MAC .380: Is it a crush or true love?

[cpileri]

I have suddenly become enamored of the small caliber full auto handgun.
Oh, would I love a VZ61 Skorpion in 32ACP! But alas, she is far beyond my reach…
Knowing a FA (in general) is financially out of the question right now, I am still gathering info about sami-auto versions of smg-look-alike, small caliber semi-auto’s with long magazines hanging out; and I realized I know next to nothing about the MAC series of guns.

Please tell me like I am a kindergartener, OK?

Of the 380 MACs,
What is the difference between the PM12 (semi-) vs M12 (semi-) vs the M11 (semi-auto)?
There is also a M11 in 9mm, are the parts interchangeable (except the obvious barrel, bolt face, etc) btw the M11 in 380 and 9mm?
What is any parts are interchangeable between any of the models or calibers?

I hear bad things about the accuracy of the MACS, but mixed things about the reliability? How’s the reliability of the 380’s?

Seems like there are both legal open bolt and closed bolt semi-autos. But the open-bolt semi’s must have been manufactured prior to the mg ban and thus are ‘grandfathered’ in to being legal in that configuration. Good luck to me finding one for sale, right? Would it be legal for me to buy it in any case without going the NFA route? Otherwise, I am looking at closed-bolt semi’s only, right?

On the Cobray sight, they have a magazine that will work, they write: “ IN SWD M11/9 OR SWD M11/380 A1 SMG "This Mag Will NOT Work in a M12/380 , M11/380 RPB or Powder Springs SMG”. So what is the difference between the SWD M11/380 AI SMG, and the M11 or M12 in 380 by RPB or Powder springs?

I am sure your kind answers will only cause me to have more questions.
Thanks,
C-

p.s please, if the main theme of your post is "MACs suck" please state some cogent and rreasoned opinions as to why, rather than leaving the sentiment/statement to stand alone.

[glockunlocked]

im no mac expert, im no fan of the mac series. so ill offer my advise however valuable that will be to you.

only the older pre-ban versions in 380 and 9mm have reputations for decent reliabilty.
even then its reliabilty wasnt flawless. only the old fully auto versions of the mac (before cobray) was flawless in reliability. the 380 caliber m11 was the first ingram ever designed, i believe.

unless you want a mac for collection purposes, i wouldnt buy one.

by the time you purchase a mac and make it reliable, the cost would have outwieghed its value for what is is. imo a pistol caliber assault pistol is not worth more than a couple hundred dollars. simply because there's nothing tactically special about it, or different than say, a glock or ruger with a 30 round mag in it yet less reliable and more cumbersome.

they have a forum on cobray.com that can answer a most of your questions.
if you purchase a mac, stay away from ALL of the post ban versions.
most of the differences between the original ingrams, cobrays, rpb's, ect.
is that one company purchased the design and tooling for the mac, everytime its production changed hands, the quality slipped.

on some of the pm11's (post ban's) the mag is prone to falling out or not sitting tight enough in the mag well due to a change to a ball detent mag catch, but not all pm11's have the ball detent most do though. iv'e heard that the original synthetic cobray mags do not work well. the steel ones work the best.
pm11's were produced by several different companies.
at some point swd took over production of the pm11's from cobray, and soon after this is when the ball detent was introduced , so some of the swd's are ok- most arent. some have purportedly blew up while firing.
i dont know who started producing them after swd, i think leonid or some shit like that. some even said swd changed their name to mask its quality issues. so you have: jersey arms, rpb, cobray, swd, power springs, leonid (or leonad), and another one i think.

its hard to keep up with the flighty history of the mac after cobray.
but in case you ever get a 380, i have a 20 round south african mag from cdnn for the m12.
i never used it because i changed my mind about buying a mac.
72 round 9mm drums exists. i believe its called stonycreekarmory.com