[Review] Cobray M11 9mm: Super Ineffective?

You know what Floridians love? 

Orange juice, cigarette boats, and sub-machine guns. 

As a Floridian I, like many, have an entrepreneurial spirit and like many Floridians I own an ‘import/export’ business that deals mostly with imported Columbian ‘coffee’ if you know what I’m saying?

With a business like this I am looking for new ways to expand and to protect what I own. 

When it comes to shopping for personal protection I have to make some serious considerations. First I have a set of requirements that any importer of Columbian ‘coffee’ should always consider. Those requirements are as follows: 

• How cool does it look? Looking cool is the first half the battle so you need a gun that catches the eye. A gun that looks a little scary. Is it a gun no professional soldier or law enforcement would willingly use? I can’t be looking like the fuzz.

• Ergonomics are also important… I need a gun I can fire from the hip with or a gun I can easily hold sideways. Aiming is for suckers, and if you're aiming how is everyone gonna see your bitch'n sunglasses and beard/mustache? I also gotta be able to wield it one-handed so I can drive my boat, or wield two guns at one time while jumping through the air. 

• Can I attach mostly useless stuff to make the gun look cooler? 
• Accuracy wise I like a gun that throws bullets somewhat unpredictably. Think about if I don’t where the bullets are going neither do my enemies. 

With these requirements in mind, let's take a look at the Cobray M-11/9. MAC variants of all kinds have been popular with Floridians for generations now.

Like most young ‘coffee’ importers I grew up watching Miami Vice.

The Miami and Vietnam Connection

In Miami Vice one of the favorite guns of the bad guys was the MAC-10 submachine gun. The MAC-10 is OG MAC variant and easily one of the most popular SMGs back in the 1980s. A man named Gordon Ingram designed the gun. 

Its origin comes from a small company called Military Armament Corporation and the goal to provide an SMG for Spec Ops bubbas during Vietnam.

It was a .45 ACP, blowback submachine gun, and it was only just bigger than a pistol. The gun did have an open bolt, a wire stock, and a top cocking handle. 

Most impressively this little box of a gun could fire .45 ACP at 950 rounds per minute. The use of a suppressor was almost a must-have to control the thing. Its flimsy wire stock offered minimal support. 

This became one of the smallest SMGs on the market and was designed to function with a massive suppressor from Sionics. Side note, Sionics was run by a guy named Mitch Werbell III and that guy could have his own article on his craziness. 

The MAC-10 saw limited success with the Navy SEALs as well as the LRRP and possibly some Delta dudes used them in the Post Vietnam world. According to an article from 2017 the Air Force still has one MAC-10 in its arsenal. 

The MAC-10 was also very popular on TV and in movies, as well as in the hands of Narcos in South Florida in the 1980s. It was used in the famed Dadeland murders and was a favorite of South American gunman and drug cartels. 

While the coffee business is a bit cooler now it’s important that we keep the tradition alive and the M-11/9 follows in the footsteps of it’s bigger brother. 

The big difference is the M-11/9 is the smaller 9mm cartridge, this allows the M-11/9 to be much smaller and somewhat lighter.

Cobray made both machine gun variants and semi-auto pistols out of the Cobrays and they were a very cheap means to obtain a legal NFA SMG prior to the Hughes amendment. 

These guns are made mostly of stamped sheet metal and are made quite cheaply. The good news is the simple design allows them to be made cheaply and remain relatively effective and efficient.

My model is older than I am and still runs fine. 

Although it does rust rather easily. The Cobray models came with 32-round Zytel magazines.

These are apparently a weak point, and I’ve replaced mine with KAK Z Mags, which are metal and available in 30- and 50-round capacities. 

ProMag also makes Cobray M-11/9 magazines and they are much more economically priced.

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The Cobray M-11/9

Sometimes this gun is referred to as the MAC-11, however, Cobray did not use the MAC designator. The MAC-11 is actually a .380 ACP submachine gun. The Cobray is simply the M-11/9, but it's easy to see how the names could get confused. 

This is a semi-automatic, blowback-operated 9mm pistol that fires from the closed bolt. Although some open bolt semi-autos existed but they were quickly kiboshed by the ATF for the easy ability to turn them into machine guns. 

So using the categories I set up above let’s judge the M-11/9 for its ability to protect ‘coffee’ and territory. 

Does It Look Cool? 

Hell yeah, it does! Look at this thing! It’s a rectangle going horizontally and a smaller rectangle going vertically. It’s massive and heavy, and much bigger than a pistol needs to be.

The barrel is only 5 inches long, but the thing weighs 3.75 pounds (or 1.7 keys of...coffee). 

While many will say since it’s just a 9mm pistol, and that a Glock 17 with an extended magazine is just as effective, in fact most of you will say it’s more effective.

Sure the Glock is lighter, has better sights, lower recoil, has the ability to mount a light, and even factory optic’s ready options. 

But the M-11/9 has rectangles! Aggressive looking rectangles! Rectangles that demand respect. It’s a scary-looking gun. I can hear the commandos, the concealed carriers, and many other folks with ‘common sense,’ calling the M-11/9 a big useless gun. 

Look how scary it appears to be though! It’s so scary that politicians want to ban it on looks alone. It doesn’t matter that it’s a relatively underperforming weapon by “expert” opinions.

The fact that police and the military haven’t used it in nearly 50 years doesn’t mean it’s not a good gun. 

It’s the cops and soldiers, clearly, they are afraid of it because of its scary looks. 

How Are Those Ergos

When you grab the vertical rectangle that acts as a pistol grip I know what you’re thinking.

It’s uncomfortable to handle, and it is rather large and wide and even in my XXL hands it feels like it’s a bit much. 

However, since the weapon doesn’t have a slide like most pistols and it has a larger space between the trigger guard and the end of the barrel you can hold it here with your support hand while you fire it from the hip. 

This makes it easy to control the gun as it bucks and rears as you pull the trigger as rapidly as possible.

The magazine release is a heel magazine release at the bottom of the pistol grip. It’s perfect because you don’t want to reload fast or anything crazy. 

Take your time, enjoy the sensation of pulling the stick out of the gun.

Smoke a cigarette, comb your hair, pop your collar.

You aren’t doing it fast, especially if your magwell is a tight one. Some of the Cobray’s produced, including mine, have overly tight magwells and need a ‘magwell stretch’ to function correctly. 

To get this mag out I have to pull the hell out of it. Inserting a mag requires you to slam the mag in place and shove it into the magwell with some authority. 

The safety is very AR 15 like and placed easily for reach with the trigger finger. It does require a long push to get it from safe to fire though. It’s one of the better parts of this gun. 

Since it’s a handgun it can be easily fired with one hand. I mean the legal definition of handgun is a weapon designed to be fired with one hand and the Cobray does it.

I can easily drive, smoke a cigarette, drink some Mountain Dew, use one hand to talk, and so on and so forth while still wielding my Cobray M-11/9. 

The M-11/9 is also the perfect gun when you need to fire as you fall through the air, yelling “Ahhhhh.”

Can I attach Mostly Useless Stuff to Make it Look Cooler? 

This is America? So yeah. 

In fact, that front portion of thread around the barrel makes it a perfect host for fake suppressors to make the gun look even scarier!

You can even toss on a weird strap on the front to hang the gun conveniently from a hook on your weapon’s wall. 

You can attach other ‘useful’ things to this gun if you want too, I guess. 

If you want an easy way to attach a brace, or optic, you have a few options out there. A company called Stormwerkz makes an adapter for both AR and SIG MPX/MCX stocks and braces should you go that route.

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They also produce an optic’s mount for mini red dots like the Trijicon RMR. 

Is it Accurate? 

Of course not, shooting this thing is like pissing in a tornado, you have no idea where your projectile is going.

I mean it’s going forward, but that’s the only guarantee. Don’t expect one inch groups, or headshots at 25 yards. 

Do you know what a beaten zone is? Or a cone of fire? These terms are typically applied to belt-fed machine guns, or support weapons in general. 

A beaten zone is the ovalish area in which your projectiles land. A cone of fire is the projectiles in the air forming a cone. A belt-fed support weapon isn’t designed for precision, and the seemingly poor accuracy of the rounds is a benefit to the weapon's ability to suppress a target.  

The Cobray M-11/9 is the only handgun I’ve ever fired that has machine gun like cone of fire and beaten zone.

Is that a good thing for a handgun? Traditionally most people say no, and these supposed experts want a gun that “shoots straight” and is “consistent.” 

The Cobray is very hard to shoot accurately, it can be done, but it’s not easy. The Cobray M-11/9 has terrible sights.

You have a small hole and a half notch and a gray metal post as sights. They may work better with a stock, but as a pistol the Cobray’s sights suck. 

The trigger is long, mushy and has some serious snap back. You’ll see most triggers coated with some form of rubber because trigger smack is so bad on these guns. 

Additionally, the blowback action means the gun has a big and heavy bolt. That bolt going back and forth means the gun is moving way more than your average handgun. This makes follow up shots a mess. 

Everything about this gun just makes it hard to shoot accurately, so it’s much better to fire from the hip and keep your enemies guessing. 

Where To Buy A Cobray M-11/9

This...might be one of the harder things about this little gun. Sadly, the Cobray isn't in production anymore. But the good news is that they're cheap!

Unless you want a full-auto version, then prepare yourself to shell out.

For a normal semi-auto Cobray, you can often find them on GunBroker for a fairly reasonable price range of $800-$1,000.

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What About Reliability? 

Well surprisingly so the M-11/9 is a very reliable little gun. The Mags can be a weak point and the Zytel mags have big issues with their feed lips breaking or stretching.

With the metal Z Mags the gun runs without issue. 

It seems to cycle a wide variety of ammo with no issues. Keep in mind I mostly put 115-grain FMJs through the gun of the brass, steel, and aluminum variety. It all runs and ejects and cycles when I use the metal mags. 

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With the Zytel magazine in place the weapon would occasionally eject a round, but fail to load the next round.

The bolt would slam home and the trigger would reset but the chamber was empty. Not an issue with the metal mags.

The Truth About The Cobray M-11/9 

This is a niche gun best used for flexing in your slickest Hawaiin shirt, your most mirrored glasses, and in your fastest boat.

It’s not a good gun for defending the home, or concealed carry, or competition. 

It’s best for protecting your imported Columbian coffee business. Or for just goofing off at the range.

The Cobray M-11/9 might be one of the most ineffective handguns out there. It’s proof that you shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover. 

The series of rectangles that make up the Cobray M-11/9 makes it look more dangerous than any modern Glock 17, HK VP9, or SIG P320, but in reality, it less effective for any real role than those aforementioned guns. 

What're your thoughts? Did I miss something? Or are these pure range toys? Let me know below! For some more awesome purely fun firearm action, take a look at the Dumbest Glock Build Ever!