Desert Eagle

Overview

The Desert Eagle is a large-caliber handgun, commonly chambered for .357 Magnum, .44 Magnum, or .50 Action Express. The American company Magnum Research designed and patented the Desert Eagle with assistance by Israeli Military Industries (now known as Israeli Weapon Industries) during the late 70s and early 80s. During much of it's existence, it was manufactured chiefly in Israel by Israeli Weapon Industries. In June of 2010, Magnum Research was purchased by Kahr Arms, who decided to bring the Desert Eagle's manufacture to Minnesota, United States. The Desert Eagle contains a gas-operated mechanism characteristic of automatic rifles as opposed to the usual mechanisms (direct or delayed blowback) found in other semi-automatic pistols.

Originally, the Desert Eagle was designed to be a revolver, but later it evolved into a magazine-fed semi-automatic pistol. Because of its firing mechanism, the Desert Eagle is more like a rifle than a pistol, with a rotating bolt and fixed gas cylinder, and as a result, the Desert Eagle is able to fire bullets on a level equal to magnum revolver type guns. These same design features result in making the Desert Eagle a particularly large and heavy pistol. It is typically viewed as the emblematic BFG of handguns.

In Games

Metal Gear Solid

In Metal Gear Solid, when Solid Snake begins his sneaking mission in Shadow Moses Island, he needs to acquire weapons on site, and the first lethal handgun he acquires is the Mk.23 SOCOM. He later finds out that there was a Desert Eagle in the same storage unit where he found the SOCOM, but that it was taken by Meryl Silverburgh prior to his arrival.

Metal Gear Solid 4

In Metal Gear Solid 4, the normal Desert Eagle handgun is available to Snake for purchase from Drebin, but some Dwarf Gekko hold it and will drop it upon being destroyed as well. It's a powerful handgun, but not very customizable, and without a suppressor, is less preferable generally than other options for Snake. That said, it is not a bad pistol for many uses in Metal Gear Online, where stealth can sometimes be less of a concern than eliminating the enemy swiftly.

Counter Strike

In Counter Strike, the Desert Eagle (or 'deagle,' as it came to be known by CS players) is popular for its high damage. It can usually kill enemies in one hit to the head, regardless of body armor, and usually three hits to the chest will kill. Another side effect is quicker character movement by virtue of the fact it is a lighter weapon.