.50 AE DESERT EAGLE EXPERIENCE - NOT A GOOD ONE!

I've belonged to an outdoor club for 6 years now . Myself and my hardcore range buddy have been out there on the coldest day of the year and the hottest , wouldn't go anywhere else . The indoor range I used to shoot at was nice , hepa filters , the whole nine yards . One of my last visits the same thing happened Chief . But this time the concussion knocked down the lights on 2 lanes either side of the guy . He was told to shoot something else or leave , and never bring that thing back again . You're right Chief , it's about respecting those around you .
 
Is this a "club" range or a "pay-to-play" range? There should be SOP's either way. While I agree best fix would've been to have the calibers that are judged(beforehand) to be excessive in one way or another in a seperate room(as you state was available)
 
now even .44 was enough for me.......

Have a friend who has a Ruger 44 mag Redhawk and convinced me to try it at the range....6 shots later and needing a cast on my shooting hand middle finger I thanked him and said no mas..no mas....The next morning my middle finger was turnip purple and about the size of an Italian sausage and unbendable. So no way would I pull the trigger on a Desert Eagle.
 
My indoor range has both a pistol and rifle ranges. When shooting my 460V, they always put me over on the rifle range which has better sound absorption materials and backstop. Photo below, letting the fiery eagle of freedom fly.
 

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I shot at indoor ranges for 40 years. Some allow big guns, a local 2 lane 25yd rifle range allows up to .375 H&H. Only unpleasant experience was a fellow in the next lane shooting a .44 Colt's Walker repro. Musta packed that thing to the max, every shot sent burning powder to my extended wrists and the smoke was blinding. Joe
 
Tntcwg3 said:
My indoor range has both a pistol and rifle ranges. When shooting my 460V, they always put me over on the rifle range which has better sound absorption materials and backstop. Photo below, letting the fiery eagle of freedom fly.
Click to expand...

That's the way to do it.
 
When i go to the indoor range I first look through the glass window to see what lanes are open and what the people next to those lanes are shooting to avoid being next to people with AR15 pistols only because the muzzle blast is mildly unpleasant.
Last range outing my buddy asked if I wanted to shoot his .50 Desert Eagle, I said no thank you, after calling me some very mean names I caved, btw I occasionally shoot my 44 Mag mountain gun with no problems but that .50 hurt my wrist, the recoil seemed to drive straight back where my 44 MG tends to roll up, After 1 round set it down said "thanks" then stood back behind him to the right to snap a pic of it being fired, .... it went BANG and I saw the casing tumbling and coming right at me in slow motion, the sharp edge of the case mouth then struck my right hand ..
Went home after with a sore wrist and big blood blister on the back of my hand....ugh.
 
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I don't usually have a problem. Every once in a while I'm next to something and ask to move. The last one was a guy with an AK pistol. That thing was pretty loud. The RSOs moved me to the other end of the range. They kind of like to keep the shooters together in order to make it easier to watch them. But they know me and don't worry about me much.

I do intentionally shoot at the range that does not rent full-auto guns, unlike the other two that are close. I actually like the other "Fudd" rules. No rapid fire. No drawing from leather. Not a problem for me. The fact that others stay away from the place because of those rules is OK with me too. Less of a crowd. The place is busy enough. I love the suppressor guys.....
 
chief38 said:
I went to our indoor shooting range club yesterday and I was not a happy camper. I brought my M41 .22 target pistol and as soon as I took the first shot a sound louder and more violent than I had experienced before followed by a giant concussion occurred right next to me. I could feel the huge concussion in my chest and on my face and so I put my pistol down, stepped back and looked at the lane next to me. The guy was shooting a Desert Eagle in 50 AE. After he fired off a few more shots I wasted no time in leaving the firing line and waited outside the room until he ran out of ammo before returning into the range area. Not only was it deafening even with wearing two forms of hearing protection, I have not felt a concussion like that in all the years I have been shooting! It would have probably been no issue had this occurred outdoors, but in a room 15 or so feet wide it was not good!

I know about the Desert Eagle in caliber .50 AE but had never seen or heard one being shot up close. OK - just my personal opinion but there should be some sort of range rule that unless you are on the firing line by your self, that combo should not be shot with others in an indoor range environment.

Our indoor shooting range club has 4 isolated range rooms and each one accommodates 5 shooting lanes. I'd say there is approximately 3 feet of width between them so no shooter is particularly far away. There are walls separating each shooting position however in this case they did nothing to isolate sound and concussions. While I do not have any issues with someone owning a Desert Eagle in this caliber, if I owned an indoor shooting range I would have only let this be fired if there was a room available only to the person shooting that gun for a limited amount of time. It was simply unfair to subject 4 other shooters to this type of noise and violent concussions indoors.
Again, outdoors - no issues!

I have shot hundreds and hundreds of rounds from .44 Magnums, .500 S&W Magnums as well as other super large caliber handguns but have never experienced the concussions and decibels of noise that I did yesterday. Thankfully the ammo must be so expensive that after only 40 rounds the guy who was shooting this left the range. Maybe he did have another box of ammo but there was no mistaking that he knew the others on this particular range were not happy at all and could not shoot their own guns. IMHO even when something is legal there is something called "common curtesy". This shooter obviously had little to none of that! Needless to say my cage was a bit rattled and I did not do my best shooting yesterday.
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In my observations, the 50AE is a pussycat compared to the S&W .500 MAG & .460 MAG. Never shot a 50 AE, but was on the KCPD range when one of our officers shot his. And I have shot several hundred rounds of 500 S&W and 460 S&W from 3 each of my own guns.
 
I fully understand you OP and I think you did the right thing there. Occasionally I'm shooting indoors my 12 Ga 18.5" and Shockwave with OO Buck, and also 5.56 AR carbine which is quiet compared to an AR pistol, at my indoor range, in the room where they allow rifles and shotguns. Nobody complained ever. When ammo prices were normal and people in this state could purchase semi-automatic rifles, that room was full of AR pistols, the occasional 12 Ga and large caliber hand artillery. Those AR pistols are absurdly loud. I got used to feel the wall of warm air pushing me back from the guy in next lane and to the bangs (which sometime still make me jump out of my skin a bit). Not pleasant but I too try to take it as training and keep my cool to shoot well with all the concussions around me. I'm thinking that's nothing compared to a real battle. In that context the booms and bangs just enhance the atmosphere a bit. I always double up ear protection in there with strongest plugs and muffs possible. Oh, and I mentally 'thank you so much!' the dudes who come with suppressed ARs in there, they are so polite!!
 
Interesting...

Several of my range buddies bring their 50 cals to the indoor range once in awhile. When one brings his Desert Eagle 50 cal, we all get to shoot it. It does have a bone-jarring wrist snapping recoil and a bang and compression that I can feel standing 10 feet away from the shooter. But.... I never felt that the noise or compression was so harsh I'd be upset.
 
Some of you guys need to watch Jerry Miculek shoot
the Desert Eagle 50 rapid fire! He shoots like 5 or 6 rounds as fast as the pistol can be fired! And shoots a
hell of a group at the same time! Uh, and I didn't see a
big S on his shirt, either! I have one, shoot nothing but
hot loads in it, and don't whine about the "huge recoil"
because it doesn't HAVE huge recoil! Now, my Smith & Wesson 500 magnum, with 8 3/8's barrel DOES have huge recoil! Makes me wonder about some of the complainers on here!
 
There was a time when I was considering getting a Desert Eagle in .50AE, but the cost of ammo was a big turn-off, so then I looked into one chambered in .44 Magnum, which ultimately lead to me deciding that if I was going to get something chambered in .44 Mag then it might as well be a S&W 629. Unfortunately, those were sold out and I really wanted a semiautomatic pistol, so I started looking at 10mm Auto, except I couldn't find any pistols chambered in the cartridge that I liked, nor does it seem like anyone has ever bothered to produce a pistol around the cartridge, so I ultimately ended up getting a H&K USP45 for .45 Super.
No regrets, it's plenty powerful, comfortable to shoot, and doesn't have nearly as much muzzle flash, concussion, or report as those magnum handgun cartridges do.
 
I had a Deagle in the 80's in .357. Thing was a POS! traded it away for a 4" GP100 and an M-1 Garand Blue Sky import.. The mechanics of the Deagle are not to my liking. Blast of gas in the face with each shot. I still have a LAR Grizzly in .45 Win Mag. Touching off 29 grs of Win 296 in an indoor range will get attention. I got kicked out and refunded at an Indoor in Vegas with it. The .500 X-frame is a waaaayyyyy bigger beast than the .50 AE. Yes these huge handguns are loud and an assault to the senses. All I can say "Merica!!!"
 
Considering weight, bulk, recoil, and blast, why not get a light rifle?
 
The indoor range here allows shotguns and center fire rifles. There are always at least a couple people rapid firing an AR. A few weeks back I decided it was my turn to be annoying so brought my 03A3.
 
My friend "Doc" has a "gold-plated-tiger stripe" .50 AE Desert Eagle. After 10 years, I'm not sure if'n he's yet into the 2nd box of 20 cartridges. Joe
 
Too much flash and bang for an indoor range. Those and rifle cannons. Maybe fun for the shooter but everybody else suffers. I wear both earplugs and good muffs and the shock, even at a distance, is very disconcerting, even knowing you are in a gun range.
 
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