Help Identify Baby Eagle

[WheelMan]

I recently purchased as used baby eagle from the local shop. (expect an initial range report soon)

I'm not too well versed in the history of these guns so I thought somebody here could help me out. First, here are the various stampings that can be seen on the gun.

on the right side:

MADE IN ISRAEL H3

WARNING READ MANUAL BEFORE OPERATING

MAGNUM RESEARCH INC
MPLS MN USA

on the left side:

DESERT EAGLE PISTOL
ISRAEL MILITARY INDUSTRIES LTD (IMI)

My understanding is that when they stopped stamping it "Jericho" they started stamping it "baby eagle" but this one says neither.

It's a semi-compact in .40cal

Any ideas about era of manufacture?

Also, it came with two magazines, 10-rounders with red plastic followers, one of them (just one) is stamped with a T in a triangle (Tanfoglio?) Do you suppose these were the original magazines sold with the gun?

Thanks

 

[PCRCCW]

If its the Decocker on the slide all steel version with a 3.93" barrel its one of these:
.40 S&W "Baby" Desert Eagle Pistol, short barrel, slide safety, decocker Model # MR9400RS

Jericho guns and Beagles are the same gun...Jericho made a model or two with the frame mounted safeties...my personal fav. as they are more CZ like in their cloning process.

I highly suspect you got a transisional gun.....before Jericho put their own name on the Tan. made guns.

Great little gun.....Ive made a few holsters for them. I like the square trigger guard and full length dust cover alot.

Shoot well and hope this helped.

 

[WheelMan]

It is the all-steel decocker on slide version.

I really like this gun. I shot the tighest group I've ever shot with an automatic the first 10 times I pulled the trigger. ( I should qualify that by saying I haven't shot an automatic much) that being a group about an inch and a half wide and 3 inches tall at 25 feet. (need to line up those dots better ). I went on to shoot a touching group of five (three of them nearly the same hole) at 15 feet. Considering this was the first 15 rounds I'd fired from the gun and the first time I'd ever fired a Jerico/CZ/Witness or a .40cal and that first group included the DA first shot I was very pleased.

PCRCCW (or any others in the know) since you're a knowledgeable sort with CZ's and their brothers maybe you can help me with the one problem I've had with this gun.

I'll just list the symptoms.

Using 180gr Winchester whitebox it fails to lock the slide back on the last round. Everytime so far.

Using 165gr Winchester whitebox it mostly fails to lock the slide back but will catch maybe 1 out of 4 times.

Using 135gr Fed. Hydra-shocks it always locks the slide back (only tried that about 6 times)

Three times I've fired a magazine of 165gr Win as fast as possible, two of those times the slide lock caught in the middle of the magazine. (haven't tried it with any other ammo)

Wedging an obstruction under one end of the slide catch spring (so as to remove most of the tension from the slide stop) fixes the failure to lock back on the last round.

When the slide fails to lock you can feel it catch momentarily and then go forward.

Sometimes (maybe 1 in 5) when the slide has failed to stop back on the last round it is impossible (or maybe very difficult, I didn't yank too hard) to rack the slide again without first removing the magazine.

The gun behaves identically with both of the magazines I described above.

Here's the conundrum. The "won't lock back" problem would seem to call for lessening the tension on the slide catch spring, but the "locks back in the middle of a mag" problem would seem to be fixed by more tension. That the lighter bullets do lock the slide back more makes me think it is an issue of slide velocity.

Okay there it all is, any ideas?

 

[WheelMan]

I'll go first


According to my chrono data the 165gr white box has more momentum than the federal ( I don't have chrono data for the 180 grain yet).

A bullet with more momentum should positively correlate to a slide with more velocity. That it ejects shells in to a low but stable orbit around the earth supports this. So maybe the slide velocity is so fast with the heavier rounds that it's jumping out of the slide catch slot on the slide. (this could be aggravated by a slide stop with insufficient tension) So maybe a heavier recoil spring is in order in addition to either adjustment or replacement of the slide stop spring?

 

[PCRCCW]

Hey...good day. Id say Wheelman is on the right track. The slide not locking back..especially when it just catch's and then releases...kinda like reverse fishing in a way Id say velocity limiting the travel on the recoil impulse is the problem.
I dont know its a weak recoil spring or one thats got plenty of spring in it and the 135's have enough powder/pressure to get the velocity up to where it needs to be to make it work correctly. Make sense?

Wheelman is giving the possibility of the slide "bouncing". At the end of the cycle and coming back to fast to catch properly. I agree with that possibility..but cant say. IMO, it may be the other way also..the spring may have enough tension the lighter loaded heavier bullets may not send it back fast/far enough as the 135 Feds are loaded to higher pressures over the heavier loads......

With my shock buffs in place on my CZ SA...the slide wont lock back when they are new. But they will when Ive ran a couple of hundred rounds through the gun. Or Ive gotten it to lock back with Corbon +P's every time..even when its the first shot with a new buff.
Its done the catch and release with Win White Box before....but shooting it more helps everytime. Thus the "strong recoil spring" theory.

I wont rule out the possibility of mag probs/springs being an issue either.
The way the bullets profile/size changes with the different weights. 180 gr bullets have a long truncated nose and hang up on the inside of some mags....using them will lessen this effect. The 135's are a shorter nose design and may not contribute to problem at all. They are also lighter and the spring has to work less hard to work correctly, relating to the recoil springs timing and letting the next round chamber and locking the slide back.

Either way..Id do this. Right now...nothing. Get 2-300 more rounds through it before you do anything....parts is parts and although most of the time, they really dont require breaking in" that much. It may be all you need to resolve the problem. If its a strong recoil spring..it will settle in and should continue to improve functioning. If its a weak spring..it will do what it is now and get worse....Order a new Wolff spring just in case...it never hurts to have an extra around. A Witness Compact 20# is perfect for the little 40.

Shoot it and let us know what happens.
Shoot well.

 

[Fulliautomatix]

Checking in with a new MR/IMI Desert Eagle as well... in 9mm.

It's marked similarly to Wheelman's... neither "Baby Eagle" or "Jericho"

I haven't had a chance to measure the barrel yet... but it appears to be the compact model. The safety is on the frame and there is no decocker function.

Does anyone know of an online resource to figure out date of manufacture for this pistola?

 

[MoNsTeR]

Incidentally, "DESERT EAGLE PISTOL" is the normal marking. To my knowledge, none have ever been stamped with the word "baby".

 

[Fulliautomatix]

I found a picture of one that is identical to mine...

It's a very solid piece, no rattles at all when shaken. I'll have a chance to take it to the range tomorrow or Friday.

 

[Black Snowman]

I've seen them with Baby Eagle and Uzi Eagle engraved on the slide in big letters and filled with white. Pretty gaudy stuff. I've never paid any attention to the "real" stampings on the slide and frame.

 

[Fulliautomatix]

Interestingly enough.. the markings on this piece are there... but not obvious, it took two or three good looks to find the markings the first time around!

 

[WheelMan]

Fulliautomatix,

Call up Magnum Research (their number in on their web page ) I spoke with one of the gunsmiths and he was able to tell me when they imported the gun based on the serial number.

I suppose if you call up IMI you might get the manufacture date, but I don't know what long distane to israel would be.

 

[Fulliautomatix]

Wow... the folks at MR are on the ball, I emailed them the SN this morning and they have already responded with the date of import, the date of original sale... and that the pistol I have is a MR9900FSS

Thanks for the help everyone!

 

[WheelMan]

Yeah, I'm very impressed with MR so far. I called them a couple days ago and was very surprized that an actual person answered the phone (I was expecting a machine and was in the middle of saying "...crapped your pants" to my buddy when she picked up, only slightly embarrising" ). Anyway she transfered me to their gunsmith... no waiting for that either. Everyone was very nice. It was probably the best customer service experience I've had with anybody about anything.


Wait, check that, it has to be second to Power Custom, now those guys are great to deal with, but MR was close!