Desert Eagle

The Desert Eagle is a single-action, gas-operated semi-automatic pistol jointly developed by the American company Magnum Research and Israel Military Industries between 1979 and 1982, with production beginning in 1983 and continuing today at Magnum Research's facility in Pillager, Minnesota, after earlier manufacture by Israel Military Industries and its privatized successor Israel Weapon Industries. Unusually for a handgun, the Desert Eagle uses a gas-operated, rotating-bolt mechanism more typical of rifles than pistols, is offered in a range of powerful calibers including .357 Magnum, .44 Magnum and .50 Action Express, the last of these described as the largest centerfire cartridge fired by any magazine-fed, self-loading pistol, and is built with 6 or 10 inch barrel options weighing close to four pounds unloaded. Its primary intended uses are hunting, target shooting and metallic silhouette competition rather than routine military or police issue, though its size and power have made it a recognizable and sometimes symbolically used sidearm among some military and law enforcement personnel and a frequent presence in popular film and video-game depictions of firearms.