desert eagle 44mag optic options?

Amazi · Oct 20, 2017

Just ordered a 44mag barrel for it and I want to get ether a scope or red dot. I used to own a smith 460 with a simmons scope and it destroyed it before I could even zero it in. Don't want to make the same mistake buying something that wont work on it. I know there has to be something that will take the abuse from it.
This will be for hunting only for now.

Fishhog · Oct 20, 2017

I would probably go with a EER Leupold. They stand behind their products, and they are tough.

Dawico · Oct 20, 2017

I had no problems with the Leupold I had on my 44 Magnum revolver. I did put three scope rings on it though just so it wouldn't move.

LOCKHART · Oct 20, 2017

I have a Burris 2x on my Smith .500, bought it used at McBrides in Austin. Used Leupold mount & rings. Got over 100 rounds of heavy loads through it and nothing has shifted so far.

Amazi · Oct 20, 2017

I was reading there seems to be a lot of mixed reviews with new luepolds and bad poor build qualities. not sure if its people abusing there stuff or there not there build quality has gone down hill.

Mikewood · Oct 20, 2017

You have a few options.
2x Leupold.
Mil spec Aimpoint.
Trigicon RMR.

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benenglish · Oct 20, 2017

Amazi said:
I used to own a smith 460 with a simmons scope and it destroyed it before I could even zero it in.

Dawico said:
I did put three scope rings on it though just so it wouldn't move.

One thing to keep in mind is that bad scopes fail by themselves but bad mounting jobs will kill the best scope in the world.

Personally, I've mounted lots of optics on lots of hard-kicking handguns but I've never been able to predict what combination of factors will kill a scope. For example, we know that airguns feel like they have no recoil but, depending on the design, they can kill scopes quickly. OTOH, bullseye shooters put fairly inexpensive Aimpoints atop the slides of 1911s and let those things slam back and forth for untold thousands of rounds without failure. Note that I'm not saying that Aimpoints are indestructible, just that if they're going to fail they tend to fail quickly. The ones that last, which is most of them, seem to stand up to all that slapping back and forth with aplomb.

The Desert Eagle doesn't mount the optics to anything that reciprocates and it's one big, heavy beast. In .44, it's not a bad kicker. So I guess the question comes down to:

Amazi - Do you want a scope or a red dot? Is there a budget limitation?

Personally, I wouldn't hesitate to move my Aimpoint Micro H-1 to a .44 Desert Eagle. I'm sure you'd prefer to get the newer H-2 but I like my old red dot very, very much. Right now it's showing no signs of impending failure even though it's mounted on a .35 Remington pistol that is, shall we say, not exactly gentle in the recoil department.

LOCKHART · Oct 21, 2017

I have an old Bushnell 2x7 that I've had for 23 years. It's been on a Ruger Redhawk .44 mag, a Desert Eagle in .44 mag, .440 Cor-bon, and .50AE. It's now on a matt chrome Desert Eagle in .50AE. I have had no problems with it. I use the Magum Research mount that clamps and roll pinned to the top of the barrel. I use Warne rings. It's been flawless so far.

LOCKHART · Oct 21, 2017

I did try a cheapie red dot on it. It lasted 3 shots before it came apart. No more red dots for me.

Dawico · Oct 21, 2017

LOCKHART said:
I did try a cheapie red dot on it. It lasted 3 shots before it came apart. No more red dots for me.

It sounds like your opinion of all red dots is based on that one experience.

LOCKHART · Oct 21, 2017

Not really, I've got an old Bushnell Holo-sight that would probly take the abuse, but since they are no longer made, I'm not gonna take the chance. I use it on some of my IHMSA pistols.

LOCKHART · Oct 21, 2017

Apparently the guy that designed the Holo-sight for Bushnell decided to take his design to Eotech and left Bushnell in the dust. Its the same design, so I assume that's what happened. Eotech did some design changes, such as placing the batteries sideways to get away from recoil battering the springs that held batteries in place against their contacts. And raising the price about 200 hundred dollars over the Bushnell price.

benenglish · Oct 21, 2017

LOCKHART said:
Apparently the guy that designed the Holo-sight for Bushnell decided to take his design to Eotech and left Bushnell in the dust. Its the same design, ...

What was incredibly cool was when Bushnell dumped their final inventory and, for a short while, you could pick up a Holo-sight for $39 or $49. It's been a long time and I don't remember the exact price but I remember thinking that I could have probably dug that much out of my couch.

I regret only buying one.

LOCKHART · Oct 21, 2017

Wow! Wish I had known that, Ben. Woulda bought two! I paid 285.00 for one I do have.

benenglish · Oct 21, 2017

LOCKHART said:
Wow! Wish I had known that, Ben. Woulda bought two! I paid 285.00 for one I do have.

Well, that was the normal price until Bushnell had to dump their final inventory. IIRC, I bought mine at a gun show in Houston where there were hundreds of them piled high on the tables of a single vendor. The thought that ran through my mind was "Well, if Bushnell has taken these things out of their catalog and dumped their inventory on a liquidator, it must be a failed product. There must be something wrong with the basic concept/design. But it looks interesting and for this price, I can afford to take a flyer on one even if it's a waste of money."

Imagine my surprise when the exact same product started showing up in ads a few months later with the EOTech name and at a price substantially higher than what Bushnell charged.

Retail pricing is weird but that's too crazy a tangent to pursue.

LOCKHART · Oct 21, 2017

Yeah, and Bushnell offered a 2x magnifier for the Holo-sight. Don't know if Eotech has one for theirs or not.

Amazi · Oct 21, 2017

Where i live it sucks, for we don't really have a good retailer that has a good selection of scopes on hand so I ether have to order one and hope I like it or drive an hour one way just to check them out if they have any on hand. Last time I was getting one for my stupid 460, they only had two kinds on hand.
I like the Burris fastfire 2 but a leupold 2x wouldn't be a bad choice ether.

TheDan · Oct 24, 2017

Amazi said:
I used to own a smith 460 with a simmons scope and it destroyed it before I could even zero it in.

I've got a Leupold on my BFR and really dig it. It doesn't kick as much as your S&W 460 would have. The Desert Eagle in .44 is softer still...

LOCKHART said:
I did try a cheapie red dot on it. It lasted 3 shots before it came apart. No more red dots for me.

You won't break an RMR.

benenglish said:
it must be a failed product. There must be something wrong with the basic concept/design.

Turns out there was, but doubt if they knew about it at the time.

LOCKHART said:
Yeah, and Bushnell offered a 2x magnifier for the Holo-sight. Don't know if Eotech has one for theirs or not.

They do.

desert eagle 44mag optic options?

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