Military Armament Corporation (MAC) was an American manufacturer of small arms, co-founded byGordon Ingram, an engineer and gun designer, andMitchell WerBell, owner ofSIONICS, which manufactured gun soundsuppressors. It is known for manufacturing theMAC-10 andMAC-11 machine pistols in the 1970s.
In 1969, Ingram joined SIONICS as a Chief Engineer. WerBell added his patented silencer, manufactured by SIONICs to Ingram's machine pistol design, to create the MAC-10. The company focused on the military market, and attempted to sell the MAC-10 to the US Army for use in theVietnam War. WerBell and Ingram demonstrated the MAC-10 to several units of the US Army, and in 1970 convinced a group of investors, Quantum Corp, that it might replace the.45M1911 pistol as the standard sidearm of the Army. The investors formed a new company, Military Armament Corporation, to make and sell this weapon. WerBell became president of the new company[1] and Ingram Chief Engineer, but within a year, the investors had ousted both him and Ingram from the company.[2] SIONICS was later absorbed by Military Armament Corporation.
It stopped producing the firearms in 1973, due to internal company politics,[2] and filed for bankruptcy in 1975.[3]
In 2017 SDS Imports began operations inKnoxville, Tennessee,[4] and revived the MAC brand, importing shotguns, handguns, and most notably both the MP5 (Mac-5) and the MP5K (Mac-5K) under the MAC name.[5]