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If your Deagle was in 44 magnum I would gladly take it off your hands. Sadly, that is the only one that can be sold in CA. But its totally ok to buy one in .44 magnum then buy the .50AE barrel and mags so you can swap it out, it just can't be originally a .50AE.

Another question for the sake of interesting conversation. Well. Interesting to me at least!

When did you first take up shooting as a hobby, what was the first gun you used, and what was the first gun you personally owned?

 catbarf wrote:

 Ouze wrote:
I am already thinking of selling it. I know I could get the 44 conversion but is it really even a deagle at that point anymore? I would say not. I am alternately hoping it just needs to break in a bit. I am already using only 300gr ammo, I don't think they make 50ae with less - and of course, it might not cycle with less, anyway.

As a final side note to this essay - one of those 50 cal cases flew back into my face so hard it left a small chip right in the center of my right eyeglass lens. Wear your ballistic glasses, they are cheap.

I hate to say it, but it's unlikely to get better as it breaks in. .50AE is a very strong cartridge. A case hitting your face is also a classic sign of not holding it tightly enough- you're supposed to fully extend and lock your dominant arm, and keep your wrist tight. If you're right-handed, well, that would track with nerve damage in your wrist.

But as far as caliber: The original Desert Eagle was .357 Magnum, then .44, and .50AE was the latecomer. So there's nothing wrong with the lighter calibers, and .357 in particular is a soft, downright pleasant round with the weight of the pistol. Most of the folks I know who own Eagles in .50AE primarily shoot .44 instead. .50AE is a meme cartridge.

I would also say you could add more weight to help tame the recoil, but if you have wrist strength issues then that might be a bad idea. I use an Ultradot on mine, and it both provides a good sighting solution and adds a bit of weight to the muzzle. Real one is rightmost, other two are airsoft:

Thanks for the advice - I know for SURE I wasn't holding it tight enough. I wish I had the wrists of just 5 years ago - sort of a lot has changed since then.

I might try again at my other range (indoor) where I can rest my arms\the gun butt on the shooting shelf, that might help a little. Will think about it more after that.

The nerve thing is really eating away at the stuff I love - gaming, minis, and now shooting have all become more difficult/painful. But that's getting old, I guess At least I still have many firearms in regular calibers.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:


When did you first take up shooting as a hobby, what was the first gun you used, and what was the first gun you personally owned?

First gun I bought was a pre-ban HK-91 I got when stationed at Ft Hood in the early 90s.

Think the first gun I used for 'shooting as a hobby' was an old .22 bolt action my Dad had. Don't remember the make. Since I've kind of restarted 'shooting as a hobby', my first gun dedicated totally to just fun shooting is a Walther/Umarex .22 M4 licensed by Colt. I've grown the collection considerably since that purchase, but it is still the gun I start new folks on. Easy, no recoil, PINGS the steel targets very accurately on our range.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Another question for the sake of interesting conversation. Well. Interesting to me at least!

When did you first take up shooting as a hobby, what was the first gun you used, and what was the first gun you personally owned?

My partner's grandfather taught me to shoot when we visited his vacation property out in the middle of nowhere Arizona. I'm the only one of my generation that had any interest/talent so he was happy and it became a good pivot after his initial negative reaction to me dating his granddaughter.

I started with a Beretta 92FS.

My first purchase was a secondhand Sig Sauer SP2022. I eventually ended up trading it in because I found I preferred having a manual safety. I know that's not considered the "cool" set up for a pistol, but it feels more intuitive for me.

Manual safeties are IMO the superior way to go. I don't mind having another type as well, like the Beaver Tail safety on a 1911, but guns that lack any sort of manual safety just make me a little paranoid. It really bugs me with my Glock for instance.

 Grey Templar wrote:
Manual safeties are IMO the superior way to go. I don't mind having another type as well, like the Beaver Tail safety on a 1911, but guns that lack any sort of manual safety just make me a little paranoid. It really bugs me with my Glock for instance.

It didn't hurt that about the time I decided on the trade-in a neighbor ended up getting a nice new hole in their wall courtesy of their wife feeling around in a drawer and snagging a trigger (at least according to what we overheard her telling the cops).

Now granted, a lot of that is just unsafe storage/handling, but a manual safety would've prevented it for sure.

No one was injured btw, though the bullet struck a neighboring building which led to the police involvement.

That's gotta be a hair trigger for someone to just snag it and go off.

 Grey Templar wrote:
Manual safeties are IMO the superior way to go. I don't mind having another type as well, like the Beaver Tail safety on a 1911, but guns that lack any sort of manual safety just make me a little paranoid. It really bugs me with my Glock for instance.

Some safeties are more safe than they're worth. My Arisaka's safety is the culprit of the only time I've ever injured myself with a gun. I suspect that it was commonly left with the safety off by Japanese soldiers outside of drill.

trexmeyer wrote:
That's gotta be a hair trigger for someone to just snag it and go off.

I mean thinking back on it there could easily have been something else going on and that was just the story given to save face/legal consequences.

I mean, it could happen on a single action of some kind. You can have very light triggers and if its tangled on something... But yeah, most likely not.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Another question for the sake of interesting conversation. Well. Interesting to me at least!

When did you first take up shooting as a hobby, what was the first gun you used, and what was the first gun you personally owned?

Started shooting pretty young - wasn't until I was 20 that I actually started shooting regularly. Primary reason for that is that my family finally got a range membership which made shooting regularly A LOT cheaper.

First gun I personally owned was a Yugo M48 chambered in 8mm Mauser. To put that in English, that is a Yugoslavian version of the Mauser Kar98 rifle. Absolutely gorgeous. Ground shakes when you shoot it. What's interesting, though, is that it has a WWI era bolt with a straight handle. Don't know how that happened, but I'll roll with it.

...and that started the soft spot in my heart for Mauser rifles and their derivatives. Only thing stopping me from owning more is budget.

My guy, that post was almost 9 years ago. Even if Djones remembers he's gonna need to adjust for inflation

 Cothonian wrote:

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Another question for the sake of interesting conversation. Well. Interesting to me at least!

When did you first take up shooting as a hobby, what was the first gun you used, and what was the first gun you personally owned?

Started shooting pretty young - wasn't until I was 20 that I actually started shooting regularly. Primary reason for that is that my family finally got a range membership which made shooting regularly A LOT cheaper.

First gun I personally owned was a Yugo M48 chambered in 8mm Mauser. To put that in English, that is a Yugoslavian version of the Mauser Kar98 rifle. Absolutely gorgeous. Ground shakes when you shoot it. What's interesting, though, is that it has a WWI era bolt with a straight handle. Don't know how that happened, but I'll roll with it.

...and that started the soft spot in my heart for Mauser rifles and their derivatives. Only thing stopping me from owning more is budget.

D’you Not have a firstborn to trade? And after that a second born you can pass off as a firstborn?

(No seriously. Do not sell your children. Ever)

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Another question for the sake of interesting conversation. Well. Interesting to me at least!

When did you first take up shooting as a hobby, what was the first gun you used, and what was the first gun you personally owned?

I learned to shoot with a Daisy BB gun, lever action. First true firearm I shot was some old single-shot 22LR rifle my dad lent me. When I was 10 I was given a Ruger 10-22 for Christmas, and when I was 15 I received a Winchester 1300 12 gauge. My first pistol was an 8.5 inch slabside barrel Ruger Mk3 .22LR target pistol.

22 single shot, 22 bolt action 5 round mag, and a 22 14 round semi auto rifle were my rec weapons before the military. Since then I have only shot once recreationally, and the assortment was an AK47, an AK74, an AR15 (yawn), an FN FAL (hot, so flipping hot), and a random dude walking up to offer us a round each with his Garand if he could pop a mag through the 47.

My wife is so skittish around having guns in the house that I'm lucky to even have the Davis Industries P32 that I currently own

Just spent my Christmas money on a Henry Big Boy 44 magnum, brass and walnut. She's purdy. I'll have pics in 2 weeks when I pick it up.

I wanted a 45-70, but they were fresh out of those ones

Very nice, I love a good lever action

The only one I have at the moment is a Marlin 39a, but at least it's cheap to shoot

Another question.

Once you’re used to shooting a given gun, do you find it tricky to switch to another, or are the general principles so general that you can shoot and maintain most guns?

If the guns are roughly similar in their basic functions its not really an issue at all. My 1911, Glock, and P94 are all pretty much the same principles. Only difference is how the different safeties(or lack of one on the Glock) are used.

Someone who has only ever used semi-auto pistols would probably find using a level action or a bolt action rifle a little weird at first, but nothing involving guns is every really complicated. You just follow the basic rules of gun safety(which apply to all guns equally) and then whatever minor changes there are for a specific gun.

Honestly, the biggest struggle I've ever had is with my DP-12. The urge to pump after every shot like a normal pump action shotgun is strong, but the DP-12 gets 2 shots between pumps.

Maintenance is another story. Guns which have mostly identical functions might disassemble in radically different ways. What you need to do doesn't change, you still need to clean and lubricate. Its just how you take them apart that can be very different.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Another question for the sake of interesting conversation. Well. Interesting to me at least!

When did you first take up shooting as a hobby, what was the first gun you used, and what was the first gun you personally owned?

I started shooting at 7 years old with my dad. First gun I used was a .22 rifle, don't remember which one specifically. First gun I bought was a Glock 21.

I've decided to take the plunge into 3D printing a weapon. I have logged 300+ hours of printing since I got it, and have a decent understanding. After I mod it to use Carbon Fiber nylon I'm going to test my skills with making chassis for my BattleBots, then a firearm.

I think I'd like to try a Mac Daddy receiver. It's basically a modified Ar-15 lower without a buffer tube that uses Glock Mags and mates to a Mac-11 upper. Nice, cheap subgun.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Another question.

Once you’re used to shooting a given gun, do you find it tricky to switch to another, or are the general principles so general that you can shoot and maintain most guns?

The general principles are close enough. Most civilian owned firearms are going to be relatively simple in design so maintenance shouldn't be an issue.
Unless you're a pro-shooter, insanely rich, or somehow make a chunk of your living off of shooting you won't be shooting "that much" so maintenace time shouldn't be insane. Even machine guns aren't that complicated from a cleaning perspective.

I think the general differences across firearms are safety type and functionality around reloading, chambering, and ejecting rounds and then the potential failure to fire issues that stem from that functionality. i.e. a revolver shouldn't have failure to fire issues, but the semi-automatics I've used, be it a handgun or rifle, have the same general FTF issues.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Another question.

Once you’re used to shooting a given gun, do you find it tricky to switch to another, or are the general principles so general that you can shoot and maintain most guns?

You can definitely run into some muscle memory or retraining issues. For example the thumb safety on some auto pistols. Colt 1911 up safe down fire , Browning Hi power up safe down fire, Smith & Wesson 39 up safe down.......wait a minute decocker up fire down safe, Barrette 92 decocker up fire down safe. Glock......WTF.
I personally don't dig the transition from the 1911 to the M9.

For idiot terms. I drive manual (or stick shift as you might know them) vehicles.

In my time, I’ve driven a fair number of vehicles. Generally, the layout is so standardised the only real difference is getting used to breaking, acceleration and the biting point of the clutch. Also parking if there’s a size variance.

How would you say those difference can be compared to the differences between shooters?

I would say its as good a comparison as any.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
For idiot terms. I drive manual (or stick shift as you might know them) vehicles.

In my time, I’ve driven a fair number of vehicles. Generally, the layout is so standardised the only real difference is getting used to breaking, acceleration and the biting point of the clutch. Also parking if there’s a size variance.

How would you say those difference can be compared to the differences between shooters?

There's a lot more variation in firearm controls, but the fundamentals are largely the same.

Imagine you get a new car and the gear-shift sequence is different, so when you go to put it in 2nd that motion actually puts you in reverse. The ignition is now underneath your seat so you sometimes reach for the wrong place when you go to start it, it's more sensitive on the accelerator than you're used to so that takes adjustment, and the clutch is now manipulated with your left hand rather than a pedal. You already know how to drive so this isn't starting from scratch by any means, and you'll do fine in a controlled environment where you can think deliberately about what you're doing, but it's not as instinctive as you're used to and if you immediately set out in rush hour traffic you might make mistakes.

You can tell a lot about what someone's used to and trained on by how they manipulate a gun- there's a meme I've seen every now and again about a Russian guy reaching for a nonexistent charging handle on the right side of an AR, and an American slapping at a nonexistent bolt release on the side of an AK. The fundamentals of shooting are all the same, but the details of manipulation differ, so muscle memory can bite you. And that really matters when it comes to stress. I've seen body camera footage of a (right-handed) American cop in a shootout awkwardly holding his Glock pistol by the barrel/slide with his left hand while he inserts a new mag into the grip with his right. In a life-or-death situation he fell back on muscle memory, and holding the gun with your left hand while you insert a speedloader with your right is exactly how a right-handed shooter speed-reloads a revolver.

In general there's only so many ways a particular function can be implemented, and market forces push for familiarity. Once you've handled a couple of archetypical examples, it's not hard to pick up a gun and notice a particular combination of features, and then you broadly know how the weapon operates. But even then, there are quirks- if I know ARs and AKs then all the controls of an MP5 might be intuitive to me, but not the fact that I have to manually lock the bolt back before I can insert a fully-loaded magazine.

Just got my Henry. Nice and pretty

 Grey Templar wrote:
Just got my Henry. Nice and pretty

Load her on Sunday and fire all week.

So I've been working some overtime to save up for my first AK. I'm planning to budget roughly $1200. I've been reading up and I feel like there's three options:

WASR
The intro AK. Obviously I can get it for significantly less than my budget, but I do want a folding stock so I'll probably still be spending on some upgrades. It's a basic, reliable rifle.

Zastava ZPAP
I can get the model with a triangle side folding stock for my budget. I've heard lots of good things, it seems super durable with the thicker receiver and bulged trunnion. But that comes at the cost of being heavier, and having Yugo pattern parts. So any furniture or scope mount stuff I buy will be out of a narrower market of potential parts.

Also no bayonet mount, which (while wildly impractical) is still something that would be nice to have.

WBP Fox
I've also heard good things about this one. Polish quality costs a bit more, so any changes to the furniture will have to wait until later. On the plus side it uses standard AKM parts so it'll be easier to find stuff. Basically this is the opposite of the WASR option - invest more in the base unit at the cost of the upgrades.

Obviously, the market can change and any of these can become a better/worse option. And I'm planning to visit my LGS this Sat. to see if they have a good deal on anything.