LOUBOYD Thanks for the reply. I bought the DE from a pawn shop about a year ago. It is in real good shape, no dings dents everything seems to be in working order have only had chance to shoot gun few times. It does hang up when closing slowly. when you release slide it sometimes stops just shy of closing, it would fire 2-3 rounds then slide fails to close (closes about half way) or it will fire up to five or all 8. When it refuses to close it can be hard to open to remove cartridge. it has not stove piped any rounds. I figured it was cleaning problem since it was used. Have cleaning kit on the way, gonna give it one more try for the wife. have read the handloads wasn't recommended do to again reliable feeding, yet i figured that was due to warrenty issues. Is there a velocity of both factory or reloads that work best in the DE? Not sure what model number it is. looked at photo's on the web site but wasn't sure of identifying marks.
cartridge I was using was Fiocchi 240gr sjsp.
There's a section on the magnum research website about identifying the different models of Desert Eagles. Yours is probably a Mk VII or Mk XIX but could be a Mk 1. The lowers are nearly identical, the barrels are an slides are differeent between Mk VII and XIX. The MKXIX slides are heavier as they were introduced to handle the 50 AE but they changed all calibers. The manual you can download has parts lists for all models.
If the bolt doesn't close completely the most likely problem is gummy lubricant. Normal cleaning doesn't get to the parts behind the bolt. Download the manual and read it carefully on how to disassemble and reassemble the bolt. The MRI cleaning kit helps but other tools will work. I would suggest you clean and lubricate the bolt before you shoot it again. It the bolt has galled in it socket it could require replacing parts. The fact your DE is hard to open is also a sign of a gummed up bolt as the bolt has to rotate to unlock.
Don't take the trigger mechanism apart. It can be washed with lighter fluid to remove gunked up grease. I use Tetra-gun grease lubricants on most of my firearms where there are high pressures and tetra oil or Rem oil for small moving parts. Both are teflon based. but there are many that are good. Most lubricants will gum up if they set unused for years. I clean and re-lube all guns I haven't shot on a two year schedule.
When you re-assemble your DE look carefully and you should see that the main "recoil" springs are double, one inside the other and spiraled in opposite directions. The outer spring is heavier. Make sure that all four springs are present and not broken. If your DE started it's life as a 357 it might not have the proper springs (2 instead of 4) That's a much less likely problem than gummy lubricants but easy to check. All of the energy to close and lock the bolt comes from the springs, which are compressed when the gun is fired by the action of the little gas piston. The pressure on the gas piston is around 1000 psi. The pressure at the gas port is around 30,000 psi.
I doubt the Fiocchi ammo is your problem. I just checked and my 44 DE has 240 grain R-P (Remington-Peters) hollow points. They're fairly cheap (Walmart) and shoot just fine in mine.
The slide should lock open when the last round is fired. . If it doesn't ( but does when you pull the slide back manually with an empty magazine it may indicate that the slide isn't properly lubricated or the the gas port or gas tube are partially clogged. Wash them out with a lead/powder solvent like Hoppes #9. A gummy bolt could also cause it not to lock open but won't be the problem if you've cleaned and lubricated the bolt .
You can call Magnum research with your serial number and they should be able to tell you the year and model of your lower. Since uppers and barrels can be swapped within series there's no way for certain to know when they were made.
You might also like to check out this forum. There's BS like all forums but lots of good information too:
The Desert Eagle Forums
You'll find many posts with similar problems to yours. Look for the ones where your symptoms were cured. Lots of people recommend different ammo, changing springs, and different holds.
Those are possible, but rarely the needed fix.
