I recently purchased a DE 50 from a co-worker as they had inherited it and had no interest in keeping it.  I helped him clean it up, decided I really liked the idea of owning one and made him an offer which he accepted.

It came with 80 rounds of a mix of Samson and Speeder Gold Dot ammunition.



I fired a box of the Samson 300gr and I was quite surprised and very happy with how much recoil and blast it had.  It was all I was looking for and more.

One thing I noticed right away was how the slide stop would agitate my left hand based on my grip and the enormous recoil.  I ordered a Hogue grip off Amazon, which did not come with the necessary grip insert.  I contacted Hogue, who stepped up and helped me out by shipping me what i needed to get my grip working. Awesome service by Hogue.



Once i got the grip attached, it felt much better in my hand.  Some people don't like finger groves on their grips, but it works well with this massive cannon.  I looked all over online how i could possibly mount a red dot to this older version of the DE, but there was not too much out there.

I had an unused vortex Venom mount and i filed it down till it worked.  I found a Viper on sale for a nice price and ordered it thinking it would accept the same mount as the Venom, I was wrong.  The mount was larger and thicker to accommodate the water proofing seal on the bottom of the Viper.

Looking at the mount, I could still make it work with a bit of filing, but it would have to go onto the front groove instead of the rear groove.  About 10 minutes later, fit on no problem.  Got pretty close to the front sight though.



Not wanting to break the bank on shooting this, i searched for some cheaper ammo and found the Armscore 50ae bulk pack of 250 rounds.  I noticed surplus ammo was also selling a similar item i believed was most likely the same ammo for a touch cheaper.
https://www.outdoorlimited.com/armscor-ammunition/armscor-50-ae-300-grain-round-nose-flat-point-250-rounds/
http://www.surplusammo.com/50-action-express-300-grain-jhp-saa-250-rounds/

I had been reading the DE only works with full powered ammo and was worried this would not be powerful enough to reliably cycle it.  I took a chance and bought it anyway from Surplus Ammo.  




It looked pretty similar to the Speeder Gold dots and was hopeful this would let me shoot the DE for much cheaper.



After a pretty quick range trip (indoor) i can say this cycles it just fine.  Still has an enormous fireball, boom and recoil that is sought after in 50ae.

The red dot was easy to sight in and worked fine.  This is a very accurate gun and after a bunch of dry fire practice, I did not have much issue getting very nice groups.

Overall, Hogue grips are g2g as well as the surplus ammo rounds.  I come from a 3 gun and practical shooting background, but this gun is just plain fun.  Something everyone wants to shoot and puts a big smile on your face after shooting it.  I am very happy with this purchase and look forward to much more shooting in the future.

I have two factory magazines, but I back ordered one of these to try it out-
https://www.brownells.com/magazines/handgun-magazines/magazines/desert-eagle-magazines-prod54663.aspx
I will update here once I try it.

Fucking ridiculous, but I dig it.

I have been having fun with mine as well.
Check ebay for magazines.
The factory ones are made by checkmate.

A seller has them for something like $67 for a pair.
I ordered one set and confirmed they are good to go.
I just ordered another set that should be here on friday.

I also picked up a box of that same ammo, listed @ 88 cents a round.

I had one bullet that was set back into the case, and one other with a large dent the rest look gtg.

I had some issues with my trigger, pretty much it was a single stage with a bit of grit.

I pulled the trigger pack apart and did some stoning and got the 2 stage back.
Now i just need to lighten up the first stage, or make the second stage heavier.
I have a hard time finding the catch once i start flinching after a few rounds... lol!

My gun was also the display, i suspect the slide was dropped a few times by one of the employees.
But i got a killer deal, so I'm still happy.

Here is the ebay link for the mags: https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F253084017337

The seller is gtg, and they are identical to the mag that came with the gun.

Congratulations.
I really like my DE 50.
I put some skateboard tape on the front of the grip frame it makes it feel better.

I have shot about 100 rounds of the Surplus ammo .50 AE and it has worked great.  It is a cheap way to shoot and has softer recoil than the hunting or full power loads.  There is a noticeable difference between them.

Despite these differences, the gun still cycles perfectly.  Only issue I have had is the gun not locking back on the last round with only one particular magazine.

Both of these were with the Surplus Ammo .50 AE




Still a fun gun to shoot and I am very happy i bought it.

If you reload, H110 is a really flashy powder in the .50, or most anything else.

You got one of the older nice ones. (with 50AE marked on the slide). I have the exact same one. They are technically Mk VII's. They were back when the 50 AE first came out, but right before they came out with the Mk XIX designation. So like the Mk VII, the caliber is on the slide. When they switched to calling them the Mk XIX, they stopped putting the caliber on the slide and started putting it on the barrel (since they can swap barrel and calibers). The Mk VII 50AE pistols are identical to the Mk XIX other than what is stamped into the slide. If you wanted to get a 44 mag barrel for yours, you can. But note, the Mk VII 357 and 44 do not interchange. You will have to make sure the barrel you get is for Mk XIX pistols.  
Reloading is the way to go! Save all your brass, even if you do not reload, it will be worth a little money to someone who does.
I lucked out with mine and it came with a bag of brand new never used IMI brass. All I have ever shot out of mine is my handloads.
Mine seems to like alliant 2400 the best.
I also have the 44 mag 6 inch barrel, as well as the 44 mag 10 inch barrel.

Good to know.  Thank you for the information.  I reload 9mm and .223, but not sure it would be worth it for me to get the dies and do 50 as i do not intend to shoot it enough.  I am saving brass right now in case i change my mind.

I forgot to mention,  I emailed magnum research a while back with my serial number and they replied right away with:

"According to our records that pistol was manufactured in January 1995 and left our facility as a black finish 50AE."

If you already have the loading equipment, a set of dies is cheap. I’m loading .50AE for around 30¢ ea. vs $1.50-$2.00 for factory ammo.

A set of dies costs the same as a box or two of ammo. Seems like a no-brainer to me, even if you don’t load much.

I have a big box of that "surplus" ammo, im glad to hear it functions fine.
I had a single round out of the 250 with the bullet pushed into the case all of the way.

I have yet to have a chance to take mine out since the fall.

I picked up a kydex holster for it off of ebay, so far I'm happy. Good price compared to whats available.
Also very easy to draw and holster.

Link,
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F172386119305

This guy is not too far away from me, ao it's another plus...
One warning, he is slow...

Well time flies and reloading seems a lot more appealing now. I believe I have a good list of what i would need to start, but would like to have it verified from someone already doing it.  I have a Dillon 750.

Lee Dies

Dillon caliber conversion

Dillon x-large powder die

50 cal 325 gr Plated bullets from X-treme

CCI 350 primers and either H110 or Alliant 2400.

As far as the gun goes, it is still going strong and I have yet to have any major issues shooting it.  It functions about 95% and is a hoot to shoot.  I still have a decent amount of ammo, but am getting a bunch of brass built up.  Looking at prices online, they are quite steep if you can find it in stock.

Very nice, OP.  I'd like to try a .357 someday.

Try the 10"...now that is stupid!  My 10' looks ridiculous.  Everyone notices it at the range for sure.
It's like that seen in robocop!
I don't reload, can't help you, but I have had some light 300gr loads a friend did for me & had no problems.

Zombie thread!...lol

I have been reloading for mine since I bought it.
I have been using 300 gr speer TMJ as I had several boxes, but I have since run out of those. I just opened a box of some berrys 300 gr fmj, but I think I only have 50 left of those.
I bought 1500 of the x-treme 325 gr fmj-fp several months ago. I have yet to load any of those yet, but when I run out of the berrys, I plan on working up a load.

Now all you need is a 10 inch barrel for it. I spent considerable time and money putting together a complete kit. I have 6 and 10 inch 357, 44, and 50.
I actually have two of them, I keep one in 357 so I do not have to keep swapping out the bolt. I just grab what I want to shoot. And the funny part is, I actually have not shot the 357 yet...being busy sucks sometimes.

They can get addicting if you are not careful

Would be curious to know the lightest .357 you can reliably run.

Be very careful with plated bullets.  I almost turned my .357 MkI into a single shot running Berry's plated through it with H110 for bowling pin shoots.  Granted, I would HOPE that .50AE bullets have thick enough plating to be ok.

A friend has a VII with bot h 50 and 44 mag barrels.

I have a .357 MkI two tone, stainless steel frame.  As someone above mentioned, Magnum Research is very good on the serial number search.  Mine was in the first few crates imported in 1985.  :D

I mainly use 2400 in my DE 357 loads and have it running reliably with 13gr using 158gr RNFP xtreme plated bullets and WSP primers. The 6" IMB barrel does 1220 fps and the 10" barrel gets about 1450.

Factory federal hydrashocks p/n P357HSIG will cycle good and is 1320fps.

 I had a early version .357 DE I think 93 or so.   It shot really nice, but honestly I never wanted to shoot it.   Other than being able to say look at this thing, was about all I got out of it, other than making more than I paid for it.

Did someone mention 10" barrels?

Attached File





I use the Lee dies but in a RCBS rockchucker. I don't have a dillon so idk what all is needed for that setup.

I mainly use 2400 in my 357 and 44 DE loads and accurate #9 for my 50AE loads. I don't have any real reason why it's just what I got comfortable with. I don't think I ever even tried 2400 in 50AE which is weird because I have a couple lbs on the shelf. A lot of guys like the H110 so that obviously works too.

I've just been using Winchester pistol primers in mine because that's what I have on the shelf here. CCI 350 is magnum so that's fine.

All I use are xtreme plated bullets in my pistol loads. Only issue I've had was with unique I think. The burn rate is wrong and cranking it up trying to get it to cycle will flake the plating off. Haven't had that issue with 2400, Accurate #9 or IMR 4227.

I started messing around a little bit and loaded some with CCI BR-2 large rifle primers just to see if it's possible. Didn't shoot them over the chrony but they cycled with no malfunctions for the 10 rounds I made. Since I have some LRPs and no large rifle primer caliber guns

Attached File

Do the longer bbls fit the newer lightweight compliance frames?

I need to find the 6" 50 barrel. Just so I can make mine more normal.  Kicking my arse when I didn't buy one when MR were blowing them out on sale a few years ago.