, Michigan? I have a sister that lives there, which is about 3 hours from here. (Lima, Ohio)

Good hunting, Bowhunter57

[nilescoyote]

Happy to help, and yes I'm in the out skirts of Niles.

[Hook686]

This thread got me started. I bought a Desert Eagle XIX DE44CA last week and ordered a .357 magnum barrel & bolt. The .357 magnum DE XIX is not California approved, but the DE44CA is and the ,357 kit can be applied .... go figure.

I really was interested in the .357 magnum with a 10", or 14" barrel. I will wait and see how I like the DE with 6" barrel, before adding more to this kit. I'm curious to anly who have shot this handgun. How is the accuracy on dog sized targets at 75-100 yards with an optical scope ?

[nilescoyote]

Cant say on a 357, as I don't have one. In the 44 mag barrels (6 inch & 10 inch) I could keep my groups under 3 inches easy with a scope and a supported rest (sand bags) all at 100 yards. I suspect the 357 would be just as good with a good load. So making hits on coyote size animals at distance  should be easy once you master the trigger pull.

[Mohawk]

  I guess I'll go against the grain. I used to be in gun rentals. One of which was a desert eagle and another was a baby eagle. Reliability wise it could not keep up with other models. Their slides would not reset half of the time. Hunting, I guess it would be ok, but for any other purpose they were junk. BTW, if anyone wants to know the make and models of the handguns that could take 50,000 rounds a week and still eat anything you fed it ask me......boy that was fun job!!! And no, Glock was not in the top 5.

[teddy12b]

I'm asking you.  What were the better guns you're talking about.

[Mohawk]

1. Beretta 92- Excellent. Revolver reliability
2. Browning Hi-Power-Excellent.
3. 1911-Very good. But it liked to be kept clean.
4. Charles Daly 1911 clone- Junk Junk Junk
5. Baby Eagle-Junk. Should have been sent back to Israel.
6. Desert Eage .50cal-Junk. Semi auto that thought it was a single shot. No gunsmith in the state could fix it. We tried.
7. Glock 22 and 27 .40cal-Fine for a while but mags get weak quick and won't feed the ramp.
8. Walther P99-Excellent. Never a problem.
9. Sig 226-Very good. But liked to be kept clean.
10. Taurus revolvers M82 and M85- Excellent. Only failure occurred when the bullet creeped with cheap ammo and the extra length locked cylinder on rotation.
11. Smith and wesson Mod28- Excellent. Same as Taurus.
12. Smith and Wesson Mod 629-Excellent. Same as Taurus.
13. Ruger .22 SA revolver- Excellent- Never a problem.
14. Ruger Mark IV semi-auto pistol- Flawless
15. Smith and wesson semi-auto .22 (Cant remember model number but is was Ugly!!) - Flawless.


Conclusion: The Beretta 92 was hands down the champ. We couldn't kill them. We even had to run two pistols since they were also the most recognized and the most used. And they were still flawless. Most of these guns were cleaned once or twice a week and averaged anywhere from 5,000 to 50,000 rounds a week. We also ran class 3 sub-machine guns and I was surprised what was reliable and what was not. The Thompson M44 Tommy Gun would go forever without a flaw.

[nilescoyote]

I remember reading that the 50 cal Desert eagle was plagued with problems when it first came out. I don't have any experience with it. My 44 mag has not had any problems with factory ammo that is on the recommended ammo list that came with my gun.

Sorry to hear the Glock did not do so well for you. Ive got three, One (22) I am issued, one (35) used for IPSC/USPSA matches and one (19) for the wife for home and IPDA matches.  Between them I know for a fact I have more than 60,000 rounds down range and never had a stoppage/jam that was not directly related to my reloaded ammo.

Out of the 30+ guns in my dept only a couple have had problems, these where spring related only and once the spring was changed out the problem was fixed. As to feeding, we do a jam drill where we load spent cases into the mag with live rounds to intentually jam the gun during training. Most of the time (I would say 7 out of 10) the gun will still chamber the spent cartridge case and lock into battery. Ive never had nor seen one hang up on the feed ramp.

Just my experience.