Whether one looks at comic books, fiction or film, firearms play a huge part in geek culture. In fact, there’s an entire web site dedicated to document who carried what.
As alternative to my usual screeds, this feature will take a look at some of these iconic weapons – focusing on their real-world performance rather than in-universe function. If there’s something you want to know more about, be sure to mention it in the comments.
Today we’ll take a look at a firearm that’s almost ubiquitous in popular culture: IMI’s Desert Eagle.
They’re Everywhere, Man!
Trying to list every aspect of geek culture influenced by the Desert Eagle is not necessarily futile, but also redundant.
It’s telling that the reference page breaks down appearances by individual model because the Desert Eagle is so common. Pick your genre: it’s in comics, video games, television, movies – you name it.
Indeed, I don’t think any other firearms has been blinged out to the extent achieved by the Desert Eagle. We’re at the point where buying one in a basic matte black finish feels gauche – why not something more tasteful, like gold wash with faux ivory grips?
The Gun No One Needs and Everyone Wants
While popular culture has created something of a mystique around firearms, they are really just tools, and like tools, each design is optimized for a particular task. Naturally there are some overlaps, but as a rule a firearm perfected for one thing (say competitive target shooting) will be less than successful when used outside that purpose.
The Desert Eagle’s purpose seems to be entirely centered around extreme coolness. The pistols are too large to be easily concealed and they weigh too much for comfortable long-term carry. They fire powerful ammunition beyond the capability of most shooters to control and the sheer expense of the ammunition argues against general issue to military or police agencies.
One might consider them for hunting but one can obtain a suitable revolver-based platform for a fraction of the Desert Eagle’s considerable price. Moreover, the higher magazine capacity and rapid reload is not much use when one is stalking game.
For all that, they are delightfully absurd, having provided the definitive answer to the question of how one might successfully fire magnum cartridges through a semi-automatic action. Not a lot of people were asking that question, but IMI has given a very loud (and blingy) answer.
All the Horsepower with a Third Less Punishment
One of the great weaknesses of revolvers is that there is very little they can do to mitigate felt recoil (i.e. “kick”). When a bullet leaves the barrel, an equal and opposite force is directed to the rear of the chamber. In auto-loaders (both semi-and fully-automatic) some of that energy is used to cycle the action, removing the spent case, and chambering a new round. In a revolver, that energy goes straight back into the firer’s hand.
Heavier weight, ported barrels and optimized grips can mitigate this, but the force remains considerable, particularly when firing magnum-type ammunition.
What the Desert Eagle achieved was finding a way to allow magnums to be fired through a semi-automatic handgun platform. This is no mean feat, given the complexity of the task.
Desert Eagles cycle using the expanding gas of the round’s combustion, similar to the way an AR-15 operates. This controls the recoil and combined with a very heavy frame and slide, makes shooting magnums less of an ordeal.
Let there be no mistake, however – the Desert Eagle is a handful, particularly in .44 Magnum or .50 AE. I mean this literally – magazine is located in the butt of the weapon, which means it necessarily has large grips to accommodate the oversized rounds. For people with medium/small hands, this can make the Desert Eagle difficult to control. (Revolvers, by contrast, have immense flexibility in grip choices.)
The upshot is that firing a Desert Eagle one-handed is…tricky. It can be done, but it’s not particularly accurate or satisfying.
Assuming you hang onto the gun, though it does look really cool. And that’s pretty much the point of having a Desert Eagle.
Seriously, who would put gold tiger stripes on a Glock? With Desert Eagles, they come standard.
Because of course they do.
