I have a polished (bling) DE XIX in .44 mag. I choose the .44 over the 50 for one reason and one reason only..... cost. I shoot the s**t outta my DE and I love it. I think of the DE as a supermodel, its big and flashy, its unpractical, ts untacticool, its high maintainance, its plain stupid.... and when people see it they want to put their hands all over it! But its a blast to shoot (no pun intended). If your looking for something fun to shoot with lots of bang, and want that hollywood cool factor DE is the way to go. If your looking for something for home defense or comp shooting or whatever then DE is not the way to go.
I've had mine since 2000 and I've easily got 6000 round through mine and I finally changed the recoil springs last spring. I mine was starting to have problems with stovepiping and FTEs but a new mag and recoil springs fixed the problem. Shes pretty picky when it comes to ammo too, before the spring changes it wouldn't shoot high powered loads, now anything goes. The only problem I found now is I need to replace the spring thats behind or attached to the firing pin. When the hammer hits it it goes in so far that a plate falls out and I dont want to lose it. Oh ya and the safety screw can sometimes back out after a 100 rounds or so. Otherwise shes been great but its time for a lil TLC and maintenance.