Gordon Ingram returned from his duties in the US Army
during WWII with an eye toward producing a submachine gun that was both
more reliable and more efficient than those he'd seen during the war. He
created a series of models that resembled the Thompson Submachine Gun
outwardly; unlike the Thompson, however, these new guns required a minimum
of machining and were simple to operate.
Of the Ingram series, the Model 6 enjoyed a very few sales, mostly to
South American governments. Unfortunately Ingram's timing was bad; there
wasn't much of a market for submachine guns and what little market there
was, was being filled with surplus arms from WWII.
In 1964 Ingram set out to rethink the basic submachine gun design. The
end of his efforts was the Model 10 or M-10. This gun is little larger
than a conventional pistol but has a telescoping/folding metal stock and a
front strap for aid in controlling the gun. The bolt telescopes around the
barrel which extends back into the gun to just in front and above the
magazine well.
Two chamberings of the M-10 were offered, one in 9mm Luger and the
other in .45 ACP. Later Ingram created an even more compact version of the
gun, the M-11, chambered for .380 ACP. All fire with extremely high cyclic
rates; this may very well have been the factor that kept these guns from
being accepted by potential buyers.
In 1967 Ingram joined forces with Mitchell Livingston WerBell III, a
silencer designer. Soon the two had formed a business alliance with the
WerBell suppressers being mounted on the M-10 pistols as a complete
weapons system that was both compact and quiet. The two inventors spent
much time trying to secure contracts from the US government (which was
embroiled in the Vietnam War). But there efforts never produced any
results. Military personnel were very interested in the new arms, but the
orders never followed.
In the early 1970s, the rights to the gun/suppresser combination were
purchased by MAC (Military Armament Corporation) and the guns became known
as the MAC-10 and MAC-11. Unfortunately WerBell and Ingram lost control of
the company at this point and the new owners practically booted both of
them out of the operation.
A number of other variants of the M-10 have since been produced
including the M-11/9 (a compact 9mm version of the M-11) and semiauto
"assault pistol" versions of the gun. All of these have met with varying
success. But the original goal of Ingram, to create a viable military
submachine gun, has never really been realized. The military just never
seemed to become more than mildly curious about the inventor's
super-compact submachine guns and has instead opted for "chopped" rifles
like the
AR-15 variant, the M4 Carbine, or the Heckler & Koch
MP5 submachine gun.
For a more detailed look at the M-10 and its many variants as well as
the TEC-9 and Uzi series of guns along with accessories for these
firearms, see Duncan Long's lavishly illustrated book, The Terrifying
Three, available for Paladin Press P. O. Box 1307, Boulder, CO
80306-1307 Phone: 800-392-2400.