MAC 11 | .380 ACP But Marked “9MM AUTO”??? | 1973 Manufacture | European Collector

We’re back in Europe and visiting a collector with an incredible range of firearms. Here is a MAC-11 in .380 ACP. The serial number on this firearm indicates that it was manufactured in 1973. Some interesting notes on this particular gun–

Note that the caliber engraved on the side says “9MM AUTO”, which caused some confusion as this was frequently misinterpreted as 9×19 / 9mm Luger. This caliber engraving was then changed to “9MM AUTO K”, K standing for “Kurz” or “Short.” Unfortunately that didn’t really clear things up either, so eventually they threw in the towel and engraved them as “.380 CAL.” Temporarily things continued to be confusing, however, because when MAC first tried the “.380 CAL” stamp, a worker reversed the digits and some receivers were marked “.308.” Those were later corrected and had an oval milled out of the side and were restamped “.380 CAL.”

Gordon Ingram designed the compact Model 10 submachine gun in 1964 and, around 1969, joined Mitchell WerBell III’s Sionics firm in Powder Springs, Georgia, which specialized in suppressors. In December 1970 the company was formally renamed Military Armament Corporation, and Ingram served as chief engineer while it tooled up to produce his guns. As a scaled-down version of the Model 10, the Model 11 in .380 ACP had prototypes dated as early as September 1969, with serial production beginning in December 1970 under the “3-” prefix. MAC marketed the Model 10 in .45 ACP and 9mm alongside the smaller, faster-firing Model 11, often with Sionics-style suppressors. Internal conflict led to WerBell and Ingram being forced out in May 1972, after which the guns were simply called MAC weapons. Hoped-for military contracts never materialized, and Military Armament Corporation went bankrupt around 1975–1976, after which the designs and tooling passed to later makers such as RPB