The Desert Eagle pistol is one of the most famous representatives of its class of weapons on the planet. Even a person who is not interested in weapons must have heard something about the Desert Eagle, a pistol of exceptional power with a brutal design. But what is it really? Is the Desert Eagle really as formidable as it tries to appear and how effective it is as a combat weapon.
The idea of creating a pistol for a powerful.357 magnum ammunition appeared in the 1980s within the walls of the Magnum Research weapons laboratory. Until that moment, only super-powerful revolvers used for hunting were produced under this cartridge. The pistol was intended for the police and the army. This is how the Desert Eagle prototype was born. A popular legend says that the first samples of the future superpistol exploded in the hands of American engineers due to the inability to cope with such a powerful cartridge.
The solution was found not without the help of Israeli colleagues from Israel Military Industries. It is for this reason that the second well-known legend was born, they say, "The Desert Eagle" is precisely the Israeli pistol. Strictly speaking, it is the American-Israeli model, since the two companies have made more or less comparable contributions to the development. Today, these pistols can be found on the market with both the MR (Magnum Research) and IWI (Israel Weapon Industries) markings. The rights to the pistol still belong to the Americans, but in Israel it is released under license.
The shortest Desert Eagle has a length of 260 mm and it is still very, very much. The mass of such a "beast" without cartridges is 1700 grams. The pistol uses a special way of removing powder gases through a chamber under the barrel. Powder gases are discharged through a hole near the chamber and transferred along the barrel to a small piston, the movement of which carries out the extraction of the liner. This scheme of work is automatic, not pistol, as you might have guessed.
Without such a scheme, it would have been impossible to use super powerful ammunition such as the.50AE and.357 magnum. Moreover, the Desert Eagle is currently the only pistol capable of using.44 magnum revolving cartridges with a muzzle energy of 1500-1800 J. Of course, the Desert Eagle for different cartridges is slightly different pistols. All this makes this weapon truly unique and unparalleled today in the whole world.
It is not surprising that over the years, including not without the help of popular culture, a notable halo of glory has developed around the Desert Eagle. It should be noted separately that although the recoil of the "Eagle" is really strong, it does not break hands at all, as is commonly believed. On the other hand, history's inexperienced or relaxed shooters are known to have been injured. Most often, the relaxed person simply flies into the forehead with a powerful shutter. The only problem with the "Desert Eagle" is that this pistol never found itself in service use. It is used only by hunters, gun lovers, and of course - Hollywood.
Continuing the topic: why the Italian "Beretta" was considered the most coveted trophy of the Allies.