I took my Desert Eagle 50AE to the range today and was shooting some Underwood 300gr FMJ but about 25 rounds downrange I experienced very light recoil on one round. I saw the hole in the target from the lightly recoiling round so I knew it wasn't a squib but I still wanted to empty the gun and inspect everything. However, I was unable to pull the slide back by hand, no movement at all. I didn't know if it chambered a round so all I could do was drop the mag, aim at the target, and pull the trigger. There was a round in the chamber and it did go bang with normal felt recoil. Since there was no magazine in the gun the slide closed on a empty chamber and again I was unable to force the slide back by hand.

I used the take down lever and the barrel popped off with no issues and a quick visual inspection showed nothing broken, bent, or otherwise out of sorts. I reassembled the gun but the slide will no longer go into battery and seems to hang up right before the bolt is supposed to twist to lock into the barrel lugs. After I got home I took it apart again and noticed something that didn't seem right with the gas port in the chamber. I don't recall what it normal looks like and I am unable to find a clear pic online but it looks like something is either jammed or popped out of the gas port and my guess is it is interfering with the bolt and causing it to stay out of battery.

Anyone experience something like this before? Is there something wrong with the gas port or is this normal and unrelated to my issue?

That plug is set about 0.020" below the surface on all 3 of my barrels. Looks like yours has backed out. The face of the bolt is probably marked up on the lower lug from riding that screw/plug causing the jam up.

@MrBlackCat has posted a pic on another forum of a barrel cutaway. My interpretation of what it shows is that plug should not see any gas pressure so it probably backed out under recoil.

You will have to decide whether you want to try and tackle replacing the plug yourself or sending the barrel back to MR.

I imagine the screw is loose since it backed out.
Try removing it with a hex key, clean the threads with contact cleaner and LocTite it back in place.

Tony

Thanks for the replies. I'll take a closer look at the plug later on today and see what's what. I already have a RMA email from Magnum Research but if I can fix I myself without shipping it back that would be ideal. Why did they think it was a good idea to plug the hole with a stop screw and not even peen it or perma loctite it into place? Feels like a bean counter was behind this decision.

Edit: The plug was easy to remove and reinstall so other than the superficial damage to the head, the threads are still intact. I degreased the plug, hole, and applied some medium strength Loctite and if it starts to back out again I'll have to use something more permanent. There appears to be no damage to the bolt and I found a thin slice of metal shaving which must have been rubbed off the plug. The gun now goes into battery and I can rack the slide normally. Whew!

Edit 2: I replied back to the RMA email from Magnum Research to cancel it. Got a reply in just 3 minutes from them (Wow!):