Hello,

I have been shooting my 50 AE desert eagle for about 3 months now. I have about 150 rounds through it as of today. I also purchased a leupold M8 2X pistol scope that i have mounted. I bore sighted it in and took it to the range to get the final sights. Two weeks ago i was shooting at 35-40 yds and got Ok groupings 10-12 inches...well i was able to finally hit the target as the gun is getting easier and easier to shoot. Today i backed my target up to 50 yds and it seems like every shot i fired dropped. I was getting about 6-7 inches of drop from 50 yds out with my desert eagle which didnt seem right. I am looking at my gear and i have a few thoughts. Let me know what you guys think and if you have any suggestions to offer.

1. Stance i am pretty solid here i have my arms stretch out supported on a bin so there is no movement.

2. Bullets. I am shooing rainer bullets that are about 1/2 the cost of speer bullets when it comes to reloading. Since there is no loading data for them i have been using Hordnady bullet data, that would propel the bullet @ around 1350 FPS. Could the cheaper bullet be the problem?

3. Scope settings. I seem to be a little on the slow end. I would fire 3 shots and give the gun a 5 min break and then 3 more shots. I checked and the shots were hitting low. I turned the Scope to the highest setting for hight...to the far max for U as noted on the scope and shots were still shooting low. If i turn towards the D does that lower my bullets point of impact?

Thats about all i can think of. I will be ordering some speer bullets in hopes that it will help with accuracy, vs the rainer bullets.

Should i move in closer maybe 25 yds until i can continually hit dead center and then slowly work my way out? Thanks for any help you guys can provide.

Sam

i would start at 25 see where its at. make sure your rest is solid make sure scope is on tite. u is for up and should rise bullet impact .and D should lower it.

Sam,

Stick with 25 yards until you are consistent, point of aim, point of impact (POA-POI).
1. stance: are you resting the barrel on the bin, or just your wrists?
2. bullets: the Rainier bullets are made for a max velocity in the range up to 1200-1400 fps. If you exceed that, the bullets may be fragmenting. This does not mean that they will shoot low, just randomly. I use them in my 50AEs but keep the vels. to 1400 fps or less, with great results. I've used the HPs hunting whitetails with good results.
3.scope: most boresighters, not necessarily the lasers, are not made for short guns (handguns). They're OK for windage adjustments but not for elevation. Also, if the scope is mounted properly, and rings are secured to the scope and the gun (no movement), you should not have to travel the extremes of your scope turret settings (windage or elevation). I assume that your 50AE has the Picatinny / Weaver rail integral with the barrel. It is possible that your scope is defective, not allowing adjustment and repeatability. You may need to try a different scope, after inspection of the rings.

Your rounds should'nt drop that much from 25 to 50 yards at 1350 fps. Are you using magnum pistol primers? What powder and how much? I use H110 (WW296), 30.2 grains, Win large pistol mag primer, Speer brass, Rainier 335 gr TMJTC/HP bullet. In my FA 71/2" revolver I'm getting 1400 fps., 1 -1 1/2" at 50 yards, with an IOR Micro Red Dot optic. This load is slightly compressed, making the powder a little more difficult to ignite. If you get inadequate ignition / incomplete or inconsistent burn of your powder, you will be tossing whiffle balls. However, you would be able to tell that from the report (recoil, etc.)of the round.
Hope that helps!

Doc

Hey thanks for the response.

1. I rest my fore arms on the bin. Its just a bin they have bolted to one of the beams used at the range. I lean on that for stability and i am pretty stable. I cant use shot sticks or a regular bag becuase the slide doesnt eject the mag or seat the next bulet correctly.

2. I am going to shoot to get everything consistant until i get the gun sighted in correctly powder bullets and charge.

3. The scope and rings are all mounted corretly. The last time i shot i had a little scope slip but i rebolted everything down and didnt have any movement this time.

That batch i shot were loaded with 30 grs of h110. CCI magnum primers starline brass, and 300 grain rainer hollow point. I havent had a miss fire from my AE loads yet. A few very hard kickers when i went to 33 grains, but nothing out of the ordinary. I will go to twenty five yards and give it another shot and make small adjustments from there. Pretty sure after frustration set in i will probably have to resight in the scope with the bore sight. I will let you know how it goes. Trying to get out to the range next week. Thanks.

Did you lock tite everything down?

I feel the problem is with the shooter, not the gun or scope.

How did your ammo group before you put your scope on?

As my father would say...I couldnt hit a bull in the azz with a banjo.

I think that was more because of the recoil and i was fairly new with the gun but have gotten quite used to it now. I havent tried the iron sights since i put the scope on. Especially at that distance. I have see through rings so i can use the iron sights.

Probably wont get back out to the range for two weeks. For some reason every 50 AE bullets seems to be sold out with th exception of the speer hollow point so that's what my round will be until i get this straightened out. I do however think in the end the issue may lie with me.

the see through rings my be a prob. but a good rest and trigger pull is king