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Friday, March 15, 2024

Firearms History: The MAC-10

Guns America recently posted an article entitled "The MAC-10 at Work and Play: The Gory Demise of Barry Seal" by Will Dabbs. The MAC-10 was designed by Gordon Ingram in 1964 and manufactured by Military Armament Corporation (MAC). The article notes that MAC actually designated it as the M-10 in its catalog, but it became popularized as the MAC-10. It was offered in either 9mm or .45 ACP (there was a later, smaller model in .380 called the MAC-11). 

    The weapon itself was a fairly simple design making use of a simple open bolt operating system using a fixed firing pin on the bolt and mostly sheet metal stampings. The bolt was a telescoping design to minimize the length (i.e., it was designed to fit around the barrel when it goes forward, similar to the bolt design in the Uzi, but different from older weapons like the Sten). The weapon was also designed from the start to work with a suppressor designed by Sionics and, reportedly, worked very well as a suppressed weapon when using subsonic ammunition. 

    Ingram intended the weapon as a replacement for the M1911 pistol. But the primary problem was the rate of fire. The article relates:

The full-sized 9mm version ran at 1,200 rpm on full auto. The .45ACP gun used the same frame with a different upper and magwell and cycled at around 1,000 rpm. The further miniaturized .380ACP M-11 was introduced in 1972 and spewed bullets at 1,600 rpm.

It obviously did not become the military's new sidearm, but it did achieve some popularity and notoriety as a weapon for assassins and drug dealers. 

    The Barry Seals mentioned in the title of the article is a man that eventually became a pilot and smuggler supposedly running drugs and guns for the likes of the CIA and various cartels. He also worked as a DEA informant, eventually getting photographs of Pablo Escobar loading drugs onto his airplane. As a consequence, Seals was gunned down on February 19, 1986, in Baton Rouge, LA, by hitmen using ... you guessed it ... a suppressed MAC-10. 

    Anyway, a good article. Check it out.

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