The following highlights the technical quality and precision of the two models and shows how good the market opportunities of the neophyte guns may be. Currently two versions are being offered, the “Desert Eagle 1911 G” as a full-size model and a Commander version called “Desert Eagle 1911 C”. Both are technically completely identical and differ only in terms of barrel length.
Our focus is on the full-size model, the full-blown 1911 G. This weapon is produced, according to the stamping on the handle, in Israel by Bul Ltd. A collaboration with KAHR ARMS, which, however, is planned to eventually culminate in U.S. production. At least that is the information which we currently have from the importer.
Features of the Desert Eagle 1911 G
Although at an RRP of € 1,099 the pistol belongs to the standard class, by default it comes with a variety of equipment features which are not necessarily state of the art in this price segment.
The basic equipment includes a slide with wide serrations to the front and to the rear, an ultra-light cock, a handy, laterally driftable non-folding rear sight with Novak design plus dowelled and thus replaceable front sight with hatching to reduce light reflections, a non-slip magazine release button, a perforated Videki-style aluminium trigger with externally adjustable overtravel screw.
Furthermore, a spring guide rod made of stainless material extending up to the muzzle, an extended thumb safety catch, a wide-cut ejection port, a high-grip beavertail, i.e. a high-curving grip safety with memory hump.
Two magazines with raised butt plates and finely chequered grip plates made of walnut, attached via Allen screws, are included at no extra charge.
Finish and fittings of the Desert Eagle 1911 G
Judging solely from external appearance, the present Desert Eagle 1911 G came out best with regard to workmanship, finish and fittings, too. Both the handle and the slide, milled from a single block of steel, with its shiny matte-black surfaces showed virtually no tooling marks, even upon critical scrutiny. The fittings between handle, slide and barrel would be a credit to many custom-made guns, since despite intense shaking neither in the closed nor in the open state even the slightest rattle was audible.
If this impression of quality should continue into the hidden interior, the 1911 market would indeed be richer by a serious contender. So we continued to the 1911-typical disassembly, proceeding as follows: After removal of the magazine and the obligatory safety check, press the sleeve of the spring guide rod inward and simultaneously rotate the bushing clockwise until it stops. Now the recoil spring can be pulled out forward, together with the sleeve. Subsequently, the bushing is rotated counter-clockwise to a stop and removed forward from the slide. Then the lock is retracted so far that the port is placed precisely above the nose of the slide catch lever, so that the latter can be pushed from the right out of the handle. After that, the upper part can be pulled off forward so that the massive, one-piece spring guide rod can be removed and the barrel pulled forward out of the slide. The pistol is reassembled in exactly reverse order.
The internals of the MAGNUM RESEARCH Desert Eagle 1911 G
Even when disassembled, the Desert Eagle 1911 G at hand presented in good shape. You must almost look through a magnifying glass to find the minimal tooling marks, and inside the slide and handle the matte-black, velvet-gleaming coating appeared to have been applied flawlessly, too. Even the spring and the rifling of the rampless barrel made of stainless steel shone like a mirror, the chamber was absolutely free from scoring.
Overall, this is a processing and finish quality that is absolutely fine for this price range. Thus, the Desert Eagle G is virtually predestined as the high-quality base for a classy customized pistol in the luxury segment. Thus the 1911 models by MAGNUM RESEARCH could become the price-performance standard for many other cloners of this still very popular pistol family.
The handling of the Desert Eagle 1911 G:
Those who are familiar with 1911 pistol designs will immediately come to grips with the weapon, especially so since the expedient feature details facilitate use: Due to the grip safety curving far upward (high grip beavertail), the gun can be gripped tightly immediately below the barrel bore and therefore be controlled very well in terms of recoil and muzzle flip upon shooting. The distinctive hump at the lower end of the beaver tail, the so-called memory button, ensures reliable deactivation of this element by the thenar muscles between the thumb and forefinger when the weapon is firmly gripped with the shooting hand. The extended safety catch in narrow tactical design can be operated smoothly, but with noticeable resistance; by contrast, the slide stop lever moves a little bit too stiffly for the author’s taste and could use some revision. Thanks to the very tight fittings of handle, barrel and upper part, the slide moves forward from the rearmost position as if on rails; the locking sound of the weapon is similar to that of a solidly closing safe door.
The trigger fires after minimum pre-travel and subsequent overcoming of a resistance of approximately 1,580 g (average of three measurements using the Lyman Electronic Digital Trigger Pull Gauge), with slight scratching, but then has not a whit of excessive travel. Fine tuning of the overall triggering mechanism by careful polishing of the pawl contact surface and reduction of the trigger resistance by a few hundred grams would in any case be expedient. In particular that is why it we were very curious to see how the raw gun straight out of the box would do in the field test. Would it be able to confirm the original impression in the areas of ammunition loading tolerance, reliability and precision as well? At the shooting range, the pistol must show whether it is capable of convincing precision performance even with different loadings.
Timeless
Like all pistols in the 1911 design, the MAGNUM RESEARCH Eagle 1911 G is among the shapeliest guns ever built. However, one will search the original in vain for the coarse additional grip grooves in the muzzle area of the slide. The extended safety catch allows the gun to be quickly made ready to fire.
Conclusion for the MAGNUM RESEARCH Desert Eagle 1911 G:
If a pistol design more than a hundred years old is marketed in ever more variants and has been discussed countless times in various professional publications, the new models must indeed offer strong incentives to make them particularly attractive to potential buyers compared to the established competition in the 1911 sector. The new 1911 clone by MAGNUM RESEARCH does this in several ways at once: with its factory-offered fitting and finishing quality and its precision performance, at its cost price of € 1,099 the “Desert Eagle 1911 G” offers not only very good value for money, but is recommendable also as the basis for competitive shooting sports equipment of the luxury class.
