Long post, TLDR at bottom.

So my first gun *ever* was a Desert Eagle 50AE (I think it was a mark VII). I got it in 2001 "used" .  Original owner was an older guy (50+) who was a bail bondsman.  He bought it, shot a mag through it and it sat for years... he even gave me 2 boxes of ammo, 1 box 7 rounds short. But I got it for $500.

Anywho, i had it for years and shot it as much as I could afford to at 21-22 and ammo costing $.50-70/rnd.   Loved it but being irresponsible and broke, I sold it for $800.

I got married this past weekend and stopped in a hole in the wall gun store just to look around. Typical old man (men) behind the counter, talking about hunting caliber bolt guns, ect (to their credit, its hunting season and its probably what they sell the most of up there).  Well looking around there was a DE50 for $990 in the used gun section.  I asked about it and the guy behind the counter didnt know much about it....just the typical "old man" hyping up a desert eagle.  For the life of me I dont remember if it was a mark VII or XIX.  It is the reg blued, has the pic rail on top, nothing on the bottom and no ported barrel.  I'm thinking it's a XIX.  He said they had it for a while but no time line. It looked in great condition and not to many rounds through it l...maybe 100 or so).  I think he was more amazed I knew how to take it apart to check the springs/bolt, ect.  Anywho i left without it.  Mostly cause I'm an idiot.  Lol.

I guess my main question is, is $990 (plus tax... so around $1075OTD) a fair price for a DE in 50ae?  Is me asking $1k cash OTD to "low balling" (puts it around $925).

Next, since I've been out of the game for 20 years of DE, is there any good upgrades for these guns.  Trigger, springs, ect.   I've thought about just bringing it out and getting it TiN coated (maybe do a play on the tiger stripes)  anyone done that? I do reload, so I will be shooting this gun ALOT in 50AE and 357.

Thank you for all the info, much appreciated.

From what I remember back when I had mine, the only "mod" you could do was the hogue runner grips, which were a huge plus to have.  Only other thing I remember is I had alot of the recoil springs on hand. Lol.  Past that, the gun I had shot everything without issue.  The only change is since we have a few 357s, but all revolves, I'd like to try the DE in 357.  The 10" barrel was never a "thing" for me, but I did hear they stopped making them, which would make me want 1 just for that reason

I would start at $900 out the door if I was making offers.

I was really debating this price to be honest but wasnt sure if that was "get the fuck out of my store"  low.  I am confident they didnt give the person anywhere near the price they are asking.

They probably gave $600 tops. It all depends on how long it has been there.

Must be your areas, cause a DE50 for 1K is unheard of here.  All 1200+ used.

for the most part, DE50s usually go for about that here, but you will find a sub 1k one out there if you wait long enough.

I would say anything sub 1K for a 50 cal DE is pretty good. When I bought mine a few years ago that was pretty much the going rate. New ones seemed to be $1500+, and some used ones that were not very old were 1200-1300. But most older ones were around 1k. You could sometimes find older beat up ones for less.
If it has a pic rail on the barrel, it is a newer one, as the older ones had only two slots (like mine). I actually prefer the looks of the older 2 slot barrels as opposed to the new pic rail versions, even is the pic rail is more useful.

And to clarify, there actually are Mk VII 50AE's out there. They were not made long before the switch to Mk XIX. When the 50AE first came out, they had to change the barrel profile and slide size/profile to fit the larger caliber. The Mk VII 50AE's were marked with the caliber on the slide. They quickly changed the whole product line over to the new larger profile barrel and slide for all calibers to streamline production and make it to where caliber swaps could be easy. They then moved the caliber markings from the slide to the barrels (since the guns were now made to use multiple calibers).

So if you have/see a 50AE desert eagle and the SLIDE is marked with 50AE, then you have a Mk VII 50AE. If you have/see a 50AE and there is NO caliber marking on the slide, and it is instead, on the barrel, you have a MK XIX.
The Mk VII 50AE pistols share all parts and interchangeability with the Mk XIX.

Mine is a older Mk VII 50AE.

I didnt realize I took a pic of it, but it's a MK XIX as it has the pic rail on top.   The 1 I had last time looked just like yours.

A few thoughts,  if your thinking 50AE keep in mind .50 cal FMJ bullets are very pricey so no matter what 50AE is going to be very pricey shooting. I doubt you will easily find once fired brass, so you will probably have to buy new. Starline brass is excellent, and very reasonably priced. You also have to buy dies (another $45+) .  When I was ready to purchase  DE I was on the fence either 44 or 50AE , but for me where I already owned a S&W 460XVR , the 50AE really didn't make much sense. I ended up going with a .44 mag in satin chrome. I can tell you this the DE's get VERY dirty quickly so I would advise staying away from the expensive "bling" type coatings. My chrome version is a piece 'o cake to clean. I didn't want the risk of buying used, not to mention used DE's were non-existant when I was looking, and I DON'T do Gunstroker sales. I bought mine special order from a local guy and he gave me a decent deal at $1660 OTD including FFL fees and shipping. No regrets on buying the 44 as it is a little less expensive to reload, and components are readily available. Your used price of around $1K seems like a great price. I highly doubt many rounds were fired as most all people buy a DE, realized how expensive they are to shoot and sell em off.

As far as price goes, yeah, that's why I think if i show up with $100 Bill's i can get it cheaper. Mostly cause i know they didnt pay much fornthat gun (ill guess around 500-600).

As far as feeding it, since I reload, I'll prob make 500 rounds at a time for 50AE.  That will prob last me atleast a year or 2.  I will want to find the parts to do a 357 conversion as we have ALOT of 357 stuff (that we dont shoot anymore) so it would be a great dual round handgun.

Midway had some decent deals on 50 bullets recently. I saw them when I was looking to see what was available for my 500. Think there were some speer bullets that were a solid deal if their rebate is still going.

I paid about 1300 (nib) out the door for a brushed chrome desert eagle here in UT.

It was a "too much inventory" sale, and the desert eagle model had just been updated.

I found out recently about the model thing, i guess in 2017 they changed the rear sight position.
(Found out when looking to order a mount for my RMR sight).

I knew i would like the gun, i did not know i would fall in love with it!
An Absolute hoot to shoot!

Another FYI in regards to all DE's is do NOT plan on loading cast lead bullets to save money. Cast lead will eventually clog the gas ports in the barrel and there is NO way to clean and clear the ports if this happens. It's $600 for a replacement barrel !

So the more I thought about it,  would be better in the long run to buy a DE in 357 and try a 50ae conversion kit?

Reason I ask is because it seems there are tons of 50ae kits available but 0 357 lots.

Also, of I was to get the DE 357, what version(s) would work for the 50ae conversion kits?

You would want a Mark XIX. Then all you would need is a barrel, bolt, and magazine to convert to 50.
I have a 50 and 44 barrel for mine and would love to have a 357 barrel and bolt.

Best deal I've seen on NIB Mark XIX with 2 calibers.  Though, you're right, 357 conversion kits appear to be hard to find.  Be careful on the 50AE kits, as well.  They might assume you have a .44 model and don't include a bolt

Bud's Gun Shop

I purchased a 357/44/50 matched set that cycles great in all calibers.  But, I have a distaste for the 357, due to what I believe is the amount of gas used to cycle the gun.  It might be an ammo selection thing, and requires more testing, but it burns my hand where the gas vents under the barrel.

The Hogue rubber grips come in 2 versions:  one with a finger-groove wrap-around the front, and one that doesn't have the front wrap-around.  Both are rubber side-panels with rubber back-strap cover.  It's personal preference, hand-size, etc.  I have 1 of each, and for shooting, I prefer the front finger-groove wrap-around.  but for looks, the one without the front wrap-around probably looks cooler.

I think $1K for a gently used 50AE is a good price,  seems like you found a good deal on a Mk XIX 50, might be hard to find an equally good deal on a 357 XIX.  Yeah, it's a crap-shoot, luck-of-the-draw.  Also, with Black Friday coming up, usually Magnum Research has maybe 10% (or more) off, you could pick up the 357 bolt and 357 Integral Muzzle Brake (IMB) 6" barrel a-la-carte, new.  and get the 357 mags as opportunistic pricing presents itself.  IMHO, the IMB does make a difference.  My 44MAG IMB is actually a pleasant shooter, my 50AE IMB is still pretty wicked.

I put a Trijicon MRO on one of my barrels, and a RMR on another barrel.  The larger-window MRO is actually nice for shooting on the DE, easier red-dot sight-picture acquisition than the smaller-windowed RMR, given the DE not-Glock-17 recoil.  AFAIK, the Larue RMR mount is the lowest of the QD mounts, lower than the ADM.  The Trijicon 2-bolt picatinny RMR mount doesn't work on the DE quasi-Weaver-Picatinny top rail, spacing is off, DE top rail is not true picatinny.

ETA: I sent an email to MAGLULA in Israel, suggesting they make a mag loader for the DE, maybe compatible with Coonan 357.  Actually got a reply back to the effect of not-happening-anytime-soon.  I did pick up one of those 3D-printed DE-specific mag-loading aids, works halfway decent, better than just my thumb.

The .357 magnum round needs to be full powered, (semi/fully) jacketed ammo for it to cycle the DEP reliability. The issue is the market is saturated with low recoil/low powered rounds, even the expensive hollowpoint defensive rounds. It makes sense given the revolver market is popular with female shooters with compact revolvers that just might be too much recoil and flash with a full powered round. With that said, you may need to go online to buy reliable ammunition that will cycle the DEP.

.44 magnums don't suffer from this variety in ammo. As for the .50AE, I never seen a low powered type as the round is specifically designed for the DEP.

Personally I have a .357 magnum DEP, and yes originally I bought a .50AE as my first handgun that I eventually sold because it was just too expensive and too loud for me. I have a lot more childhood nostalgia involved with the .357 DEP that was popular in films like Robocop and Universal Soldiers.