'The MAC-10 Was an Over-Hyped Hunk of Junk'
Typically, I don’t like to blog about other blogs. But one of my favorite technology/information/gun sites (besides TFB, of course), War Is Boring, posted a great write-up of the MAC-10 and its high-speed rise and fall as a viable submachine gun. Entitled The MAC-10 Was an Over-Hyped Hunk of Junk, writer Darien Cavanaugh chronicles the basic history and development of the Military Arms Corporation Model 10 (MAC-10) as well as its prominence in Hollywood action films despite being a poor choice for almost any special operations mission.
The MAC-10 was so prominent in American culture during its heyday that its manufacturer advertised it—or, more accurately, the follow-on MAC-11—as “the gun that made the ’80s roar.” But by the time the ’80s actually rolled around, the MAC-10 family of guns had already fallen from grace on the commercial market.
Today the MAC-10 still has a loyal following on message boards and in Internet chat rooms for gun enthusiasts. The faded movie-star is, if nothing else, a fun gun to shoot.
Cavanaugh could have also mentioned that today the MAC-10 is typically purchased as an initial entry into the heavily controlled world of National Firearms Act (NFA) machine guns. Because of their low (by comparison) price, first time buyers can experience fully automatic weaponry at a fraction of the cost of other machine guns.
Also worth noting is that a company called Lage Manufacturing produces upper receivers, barrels and collapsable butt stocks that transform the MAC-10 into a modular gun with more options. So there is a solid argument that the MAC-10 and its variants is more popular among enthusiasts than it was at its debut nearly 50 years ago
Check out War Is Boring and the story on the MAC-10. And give them a follow while you are there.
Silencers - Science Pete@thefirearmblog.com
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The original open-bolt configuration of the M-10 certainly didn't help when trying for semi-automatic aimed shots, because the inertia of the bolt moving forward to fire means your point of impact can drift before the weapon actually fires.
But perhaps as an exercise in comparison this blog can try the newer MAC-10 upper receivers and buttstocks from Lage Manufacturing and make a video examining just how well those newer components go towards improving and modernizing the baseline MAC-10.
If the following caliber conversion for the MAC-10 ever gets made, TFBTV should also obtain one and try it:
https://10mmautocombat.word...
The m-10 was designed to be simple and easy to manufacture, at which it was successful. With the addition of a few aftermarket parts or a Lage upper they can be decent open bolt guns and many are beating $30,000 mp5s in subgun matches. Gordan Ingram based the gun's design on requests from anti-castro rebels training in Costa Rica who wanted a gun that was small, suppressed, and cheap to produce. He learned of these requests from a former Peruvian army officer that was operating an illegal firearms factory in Arizona, where the first m10 was made, and it was actually seized by the ATF in a raid. Many countries adapted their own versions including South Africa, Argentina, Brazil and Tiawan still uses a design based on it. There was even a British version which police there find from time to time, usually in the possession of drug dealers. Israeli forces used them with the sionics suppressor during the Entebbe operation as it was shorter than the Uzi with suppressor and the enemy would know it was them if they rolled up with Uzis. There's also a famous picture of a navy seal using one in training prior to heading over to Beiruit. I've heard stories of them being carried by US "security advisors" in South America and spooks in Vietnam. Mitch Werbell, one of the original owners of MAC and designer of the sionics suppressor was formerly a spook and he operated a training facility in Georgia. He basically specialized in counterinsurgency and training rebels to carry out coups. Interestingly, Larry Flynt gave him a check to carry out a hit, which he advertised to others as a show of disagreement. Soon after he fell ill and died under mysterious circumstances. This was immediately after attending a party at Flynt's Mansion,which he was conviniently absent from. So while the Mac 10 has shortcomings, it's still a cool piece of Americana with an interesting history. In the right hands with a little work and practice they can be turned into a respectable open bolt sub gun.