Lightweight Desert Eagle .50AE/.44/.357 + Kahr Comp Guns – SHOT Show 2015

in Jacob Epstein, SHOT Show 2015

Updated: January 29, 2015 BY Jacob Epstein

Kahr Arms and their subsidiary, Magnum Research, brought quiet a few new offerings to the table for 2015. Two guns that truly stood out in the sea of guns we call SHOT Show were the Gen 2 Premium Line TP9 and the Magnum Research Desert Eagle L5.

This TP9 is all decked out. Could Kahr be making a serious run at the competition market? Looks like a good start.

The Gen 2 Premium Line is exactly what it sounds like. Kahr has revitalized the Premium Line of pistols, but they didn’t just make a minor change here for the sake of marketing. This is not boring product creep; they have redesigned these pistols to truly optimize base-line performance for everything from competition to concealed carry.

Gen 2 reforms start with the frame of the pistols, where Kahr has added molded in rails, more aggressive texturing, and a reversible magazine release. The trigger system has been reworked giving the pistol 30% less trigger travel as well as an integrated trigger safety for added confidence in carrying. The slides of the Pistols are built with tighter tolerances, and now have forward cocking serrations. They leave the factory with TruGlo fiber optic nights sight and have an option for mounting micro red dot sights on the completion models.

For me the epitome of the Gen 2 Premium Line is the TP9; it embodies all of the new Premium Line features in a small concealed-carry package and is a gun that is hard to ignore. Pricing has not been released just yet, but we can predict they will try and stay around the Gen 1 Premium Line prices–sub $800.

The new DE looks different, for sure. There’s more mass cut out of the barrel.

The Newest Eagle

The Desert Eagle L5 is a brand new offering,so new that the guys working the booth had never even seen the gun before arriving to the show. Little information was available other than a few basics I was able to extract from their marketing team.

The L5 is designed to be the smallest and lightest Desert Eagle to date. It will be available in .50 AE, .44 magnum, and .357 magnum chamberings later this year–and the gun will be modular. With three barrels (and maybe just two bolts) you can have all three. In the process of shaving pounds off of this pistol, the folks at Magnum Research have utilized a lightweight alloy frame, and a heavily milled slide and barrel assembly. The barrel has been reduced to 5 inches and is also internally ported to help combat recoil and muzzle rise. The L5 comes in at nearly half the weight of the 4.5 pound standard Desert Eagle, but the final weight and specifications have yet to be released. Keep watching in coming months, as these are two pistols we can’t help but request for testing.

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