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The Desert Eagle is a large-framed gas-operated semi-automatic pistol designed by Magnum Research in the U.S., and manufactured primarily in Israel by IMI (Israel Military Industries, now Israel Weapon Industries) in 1983. Manufacturing was moved to Saco Defense in the state of Maine from 1996 to 2000 which carried the XIX designation, but shifted back to Israel when Saco was acquired by General Dynamics.

The Desert Eagle was originally designed by Bernard C. White of Magnum Research, who filed a patent on a mechanism for a gas-actuated pistol in January 1983. This established the basic layout of the Desert Eagle. The Desert Eagle was originally designed as a revolver, but was later reshaped into a semi-automatic pistol. A second patent was filed in December 1985, after the basic design had been refined by IMI for production, and this is the form that went into production. 

This pistol can accept interchangeable 6”, 10” and 14” barrels and is available in 357Mag, 41Mag, 44Mag and 50AE. It has high visibility, replaceable sights, rear sight is adjustable and trigger guard is hooked for finger hold. There is a rib for a telescope mount on the fixed barrel.

The Desert Eagle uses a gas-operated mechanism normally found in rifles, as opposed to the short recoil or blow-back designs most commonly seen in semi-automatic pistols. Unlike most such pistols, the barrel does not move during firing. When a round is fired, gases are ported out through a small hole in the barrel near the breech. These travel forward through a small tube under the barrel, to a cylinder near the front of the barrel. The separate bolt carrier/slide has a small piston on the front that fits into this cylinder; when the gases reach the cylinder they push the piston rearward. 
The bolt carrier rides rearward on two rails on either side of the barrel, operating the mechanism. Its rotating bolt strongly resembles that of the M16 series of rifles, while the fixed gas cylinder/moving piston resemble those of the Ruger Mini-14 carbine (the original patent used a captive piston similar to the M14 rifle). 

The advantage of the gas-operation is that it allows the use of far more powerful cartridges than traditional semi-automatic pistol designs. Thus it allows the Desert Eagle to compete in an area that had previously been dominated by magnum revolvers. Downsides of the gas operated mechanism are the large size of the Desert Eagle, and the fact that it discourages the use of unjacketed lead bullets, as lead particles sheared off during firing could clog the gas release tap, preventing proper function. 

Switching a Desert Eagle to another chambering requires only that the correct barrel, bolt assembly, and magazine be installed. Thus, a conversion to fire the other cartridges can be quickly accomplished. The most popular barrel length is 6 in (152 mm), although 8, 10 and 14 in (202, 254 and 356 mm) barrels are available. The Mark XIX barrels are machined with integral scope mounting bases, making adding a pistol scope a simple operation. The rim diameter of the .50 AE is the same as the .44 Remington Magnum cartridge for which the pistol was originally chambered, consequently only a barrel and magazine change is required to convert a .44 Desert Eagle to the larger, more powerful .50 AE. 

The Desert Eagle is fed with a detachable magazine. Magazine capacity is 9 rounds in .357 Magnum, 8 rounds in .44 Magnum, and 7 rounds in .50 AE. The Desert Eagle's barrel features polygonal rifling. The pistol is mainly used for hunting, target shooting, and silhouette shooting. 

The trigger mechanism is single action and an external hammer, with a detachable nine-shot box magazine retained by a spring-loaded catch located on the left side of the frame, rear of the trigger guard. The trigger is replaceable and has a single or adjustable two stage trigger pull. The safety is located on the rear of the slide and is ambidextrous. It locks the firing pin and at the same time disconnects the trigger. There were steel and alloy frames manufactured. The center of gravity is just forward of the trigger for quick recovery during rapid fire. The pistol weighs 1.7 kg with a steel frame and 1.5 kg with an alloy frame. It is 260 mm long with a 6” barrel and is available in various finishes.

Magnum Research Inc.® (MRI) opened up a new chapter in its 25 year old history when the Minneapolis, MN based company was purchased by Kahr Arms® in June 2010. Magnum Research's founders, Jim Skildum and John Risdall had been involved with the company since 1979. Both men oversaw the ascent of the Desert Eagle® Pistol from a concept on paper. Over the past 25 years MRI has been responsible for the design and development of the Desert Eagle pistol. 

The design was refined and the actual pistols were manufactured by Israel Military Industries until 1995, when MRI shifted the manufacturing contract to Saco Defense in Saco, Maine. In 1998, MRI moved manufacturing back to IMI, which later reorganized under the name Israel Weapon Industries. Both Saco and IMI/IWI were strictly contractors: all of the intellectual property, including patents, copyrights and trademarks are the property of Magnum Research. Since 2009 the Desert Eagle Pistol has been produced in the USA at MRI's Pillager, MN facility. 

Field stripping is accomplished by depressing the magazine release, pressing the detent, rotating the barrel release forward, and pulling the bolt carrier rearward until it unlocks from the barrel. Pull the barrel assembly forward and off. Assemble in reverse order. 

(ref, ‘Price guide for collector handguns’ - R H Balderson p288, Dictionary of guns and gunmakers by John Walter p148, https://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/desert-eagle-the-gun-part-revolver-pistol-rifle-23957 , https://www.militaryfactory.com/smallarms/detail.asp?smallarms_id=27 , 
https://special-ops.org/1177/imi-desert-eagle/ , 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TdrcsuqZtU , 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4G_XSEmWr1o , 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JteWIYaXhA )
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