I am looking at purchasing a Desert Eagle .44 mag.  I'm not too familiar with them and have a few questions:

1.  What is the difference between the steel and alum frames?
2.  How do you tell the diff?
3.  Are these reliable guns? if not, why?
4.  What is a reasonable price for excellent condition gun?
5.  Any problems I should be aware of?

Thanks,

fuatos

I would not recommend it. The .44 revolver would be a better choice.
1) It is picky about ammo, to work that heavy slide, it needs to be high powered.
2) They do not recommend lead tip bullets because the lead gets into the gas system.
  On the good side, the steel model really reduces recoil, the weight and action make recoil more smooth than a revolver or single shot. It does have a interesting backblast.
[pistol]
It also gets a lot of looks at the range, and is a lot louder than most other pistols.

I dig the heck out of mine.  SS is right in that they need full load ammo to work but wrong about lead tip or exposed lead on the tip of the  bullet.  It's the base that has to be covered or gas checks used.  The lead will boil of the base of the bullet and will be deposited in the gas system and there is no way to clean it out.

1. The differnce between the steel and aluminum  frames is the material they are made out of.  The steel framed one is a tad (couple of ozs.) heavier.

2. The only steel framed ones I'm aware of are the stainless steel framed ones (like mine) and that is pretty obvious. They are 'in the white' (silvery colored).

3. Mine has never malfunctioned accept on some light reloads that my brother made for his revolver.

4. I paid a little over $700 for mine (MARK VII I think) about 5  years ago (stainless, adjustable sights).

5. Some models don't have the adjustable trigger (pre MARK VII I think).  Don't palm the magazine when firing.  The grip is big. Try one on for size first.  

I like mine alot.

I love mine.  I shoot mostly middle-of-the-road stuff, neither super light nor super heavy, and I have never had a problem with any ammo I've used in my DE.  The two-stage trigger is awesome and the gun is way more accurate than I am.

Halfcocked got one hell of a deal.  I bought a regular black-oxide Mk VII with fixed sights for about $725 several years ago, and I *thought* I had gotten a great deal.  But a stainless for $700?  DANG!

It is big, but kick-in-the-pants fun.  It may not be the most practical choice, but there are few cooler ones!  I have never regretted getting it, and I don't think you would either.

I wouldn't worry about the difference between alum and all steel.  And I think that anything under $700 for a used but great-condition Mk VII would be a decent deal.  The newer Mk XIX's, besides being more expensive, all use the .50 frame (which is bigger and more unwieldy imo), so unless you have big hands, you owe it to yourself to at least feel the difference between the 2 series.  My $.02