IWI Jericho 941
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (April 2008) |
| Baby Eagle/Jericho 941 | |
|---|---|
 Jericho 941F | |
| Type | Semi-automatic pistol |
| Place of origin |  Israel |
| Service history | |
| Used by | IPCA Israel Colombian National Police RENEA ROKASWC |
| Production history | |
| Manufacturer | Israel Weapon Industries |
| Produced | 1990-present |
| Variants | See Variants |
| Specifications | |
| Cartridge | 9x19mm Parabellum .40 S&W .41 Action Express .45 ACP |
| Action | Short recoil |
| Feed system | Detachable box magazine |
| Sights | Fixed (Combat), or optional fully adjustable, or optional illuminated night sights. |
- Baby Eagle redirects here. For the indie rock band, see Steve Lambke.
The Jericho 941/Baby Eagle is a double action/single Action semi-automatic pistol developed by Israel Weapon Industries and introduced to the market in 1990 as the Jericho 941. It was first imported into the US in 1990 by K.B.I., Inc. of Harrisburg, PA. It was later imported by O.F. Mossberg & Sons and named the Uzi Eagle and by Magnum Research, Inc. as the Baby Eagle until the end of 2008. Beginning January 1, 2009 until they ceased business in January 29, 2010, K.B.I., Inc. (which also imported Charles Daly firearms) resumed importation of the handgun as the Jericho.
Design and Features
The original Jericho 941 was based on the well-respected CZ-75 pistol designed and produced by Česká zbrojovka (CZ) of the Czech Republic and built using parts supplied by the Italian arms house Tanfoglio, which had been making their own CZ-75 clones. Using a well-tested design allowed IMI to avoid the teething problems most new pistol designs experience, and subcontracting much of the basic fabrication work to Tanfoglio allowed IMI to quickly and economically put into production a pistol that would have enough Israeli content to satisfy government contract requirements.
The single most significant innovation attempted by IMI was offering a new, much "hotter" cartridge, the .41 Action Express (see below) to go along with the Jericho 941. The ballistics difference between 9MM and .41 AE is generally considered similar [citation needed] to the difference between .38 Special and .357 Magnum in the USA - the .41 AE was perceived as a "magnum autoloader round".
Unfortunately the .41 AE was even less successful in gaining traction in the marketplace than the 10 mm, and was soon discontinued.[1] Experience with heavily loaded rounds gave IMI a considerable lead, however, in chambering for the soon-to-be successful .40 S&W and also allowed the Jericho to "up-chamber" to the very popular .45 ACP.[citation needed] Firearm enthusiasts praise the accuracy of the Jericho/Baby Eagle, its reliability, and its pricing. It is generally considered[citation needed][weasel words] to be a very slim design for a large caliber pistol with a double-stack magazine, with "natural" pointing due to grip angle[citation needed]. The Jericho 941 design has been modified to include accessory rails on the frame for mounting lasers or weaponlights, a popular feature on many current-generation semi-automatic handguns.[citation needed]
Variants
Steel Frames
| Full-size | Semi-compact | Compact | |||||
| Caliber | 9x19 | 40S&W | 9x19 | 40S&W | 45ACP | 9x19 | 40S&W |
| Mfg. Part No. | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Israel Weapon Industries* | 941 F/R (16/15rd) | 941 F/R (12rd) | 941 FS/RS (16/15rd) | 941 FS/RS (12rd) | 941 FS/RS (10rd) | 941 FB/RB (13rd) | 941 FB/RB (10rd) |
| Magnum Research* | MR9900 (10rd)*** MR9915R (15rd) |
MR9400 (10rd)*** | MR9900RS (10rd) MR9915RS (15rd) |
MR9400RS (10rd) | MR4500RS (10rd)*** | MR9900RB (10rd)*** | MR9400RB (10rd) |
| Weight** | |||||||
| Pistol w/o magazine | 1,000 g (2.2 lb) | 900 g (2.0 lb) | 900 g (2.0 lb) | 1,025 g (2.3 lb) | 860 g (1.9 lb) | ||
| Magazine empty | 90 g (0.2 lb) | 90 g (0.2 lb) | 100 g (0.2 lb) | 85 g (0.2 lb) | |||
| Loaded magazine | 282 g (0.6 lb) | 258 g (0.6 lb) | 282 g (0.6 lb) | 258 g (0.6 lb) | 310 g (0.7 lb) | 250 g (0.6 lb) | 230 g (0.5 lb) |
| Dimensions | |||||||
| Overall length | 207 mm (8.1 in) | 184 mm (7.2 in) | 184 mm (7.2 in) | ||||
| Height | 140 mm (5.5 in) | 140 mm (5.5 in) | 125 mm (4.9 in) | ||||
| Width | 35 mm (1.4 in) | 35 mm (1.4 in) | 35 mm (1.4 in) | ||||
| Barrel length | 112 mm (4.4 in) | 90 mm (3.5 in) | 90 mm (3.5 in) | ||||
| Sight line radius | 150 mm (5.9 in) | 134 mm (5.3 in) | 134 mm (5.3 in) | ||||
| *Optional finishes available. **Overall weights may vary due to manufacturing differences and accuracy of scale. ***Listed on CA Roster of Handguns Certified for Sale. | |||||||
Polymer Frames
| Full-size | Semi-compact | Compact | |||||
| Caliber | 9x19 | 40S&W | 9x19 | 40S&W | 9x19 | 40S&W | |
| Mfg. Part No. | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Israel Weapon Industries* | 941 FL/RL (16/15rd) | 941 FL/RL (12rd) | 941 SL/RSL (16/15rd) | 941 SL/RSL (12rd) | 941 FBL/RBL (13rd) | 941 FBL/RBL (10rd) | |
| Magnum Research | N/A | MR9900RSL (10rd) MR9915RSL (15rd) |
MR9400RSL (10rd) | MR9900BL (10rd) | MR9400BL (10rd) | ||
| Weight** | |||||||
| Pistol w/o magazine | 800 g (1.8 lb) | 720 g (1.6 lb) | 680 g (1.5 lb) | ||||
| Magazine empty | 90 g (0.2 lb) | 90 g (0.2 lb) | 80 g (0.2 lb) | ||||
| Loaded magazine | 282 g (0.6 lb) | 275 g (0.6 lb) | 282 g (0.6 lb) | 275 g (0.6 lb) | 250 g (0.6 lb) | 230 g (0.5 lb) | |
| Dimensions | |||||||
| Overall length | 207 mm (8.1 in) | 192 mm (7.6 in) | 185 mm (7.3 in) | ||||
| Height | 138 mm (5.4 in) | 138 mm (5.4 in) | 122 mm (4.8 in) | ||||
| Width | 38 mm (1.5 in) | 38 mm (1.5 in) | 38 mm (1.5 in) | ||||
| Barrel length | 112 mm (4.4 in) | 96 mm (3.8 in) | 89 mm (3.5 in) | ||||
| Sight line radius | 156 mm (6.1 in) | 141 mm (5.6 in) | 134 mm (5.3 in) | ||||
| *Optional finishes available. **Overall weights may vary due to manufacturing differences and accuracy of scale. | |||||||
The introduction of the Jericho 941 also introduced a new caliber to the market, the .41 Action Express (or .41 AE), which was developed in 1986. The .41 AE was a unique rebated rim cartridge designed to use .410 inch (10.25 mm) bullets and duplicate a reduced power police loading of the .41 Magnum. The Jericho originally shipped with two barrels, one for 9x19mm Parabellum and the other for .41 AE. Since the .41 AE was designed with a rebated rim the same dimensions as that of the 9 mm, the extractor and ejector worked equally well for either cartridge.
Soon after its commercial introduction, the .40 S&W was introduced to the market. Ballistically, the .40 S&W was nearly identical to moderate .41 AE loads (the reloading manuals that list the .41 AE generally say to use .40 S&W data), although commercial loadings of .41 AE were somewhat more powerful than the .40 S&W. With the stronger backing of major American firearms and ammunition manufacturers, the .40 S&W quickly pushed the .41 AE out of the market. The Jericho 941 was only on the market for 1 year before the dual 9 mm/.41 AE chambering was dropped, and the pistol was sold as either 9 mm or .40 S&W. Some shooters like the Baby Eagle in .40 S&W for its extra reserve of strength, since the Baby Eagle was originally designed for a more potent cartridge (the .41 AE), which is the reverse of some makers who dropped .40 S&W barrels into pistols previously spec'd for the milder 9 mm cartridge and had subsequent barrel and cartridge case failures.
A later compact version, the Jericho 941, was chambered in .45 ACP or 9 mm. It is not clear to what extent the Jericho original 41. AE/9 mm Jericho frame and slide were "built-up" to handle the .45 ACP's much larger diameter; although the .45 ACP is a milder load running at much lower pressures than the .41 AE, the barrel opening for the .45 ACP is, of necessity, much larger. Desert Eagle does not permit the use of +P or +P+ loads per its website FAQ, although reviewers have shot and reported the ballistics on +P .45 ACP defensive loadings.
Initially Baby Eagle pistols used barrels with polygonal rifling, which sometimes produces slightly higher velocity due to better bullet to barrel fit. IMI switched to conventional land and groove rifling from 2005 to 2007.
The Jericho 941 is issued in current service throughout the Israeli Security Forces.
The .41 AE cartridge
While the .41 AE and the easy caliber conversion it provided was a good idea, the timing was just not right. The .41 AE used the same bullet diameter as the never very popular .41 Magnum, and since the .41 Magnum was primarily a revolver cartridge (though IWI did offer it in the Desert Eagle for a brief time) not all .41 Magnum bullets were suited to an autoloading design. The powerful 10 mm Auto cartridge, which had been suffering from poor acceptance from its start in the early 1980s, was eventually accepted by the FBI in a reduced power, subsonic loading. Smith & Wesson then decided that the 10 mm Auto was too much cartridge for the reduced power loading, and that the .45 ACP sized guns that chambered it were too heavy and bulky; out of this came the .40 S&W, a shortened 10 mm Auto case, designed to fit in a 9 mm sized gun, with a reduced pressure loading that allowed a lighter, easier to shoot gun. The near identical ballistics of the .40 S&W and the .41 AE are a result of convergent evolution in engineering; the .40 S&W starting from 10 mm Auto and moving to a shorter 9 mm length case and matching the ballistics of a reduced 10 mm Auto loading, and the .41 AE starting with a 9 mm and moving to the .41 caliber diameter to match a reduced .41 Magnum load.
In 1988, IWI also developed a 9 mm Action Express, which was a .41 AE necked down to 9 mm. It offered a much larger case capacity than the standard 9 mm case, allowing velocities that matched that of the .357 Magnum when loaded with light bullets. This move anticipated the parallel development of the .357 SIG from the .40 S&W in 1994.
While the .41 AE was doomed by circumstance to obscurity, the concept of using a rebated rim to allow easy cartridge interchangeability was not lost. The .50 Action Express, developed by IWI for the Desert Eagle pistol, uses a similar rebated rim that is the same diameter as the .44 Magnum. This allows a caliber change with replacement of just the barrel and magazine. Bottlenecked pistol cartridges, which also allow caliber changes with just a barrel change, have also started become available; Sturm Ruger made a limited edition convertible P Series pistol in 9 mm/.30 Luger, Sig Sauer released the .357 SIG, based on the .40 S&W, and Cor-Bon released the .400 Corbon based on the .45 ACP.
External links
- Official Baby Eagle page from Magnum Research, Inc.
- The Jericho 941 in film at the Internet Movie Firearms Database