Have a friend selling his bright chrome 44.
He has had a few ftf or fte.not all the time but a few mixed
In.I know he hasn't fired a 100 rnds yet but the dealer
Told him this is normal with the chrome ones and
It should be fine after breaking in.
Is this true?Hes giving me a deal but
dont want to a lemon

I wasn't with him at the range and not sure what
Ammo he was using, so is it the ammo or possibly him
Limp wristing and Not the gun?

Ug.. no... the dealer is clueless.

Desert eagles are ammo sensitive... they require full power loads, NO lead bullets,  but jacketed copper bullets only.. and a good grip when shooting. There is NO break in period. A proper grip on the weapon, loaded with 240 grain full power loads, and the gun will run perfectly fine. The biggest mistake people make when shooting the Desert eagles is trying to feed them ammo they do not like (softer loads.. lighter weight bullets).. and limp wristing them during recoil causing failures.

yep, especially in these larger calibers, people buy one box of ammo at a time.  They never figure out which loads reliably run the gun so they think its unreliable.

Passed on my friends DE.Found a unfired LNIB 44 and figured I might as well go for it,
didn't want to take the chance of having a gun with problems.
Was very happy with my first range session.Ate up the 240gr. JHP's and the JSP's I had.
Bought some 225gr. defense loads and did have some failures there but I expected
it with the plastic tips,they barely fit in the mag.Did have to adjust my shooting technique
to get accuracy with the 2 stage trigger.This thing is a tack driver once you get use to it.
Very nice addition and wondering why I waited so long.
Now to get set up to reload for this beast.It should have a good appetite.

The DE is a rather picky gun, in that it only  functions very well with the right pressure ammo. There are only a few brands that the factory recommends, one of them being Magtech 240 gr JHP.
 A lot of the 44 mag ammo you find has faster burning powder and does not give the right pressure curve this gun needs to cycle that big heavy slide. I have fired mine, a Calif Chrome version,
 almost 400 rounds with the only failures due to my right thumb hitting the slide stop during recoil  and locking back the action by accident. Limp wristing could also be the problem,
but I am able to fire mine one handed, with my arm being thrown back a ways,  and it still cycles fine. since I am a handloader, I reload, using only Accurate #9 powder, which is the powder the factory used to recommend back in the day they when litigation was not a problem. . I did have to send my pistol back  a couple weeks after I bought it, , because that stupid Calif firing pin block got jammed.....
 I also had them cycle test it with Magtech ammo, and they also said they deburred the bolt too. They were very fast, less than two weeks from day I sent it, and they paid shipping both ways.
 So, your friends might need some attention, but I would try  some Magtech ammo first, and hold gun tight with both hands, and do not push up on bottom of mag when firing , as that can interfere with
the bolt. Once you get the technique down, the gun is very fun to shoot. I put a 4x pistol scope on mine and last week put 8 rounds into a 2 inch circle at 50 yards.

I load my own for mine.

240gr JSP with 24gr H110 behind it.

Cycles every time with a gigantic fireball.