{"id":192558,"date":"2022-02-26T17:00:05","date_gmt":"2022-02-26T23:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gunmagwarehouse.com\/blog\/?p=192558"},"modified":"2026-01-06T12:46:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T18:46:16","slug":"deagle-reacher-and-his-hand-cannon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gunmagwarehouse.com\/blog\/deagle-reacher-and-his-hand-cannon\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Damn Deagle: Reacher and His Hand Cannon"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Amazon announced a Reacher series, I was intrigued but cautious. I’m a fan of the books. Don’t get me wrong, I haven’t read all eight million of them, but I spent a lot of time following Reacher’s adventures, in print and on the screen. I’ve watched Tom Cruise movies \u2014 I just couldn’t believe Tom Cruise was supposed to be the looming, six-foot-five Deagle-wielding giant that author Lee Child wrote Jack Reacher to be. <\/p>\n

\"Cruise<\/div>\n

When I watched the trailer, I was comforted seeing fellow six-foot-something Alan Ritchson portraying Reacher as the giant he’s supposed to be. Listen, us big guys don’t seem to get a lot of action heroes anymore. Most of the time, we are the bad guy’s henchmen, not the star.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"tom
Reacher Mini-Me? Good old five-foot-seven Tom Cruise is no Jack Reacher.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To see a fellow big-king on the screen as the good guy made my heart warm, and it meant that the creators of the show paid attention.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Jack
Now that <\/em>beast of a man is a REACHER! <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As Reacher states several times in the series, details matter. In fact, the whole show captures Reacher right. He’s a giant but smart, and he’s also brutal. Reacher in the show fights like Reacher in the books, with knees and elbows, head butts, and dirty tricks. He’ll shoot and stab you in the back to win. It’s not a game of honor with Reacher.<\/p>\n

One of the details they got right was the gun Reacher packs. Well, mostly right. Right enough to matter.<\/p>\n

“Deagle” Desert Eagle<\/h2>\n

A Not-So-Subtle Hand Cannon<\/h3>\n

In the third episode, “Spoonful,” Reacher is asking for a gun. Something’s not right in the town of Margrave, and he’s partnered with Officer Roscoe to figure it out. In a moment of being pissed off at the looming threat, Roscoe finally relents and gives him a gun.<\/p>\n

She pulls down a wooden box and talks about how a man named Gray left it to her. Gray was like a father to her, and the gun means a lot. When she opens the top, the gun is revealed to be a Desert Eagle. Reacher remarks, “That’s not what you call a subtle weapon.”<\/p>\n

\"Desert
The Desert Eagle, often referred to as the Deagle, <\/em>is not a subtle weapon. Which suits Reacher just fine. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He’s not lying. The Desert Eagle, specifically the Mark XIX model in the box, is not subtle. It’s 4.4 pounds of stainless steel that’s 10.75 inches long and packs eight rounds of .44 Magnum<\/a>. The Desert Eagle is a legend in film and TV with over six hundred appearances on film.<\/p>\n

The massive pistol is one of the few automatic pistols to chamber magnum-level revolver cartridges. While Reacher wields a 44 Magnum variant, the weapon comes in .357 Magnum<\/a>, as well as .50 Action Express<\/a> and .429 DE. In the past, Magnum Research chambered the weapon in .440 Cor-Bon and .41 Magnum as well.<\/p>\n

It’s Got Gas!<\/h2>\n

The Desert Eagle doesn’t use a traditional handgun operating mechanism. It’s a gas-operated gun, much like a rifle. A gas port sits on the barrel in front of the chamber, and this ports gas through a small tube under the barrel. The gas hits a small piston which then pushes the slide rearward and creates the semi-automatic function of the weapon.<\/p>\n

The gun sports a single action trigger and massive firing pin blocking ambidextrous safety. Magazine capacity varies by caliber, with the gun holding as many as nine rounds and as few as seven.<\/p>\n

\"Desert
You can toss an optic on if you’d like.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Mark XIX represents Magnum Research’s latest model, and Reacher’s is equipped with a six-inch barrel. That’s standard, and a ten-inch extended barrel exists as well. Across the top sits a Picatinny rail for optics across the top.<\/p>\n

Details Matter<\/h2>\n

Reacher outright describes the weapon as not subtle in the show. In the Killing Floor<\/em> book, he thinks the exact same thing, as his Desert Eagle is even less subtle. It’s still a .44 Magnum but sports the much longer fourteen-inch barrel.<\/p>\n

This makes it a Mark VII, which was produced with six, ten, and fourteen-inch barrels. A fourteen-inch barrel is absurd and would be insane to have in the show. The Desert Eagle is already a huge gun, and Reacher packs it more than once in a concealed manner. I really didn’t mind them going with the standard model. Details matter, but I don’t think Lee Child has ever handled a Desert Eagle with a fourteen-inch barrel.<\/p>\n

\"Desert
The Desert Eagle from the book is a bit bigger than the Deagle on the show. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the show, we do see that the Desert Eagle has some recoil to it. Reacher seemingly always uses two hands and never gets in a huge running gunfight where he’s forced to fire one-handed while leaping through the air with perfect control. The only time I remember him shooting the weapon one-handed was when he shot at a post to test the weapon.<\/p>\n

Heck, Reacher even reloads it. I always appreciate a reload.<\/p>\n

The Other Guns in Reacher<\/h2>\n

This isn’t a gun-heavy show per se. It has a lot of intrigue, a fair bit of melee fighting, and more. However, there are a few guns I feel are worth mentioning.<\/p>\n

First, the Margrave PD is most certainly a small and underfunded police Department. They still rock and roll with the always cool S&W Third Gen automatic pistols, specifically the S&W 5946. The S&W 5946 is the double-action-only, safety-removed model of the 5906<\/a> series. Not my S&W 3rd Gen favorite by any means, but still a solid pistol.<\/p>\n

\"Reacher
Reacher reloads with the best of ’em…even with it comes to those great big Deagle mags. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the book, they carried .38 Special revolvers, but no model is ever given. It’s safe to say they could be any number of Colt or S&W revolvers. Child published in 1997, so revolvers would have been appropriate for a small, underfunded police department. In many ways, an all-metal DAO pistol would be an appropriate replacement for a small, underfunded police department in 2022.<\/p>\n

FBI Agent Picard uses the Sig Sauer P232. The P232 is essentially a slightly larger Walther PPK. It’s been discontinued but is a really cool pistol. In the series, Agent Picard uses what’s described as a short barrel .38 special.<\/p>\n

Sadly, one gun missing from Reacher is the Ithaca Mag 10 Roadblocker shotgun. This massive semi-auto ten gauge shotgun was all up in the book but never popped up in the show, sadly. It’s a really cool shotgun that’s chambered in a massive caliber.<\/p>\n

\"Jack
Reacher kills quite a few folks with the old “Deagle” Desert Eagle, though they don’t refer to it as such in the show.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“No.”<\/h2>\n

Amazon’s Reacher nails it. They nail the character, the plot, the style, and they do it very well. Sure there are some changes from the novel, but it’s still a damn good show. I love the characters the intrigue, and it even introduces characters who will likely pop up again like Neagley. Check it out, and if you already have, let us know what you think below.
\n\t

\n
\n

Shop This Article<\/h2>\n <\/div>\n
\n