Desert Eagle: The Weapon for Exhibition
In cinema and video games, the Desert Eagle has established quite a reputation. With an imposing profile and high caliber action, it’s an easy choice for an action packed experience. Expensive, too heavy and almost impractical. Not a very good handgun for real life usage. But nonetheless remarkably popular. So, how did such an unwieldy weapon become so popular? Why it’s a trademark for many First person shooters? And is bigger always better?
The Desert Eagle is a semi-automatic handgun notable for chambering the .50 action express. It was made by Magnum Research Inc.(MRI) which is own by Kahr Arms. The design started at a Magnum Research co. in 1979. The first-ever produced handgun was in 1982 by the Israel Military Industries The desert eagle was designed as a semi-automatic rival to large frame, high caliber revolvers. A gas-operated pistol is able to reload from magazines instead of a rolling barrel and with superior capacity to a 6 round cylinder. The Deagle was made as a preference boost from the already mighty .44 Magnum rounds and to the .50 action express. And indeed the Desert Eagle succeeded being the first handgun to chamber the .50cal rounds. The pistol is somewhat configurable. The barrel can be configured with the already 6” barrel or changed by the 10” barrel. And it also comes with various caliber preferences, either the .357 Magnum, .44 Magnum, or .50 Action Express.
There aren’t many variants of the Deagle. The most iconic one is the Mark XIX (19) came in 1995. The Mark XIX Desert Eagle is a gas-operated, semi-automatic pistol with a 7 round capacity in .50 AE and 8 round capacity in .44 Magnum. And like some kind of fashion accessory it comes with a number of skins as far as custom finishes confirmed. From Pain Black to Burnt Bronze, Chrome, Polished Chrome, White Matte Distressed to even 24 Karat Gold Plated skins or more durable Titanium Gold. If the gold plated gun isn’t enough for your taste, there’s even White and Titanium Gold Tiger Stripes.
Desert eagle L5 is a more suitable variant for two-fisted handling. Now, Magnum Research is proud to introduce two lighter weight models which make a noticeable difference when handling the pistol. Two hands are still recommended for most shooters. The Desert Eagle L5 and the L6 are lighter by a pound or two respectively in comparison to other similar Desert Eagle products. The L5 is slightly smaller with a 5” barrel and features a hard-coat anodized black aluminum frame, black carbon steel slide and barrel, and Hogue finger groove rubber grip. If you at a close look at the barrel you can easily tell they took chunks of steel off the barrel and various parts to make it lighter and more suitable for use. It sure is a great installment but because of the lack of desert eagle’s military usage, it was almost unimportant.
The .50cal chamber has set the pistol above most other magnum options. Which lead to its popularity in action films since the 1980s for its high caliber action. Featuring in more than 500 films and video games, you can tell this shining chrome-plated pistol was made for the silver screen. By 1999 it had been used in over 40 films, including RoboCop, The Matrix, Last Action Hero, Assassins, Double Impact, and Austin Powers.
It is also featured in a number of various video games and series, including Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege, Grand Theft Auto, Max Payne, Resident Evil, Far Cry, Call of Duty, Tomb Raider, Killing Floor, Metal Gear Solid 4, Counter-Strike, Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds, and Hitman. However, due to trademark reasons, the in-game name of it was often changed to generic terms like Heavy Handgun or Magnum pistol or .50 AE, offering a clue to the handguns power. But the silver silhouette needs no more to say about its real identity.
The earliest depiction of the gun was seen in Counter-Strike in 1999. The higher resolution silhouette with digital renditions mirrors the power of this steel weapon. While the handgun has a lower ammo capacity of 7 rounds in a mag, one-shot headshot potential made up for any shortcoming, making it a fan favorite for a secondary role. The weapon is featured in all of the Counter-Strike games to this day.
Counterstrike was king. But a game that has the most pivotal role for the Deagle is the Call of Duty Modern Warfare franchise. In the opening of Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare, it shows what the Deagle was all about. As a deposed president, you are bundled in a car, given a butt stroke with an AK, frog marched to a pillory, and then shot in the head by the golden high caliber pistol. And that is what the Desert Eagle is all about: exhibition. A vulgar display of power. I mean if you’re going to threaten someone with a gun to the head, what better arsenal to use other than the explosive fashion of the Desert Eagle. The pistol makes its return at the very end of the game. The opposition coming towards you with the shiny gun; executes a squad member and coming for you with a similar intent makes up a hairy situation. Only diverted by an explosion and quick decisions.
The later installments of the series don’t back down on using the gun. In Modern Warfare 2 the weapon is seen in action by the Brazilian arms dealers. And in Modern Warfare 3 the liberal use of it is even clearer. The default sidearm of protagonist Yuri and staring down the barrel of this .50Cal in several scenarios make up the perfect reputation for the weapon. It’s almost like the franchise must include the weapon no matter what. I mean how many weapons have an imposing profile like the .50cal Desert Eagle.
The military use of Desert Eagle is almost non-existent. Not everyone can handle the heavy blow-back of this steel weapon. And it’s very unreliable for any tense situation in real life and comes with a huge price tag. So unlike in any fps, it’s not widely used. But that’s not the role the Desert Eagle is supposed to play. Made for exhibition and always cool on the screen it’s the perfect replacement to Magnum revolvers. Powerful in both form and in function: from classic 80s cinema to first-person shooters today. Unrestrained exhibition and imposing profile. And who cares about practicality? When you have a golden gun that fires large bullets.
