IMI .50 DE has hard time chambering last round

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oatmele

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Hi all,

After a moderate search for 'Desert Eagle' I didn't up anything relevant, though a google search gives me the idea that my problem isn't unheard of.

Here's the deal:

I have an IMI .50 Desert Eagle that was bought *lightly* used (fired only once), and when I took it to the range for the first time I found that it was having significant difficulty chambering the last round in the magazine. For example, I'd bomb up four rounds, fire three with no ill effects, and then the fourth would jam while half-way into the chamber. My temporary solution was to lock the slide back and manually pop the round into the chamber. I should also note that the slide was not locking back after firing the last round.
Afterwards, when I detail stripped the pistol and tested out the part, I noticed that the mag spring wasn't pushing up enough to engage the slide locking lever (apologies on a likely mis-labelled part). So the mag spring is probably the reason why the slide won't lock back. However, I didn't find any obvious reason why the round wasn't chambering. I don't think it was an ammo problem, as I was using Hornandy and Speer 300 and 350 AE respectively.

Has anyone experienced similar issues?

Thanks in advance for any insight!

Cheers,

Oats
 
The possibility exist that you're 'limp wristing' it? A DE is a huge friggin' pistol and the .50 is big too. Wouldn't be unusual to fail to hold it tight enough to function correctly.
 
My friend had this issue it was the ammo. He went to hand loads and didn't have the issue again. I'm not saying this is your problem. It's just the same thing happened to him. And that was the fix. That worked. My 2 cents
 
I agree with the guy that mentioned the magazine spring. This sounds like your problem. Try a fresh mag and see what happens. Mag springs are pretty cheap to replace.
 
Thinking about it, I suspect the mag spring is the issue as well. It has enough push in it to load all the preceding rounds just fine, but comes up short on the last one. I did have one problem 'limp-wristing' it, and that time the round just didn't catch at all.

Now, does anyone have any good suggestions about the best place to get new springs and mags? The local gun stores don't get 'em that often (if at all) so any recommendations would be appreciated.
 
Sounds like weak ammo not allowing the slide to travel far enough to pick up the last round with weaker spring tension. Also weak ammo preventing enough slide travel to lock open on the last round.
 
My first inclination to the slide lock issue would have been you're touching/riding the lever without knowing it. I do it a lot on mine.

As for the last round not feeding, it's something with the mag. Without seeing it and just going off your description, it could be the spring, or the follower or even the feed lips.

One of my DE 44 mags has an issue. It will feed all of the rounds except the last one. When the mag is loaded with even two rounds, the top round sits with the base up against the feed lips. For some reason, the last round sits butt low in the mag and won't feed. You could have a similar issue. All the other rounds feed fine, but that last round gets cockeyed somehow and won't feed.

Is it just one mag or all your mags that do this?

(E) :cool:
 
(((Echo))) said:
My first inclination to the slide lock issue would have been you're touching/riding the lever without knowing it. I do it a lot on mine.

As for the last round not feeding, it's something with the mag. Without seeing it and just going off your description, it could be the spring, or the follower or even the feed lips.

One of my DE 44 mags has an issue. It will feed all of the rounds except the last one. When the mag is loaded with even two rounds, the top round sits with the base up against the feed lips. For some reason, the last round sits butt low in the mag and won't feed. You could have a similar issue. All the other rounds feed fine, but that last round gets cockeyed somehow and won't feed.

Is it just one mag or all your mags that do this?

(E) :cool:
Click to expand...

Unfortunately I only have one mag at the moment (though I am eagerly wanting to get at least two more). From your description, it sounds as if you have the exact same problem as I do, though to the untrained eye (aka. mine) the is nothing visibly off about the last round as it sits in the mag.

The ammo for sure isn't the problem; not only have I fired two quite different .50 AEs, but when cycling the action by hand all the rounds are effectively chambered and extracted save for the last one, which jams half-way into the chamber.
 
the mag on my .44 was crap. the way I fixed it was to use the spring from a promag mag and now it works 100%. the promag wouldn't even fit in my gun and was a piece of crap. I would just buy one for the spring and swap out your factory one.
 
oatmele said:
Now, does anyone have any good suggestions about the best place to get new springs and mags? The local gun stores don't get 'em that often (if at all) so any recommendations would be appreciated.
Click to expand...

I needed a part for my DE, a replacement safety screw set. I called everywhere with no luck. I decided to call Magnum Research directly. I spoke with a fellow in parts sales and told him what I was looking for, he took my credit card number and address and mailed the part to me.

http://www.magnumresearch.com/

If you just order a mag spring, they should be able to ship that to you without any ITAR BS.
 
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