Recently retired US Army MSG wondering if anyone is using Desert Eagle 50 AE for hunting.
Looking for guidance loads etc....

There's not too many choices on bullets, and it's not recommended to use cast bullets in the DE, so.... my thought would be to just work up a load from say the Speer manual with their bullet till you find something that is accurate.

Now, personally, I'd be tempted to try some gas-checked hard cast bullets out of curiousity.

In your case, rather than having an overwhelming choice of possible loads, the lack of components will make working up a load a simple proposition (it will either work with what you can find or it won't). What jacketed bullets can you find? There's the 325gr Speer... and ????

Not too many choices in powder either - ww296, H110, and 4227, maybe Lil'Gun if Hodgdon has data on their site.

Wound potential should be pretty good for any flat-nosed .50 bullet. Curious, what are you going to hunt?

Oh and welcome to the forum and thanks for your service to our country.

Thanks sir
20 yrs and 28 days (but who's counting RDRR)
I just have the hankering for handgunhunting,
will focus on hogs, black bear and whitetail deer...someday get out west/north for some big game.
Near term planning limited to my new AO
Wisconsin and Minn

Deer, hogs, and black bear - anything from the .44 mag on up should suit you just fine!

Do you already own a DE 50AE or are you considering a purchase? My .02 is that if you are considering a purchase to wait and try to get your hands on the new SW 500 unless you prefer an autoloader. I have hunted for quite a few years with the DE 50 taking both deer and hogs. The cartridge itself is an awesome round for hunting although bullet choices are limited. The drawback to the DE 50 is that it does have an awkward grip size. However, with practice, a lot of practice, the cartridge and the gun are very accurate in the right hands. Many shooters who have had these guns expect to be able to shoot it well their first time out and quickly sell it after a box or two of ammo and deem it as being more of a novelty instead of a serious hunting gun. Not true. I have found that the DE 50 has better accuracy than any auto loader that I own and its accuracy beats many of my revolvers. I recently acquired a SW 500 and love it also. I love it enough that the 454 casull raging bull and the encore are both up for sale. The DE 50 will never be sold. You can find load data for the 50AE at http://www.reloadammo.com/50loads.htm

Thanks Scout,
I spent my career as a Scout (MOS 19D)
Anyway...
I have the hope of being able to get into either the .50 AE or the 500. I handeled both and the DE feels too big in my hand. The 500 feels GREAT in my hand but way too front heavy.
Concern for me is I dont want to be flinching due to a recoil problem and I don't want to buy a powerful autoloader that will have feed/gas problems.

STILL< I WANT 'EM BOTH!!!
So sure I don't need them, but **** if they wont be fun.

How far can you accuratly hit something with the 6" bbl .50AE DE?

Then I would say the S&W .500 would be the way to go. You'll need that weight to help control that recoil. Adding a scope in good, solid mounts will help bring the balance back nearer the center of the 2 hand hold, so shouldn't be much of a problem if braced across the knees, a limb or a tree trunk. The only offhand shooting I attempt with a handgun is at fleeing rabbits. Everything else requires some sort of support for the arms. This being the case, the weight of the S&W in scoped version shouldn't present too much of a problem.

The heaviest handgun I've used for deer was a scoped T/C Contender with a 14" bbl (extra 2 1/4" muzzle brake for carbine legal when desired) in .35 Remington caliber. That was about all I wanted to handle, so take the above advice with a grain of salt.

Oh, yeah - got 2 mule deer with that combination.

The DE 50AE will consistently print groups of 1.5 inches or less at 25 yards. This is pretty amazing when you consider that the bullet is 1/2 inch wide. I personally will not take shots on game over 35 yards (open sights) since my vision just isn't what it used to be. I have a good friend who also shoots a DE 50 and I have seen him take hogs at 50 yards with open sights. You definitely do not want to shoot cast bullets in a DE since it is gas operated and this may clog the gas ports. The DE owner's manual gives warnings about this also, if I recall correctly. Before you buy a DE I would try to find someone near you who has one and see if they will let you shoot it. If I was going to buy only one 50 cal. handgun I would personally choose the SW 500 because it is cheaper than the DE 50 and in my opinion easier to shoot. I am not saying that it has less recoil. . .it is just a different kind of recoil because you do not have that massive slide slamming into the rear of the gun which in my opinion is half the difficulty in shooting the DE 50. I would also suspect that eventually, Marlin will chamber its guide gun in a SW500 -I know I would just have to have one.