The MAC-10 (Ingram Model 10) and MAC-11 (Ingram Model 11) have been popularized by Hollywood movies since their inception in the 1970s. Similar to an earlier blowback design, the Israeli Uzi, the MAC-10 and the scaled-down, lighter MAC-11 are compact, submachine guns (SMG) capable of impressive rates of fire and barrel climb.

Whereas the Uzi cycled only 600 rounds of 9x19mm Parabellum per minute, the MAC-10 boasts a whopping 1145 round-per-minute rate of fire (in .45 ACP) and a 1090 round-per-minute rate of fire in 9mm. And the MAC-11 doubled the Uzi rate of fire with 1200 rounds per minute with its smaller, 9x17 Browning Short (.380 ACP) cartridge.

Unlike the Uzi (at nearly eight pounds, unloaded), the MAC-10 weighs in at six and a quarter pounds unloaded, and the MAC-11 weighs only three and a half pounds.

The world has American weapons designer Gordon Ingram and Military Armament Corporation of Powder Springs, Georgia, to thank for creation of the MAC-10 and the MAC-11. Ingram had already developed the Ingram Model 6, when he became interested in an SMG that was compact, concealable and capable of silenced operation ideally suited for special ops and clandestine application. In the mid-1960s, Ingram teamed with former silencer guru Sionics and began production of the MAC series.

The MAC-10 is a blowback-operated,selective fire weapon that fires from the open bolt. The cocking handle is located atop this sawed-off SMG 10.6 inches with the collapsible stock retracted 21 and a half inches with the stock extended. Both the MAC-10 and MAC-11 feature a threaded barrel to accept Sionic's whisper-quiet suppressor.

Muzzle velocity for the MAC-10 is about 900 feet per second, and its effective range is an abbreviated 160 to 230 feet with a maximum range of no more than 320 feet.

Given the Ingram's light weight and rate of fire, barrel climb on full auto is significant. A leather strap is positioned below the barrel for the operator to grasp to help reduce barrel climb. The MAC-10 has seen some action with U.S. Special Forces in Vietnam and Brazilian military and paramilitary forces specifically anti-terrorist units.