Mac10 open bolt carbine - looking for information

[Skans]

Some years ago I purchased a Mac10 open bolt carbine made by Cobray. Yes, it's a carbine, not a pistol. It is .45 caliber. The forend is actually wooden, and it has a pushbutton sliding/telescopic metal buttstock.

I bought it because I had never seen nor heard of one of these before. I still have never seen another one, either at gunshows or even on the internet.

Can anyone tell me about this gun? Is there any way to look up the serial number to find out when it was made and how many were made?

I'm quite familiar with open bolt guns and Mac10's - just never seen an old Mac10 carbine with wooden forend like the one I've got.

 

[44 AMP]

Original Cobrays

The M11/9 (which looks like a Mac 10) were sold as pistols and carbines. I doubt very many carbines were sold. I tried to buy one of the pistols (open bolt) in the early 80s. At that time the company was involved in a lawsuit with the ATF, and the govt was very....discouraging..of dealers selling the guns.

Final result, Cobray redesigned the gun to fire from the closed bolt. I eventually got one of them, and after playing with it for a few years, (and finding out all the bad things about them) sold it.

The open bolt guns are "grandfathered", so they are legal to own, and bring a healthy price from people interested in such things, as collectors items. They aren't really good guns (as handguns), although probably better as a carbine.

 

[OlympicArmsFan]

Do you have pics of the gun would really like to see a Cobray carbine as I was looking to do a project using their parts.

I know the guys at www.uzitalk.com under the Mac section will have a lot of info on this gun and more.

 

[Skans]

I'll take a picture of the gun and post it here - try to get to it this weekend. I have yet to see a picture of this .45 Open Bolt Carbine anywhere on the internet, so it would probably be a good reference, if nothing else.

 

[OlympicArmsFan]

Sounds good as yours is the first I have heard of.