Is the Desert Eagle a good self defence weapon

Discussion in 'Off Topic Area' started by DeLamar.J, Aug 15, 2003.

  1. DeLamar.J

    DeLamar.J Banned Banned

    :woo:Is the Desert Eagle Pistol a good choice for Self-Defense? Honestly, I am no big expert in that area, nor I am a professional shooting instructor or tactical ops operative. Besides, there's plethora of the information on the internet alone, where you can get all the information & opinions. However, I managed to collect quite some information about DE, I guess I have to say few words about the subject too. The following is strictly my opinion based on my experience with different caliber Desert Eagle Pistols, evaluation of different books & articles regarding self-defense & tons of the information on the net.
    Personally to me, the short answer is - No. The Desert Eagle Pistol is not a good choice for self-defense. For several reasons, I'll discuss them below.

    One of the main reasons this question is asked so often is obviously the Hollywood.Probably because DE is loved by Hollywood moviemakers so much & every other tough guy (& some of the tough girls like Nikita) shoot .50 AE Desert Eagles without a blink, some get simply mislead about magnum caliber handguns in general and Desert Eagles. Either way, movies are no good source for that type of information.

    I don't believe DE can be a good choice for self-defense or Combat. It's too "different" for both purposes. Let's not forget that the original designation of DE pistol was silhouette target shooting, and that is the area where DEP excels the most. It is an excellent handgun for what it was designed for. Well, hunting too , though many argue about hunting with DE, hundreds of DE enthusiasts prove the opposite, successfully hunting down different games including bears.Ok, enough about hunting, let's get back to the subject at hand, self-defense.
    I will not be discussing any aspects of self-defense or home defense in general. I'll try to motivate my opinion why the Desert Eagle Pistol is not the best choice for the self-defense purposes. Given the typical self-defense situation, or let's say the most probable scenario, it'll be indoors with the low visibility, dark or murky, something like that. Most of the firings in self-defense situations were 7-9 feet or less. We've got the general picture here, let's check the evidence now.

    Accuracy - As we can see the distance of 7-9 feet is rather close or very close, so one of the greatest DE assets, its great accuracy, plays no important role here. Of course you want more accurate handgun, it can't hurt to be more accurate, but at what price? In general people shoot much worse than their handgun can perform, at 7 feet even that is irrelevant.

    Reliability - The most important thing. Ok, you are like Arnold & have no probs handling heavy weaponry & recoil seems to be no big deal to you. You don't care about muzzle flash either, but if your gun jams (( You'll find yourself in a tough position. Every self-defense & tactical classes will teach you how to clear a jams fast and more or less efficiently, but still the difficulties vary from handgun to handgun, and a lot depend son it. Yes it can happen to ANY handgun, but then again, everything is comparative & clearing a jam on DE is significantly more difficult than, let's say on my Para-Ordnance Limited. It's very simple, the slide is much harder to pull back. There are some other, DE specific details those make it worse, like longer rounds, free floating magazine (forget that you can't depress the magazine butt, and there goes your potential jam), breech location & size, etc.
    I have said almost on every DE page & I repeat that here, DE is a very different handgun to shoot. It's nothing impossible, everyone can do it after some practice & with a little attention, but still different. Technically it sounds so simple, don't allow your wrist to "limp", hold it tight, straight elbow & absorb the recoil with your shoulder & do not press the magazine butt. However, for starters it takes some time for most of the people to shoot DE properly even at the range, now throw in the high stress situation, like self-defense is, I doubt many will remember any of those rules at all or will be in the mood to perform everything right, I personally admit here that I have same doubts regarding myself. So, the conclusion is you want something less finicky & more forgiving then Desert Eagle pistol is.

    The following topics are large caliber handgun round specific, those apply to DE as long as it comes in 3 different, very powerful calibers .44 magnum, .50 AE, .440 Cor-Bon. Big caliber handguns have its proponents & opponents. Personally I think it's not a very good choice for self-defense, I prefer .40 SW, famous .45 ACP or 9mm parabelum. .357 Magnum has an excellent record but I don't like revolvers and DE is not a good choice either.

    Weight - Not really DE specific, there are lots of heavy handguns. If you check DE specs page you can see that DE in .50 AE caliber weights a hefty 72.4 oz(more than 2 kg). While this weight is a great help with the recoil at the shooting range, the more weight means more difficult handling, everywhere. This includes draw & aim. Apparently a handgun that weights half of that even loaded is much easier to deal with, especially under stress.
    Size - DE is a fairly large handgun, e.g check this picture to see Desert Eagle and Taurus PT-99 together and you;ll get the idea. It's quite hard to conceal, though this is not of a big importance at home, yet the large size plus its significant weight make it more difficult to handle DE.

    Muzzle Flash - This has been a discussion topic for years. Don't know about .440 Cor-Bon but with .50 AE the fireball is just immense. On hotter loads it few feet long & lights the whole room & Cor-Bon is no candy either, having more powder behind the bullet, it's rather the opposite. In short, you'll be blinded for some time after firing a shot, if it makes you feel any better so will be the assailant. Now imagine 2 persons with the guns and half blinded with the flash... Definitely this is not the thing you want happening to you, especially under extreme conditions.

    Recoil - Another well known fact, what you want in the extreme situation & is very important to you - shorter recovery time. In other words, the less time you have to spend to fire next AIMED shot, the better to you. And again, this is not only about DE, just DE is even more powerful. Yes, I have said many times that DE does an excellent job to reduce the recoil, but still, let's not forget that .50 AE is some 40-50% stronger than .44 magnum, .440 Cor-Bon is even stronger. Now compare .44 magnum, that is at least twice or three times more powerful than the most of the conventional ammo, you've got the idea already, right?I've seen it many times at the range, when the novice shoots .50 AE, his first shot is more or less good, like somewhere 8-10, but after being hammered by that first round, all the attention goes not to aiming, but "HOW DO I HOLD THIS GUN NOT TO HIT MY HEAD". Let alone the fact that many times DE just jams because of the improper handling & that becomes the reliability issue which I have already addressed above.

    Stopping Power - Well, .357 magnum is one of the best man stoppers in the world. Despite of that fact, other factors are still in power, sure .357 has much less of the flash than .44 and above, yet it has plenty of it, believe me.The recoil felt with .357 DE is very low, lower than in many conventional handguns with smaller calibers, but still, reliability & the weight are very important. In regards of big calibers, I'll have to repeat myself here again. There's lots of info on the net why extremaly powerfull rounds should be avoided for self & home defense. .50 AE is enough to go through class II bulletproof west. Now, unless you are sure you have a very good reason for not accepting anything less, this is simply an overkill. If the assailant is not wearing that west, your bullet will go through him & it will still have too much power to punch holes through the few more walls. All you can do then, is to hope that no one will be in its way. .440 Cor-Bon will be worse in that aspect, firing .44 magnum bullets with better aerodynamics(compared to .50 AE) & with more gunpowder... So, in short, simply more power is not the best thing in self-defense. Let's not forget that you are (and will be held) responsible for every shot you fire during the gunfight.
    There's an objection to that, stating that hollow point rounds can be used and that decreases the risk of secondary incidents. However, if you miss you don't really want your bullet flying couple miles and retaining lethal power, then unfortunately there are no ideal bullets, and hollow points have their troubles as well. I mean, often they simply fail to expand as designed even after successfully hitting the target, and with the .50 AE or .440 Cor-Bon that is getting much worse.

    Fear Factor - This is one of the biggest pros of Desert Eagle in terms of self-defense use. I've simply overlooked that aspect in the first version of this article, and later several people pointed this out. You see, looking at .50 caliber Desert Eagle pistol from the "wrong" end is very "impressive" for most of the people at least. You can have a look to get the idea. Chances are pretty good that simply displaying something of that size can turn the bad guy back. However, I wouldn't really count on that. Of course this is the best case scenario right after "no bad guys at all", but relaying on that... Probably you'd be much better of packing a 12 gauge shotgun then. It has both, intimidating looks and very good for self defense use.

    Epilogue - I guess I've explained why I think DE is a bad choice for the self & home defense. Well, if there's nothing else it'll do the job too but we're talking about choices here. Anyways, I am far from saying that DE is a bad weapon, as you could see almost all subjects were not DE specific. Desert Eagle is a great design for its purpose, target shooting & hunting that is, just less suited for the other use. DE is no good as a potato peeler either, but that doesn't make DE or any other handgun a bad one right? Most of the advantages DE has are less important in self-defense situation, like it's exceptional accuracy, all it's specifics with shooting become drowbacks, because of the high stress & danger. Simply, everything has it's place & time. & Desert Eagle Pistol is no exception. Now, said all of that, the choice of course is yours. If you know for sure what you are doing it's your business & yours only. Basically despite of all controversys & contradictions as everyone agrees the best self defense weapon is the one you can use the best. Just be sure of what you are doing, plinking & shooting targets is one thing, but everything will change dramatically when your life & the lives of your loved ones are on the line.:woo:
     
  2. JediMasterChris

    JediMasterChris Columbo

    Have you been watching that british army show on tech tv???

    It sounds like that came from it...

    My dad says the people on that show don't know anything...

    Why use a gun for self defense?

    They are all the same, you pull the trigger and they shoot.. if it is for street fights or gang fights or whatever it shouldn't matter but if you are gonna carry around a gun prepare for the consequences of shooting somebody.
     
  3. DeLamar.J

    DeLamar.J Banned Banned

    No, just stuff I have read on my own time. I'm big into firearm's. As well as martial art's, but sometime's you just need a gun IMO.
     
  4. JediMasterChris

    JediMasterChris Columbo

    I don't think guns are necessary....

    What do you need them for?
     
  5. jmd161

    jmd161 Hak Fu Mun

    but sometime's you just need a gun IMO.

    I can understand carring a gun for protection.But to carry a Desert Eagle is like using an AK-47 to shoot doves.:eek:


    I think it's overkill,but who am i to talk?

    I own a AK-47 :D



    jeff :)
     
  6. DeLamar.J

    DeLamar.J Banned Banned

    A robber and his buddy break in while you and you girl are a sleep. You rather try to stop them hand to hand, or don't take any chance's and just blow the *******'s away. I choose option two. If I'm on the street of course I would not use a gun unless I absolutely had to. But if I feel someone is threatining the live's of my loved one's then I dont play around, screw martial art's I 'm just going to try to whipe them off the face of the earth as quickly as possible.
     
  7. Knight_Errant

    Knight_Errant Banned Banned

    I made a cannon once...
     
    Last edited: Aug 15, 2003
  8. 47Ronin

    47Ronin New Member

    get shuriken, throwing spikes, and a sword
    haha
    like 311 said - guns are for p*****s.
    haha
     
  9. mig29

    mig29 New Member

    I think a DE it´s better than those small S&S guns developed specifically to self defence purposes. A Browning 9mm or a Glock .380 (or something similar) shall work better. :D
     
  10. Knight_Errant

    Knight_Errant Banned Banned

    I need them for hunting KKK members.
     
  11. 47Ronin

    47Ronin New Member

    haha true
     
  12. Grifter

    Grifter Edited by White Wizard

    I have to agree with JMD161. Its a litlle overkill. Although I wouldnt have used the Ak and doce scenerio. I would say its more like usuing a 12 guage shotgun to kill a rat. If you want a gun for self defense get a small gun. Not a desert eagle. which is what like a .45 caliber. get a 9mm or something like that.
     
  13. Greg-VT

    Greg-VT Peasant

    I'm gald I live in Australia.
     
  14. Fergie Boy

    Fergie Boy New Member

    Home defense; shotgun.

    for on the street, if you don't like revolvers, the 9mm browning high power is tried and tested
     
  15. teacher

    teacher Valued Member

    Iwant to hear more about Knight-E's cannon. AS long as you are comfortable with that dude.
     
  16. Knight_Errant

    Knight_Errant Banned Banned

    I just machined it from a solid steel billet. It was ornamental- it's not my fault if some fool knocks through the paper-thin touch hole cover, is it?
     
  17. teacher

    teacher Valued Member

    Absolutely not your fault. And it was probably a very safe place to store combustible materials until some fool held a match too close to it.
     
  18. waya

    waya Valued Member

    Try a compact. .40 cal has excellent power and accuracy, and doesn't have a bad recoil. Taurus makes a decent compact, HK USP 40C is my choice though.
     
  19. AsSaSiN

    AsSaSiN New Member

    yeah a .5 is a bit radical, go for a glock or just a small 9
     
  20. Knight_Errant

    Knight_Errant Banned Banned

    though if you go up to my mate who owns a gun club, he could take you out the back and show you his...er... private collection if you like?
     

Share This Page