“retro” RPB Cobray accessories thread

[cherenkov]

Has anyone seen the sling that is like the one in the original manual photo? Unlike most I have seen (which appear to be Cobray logo Ink-Marked USGI Utility slings) The one in the photo looks different (more narrow and can extend longer, narrow hooks.)

I find that the USGI utility slings are decent but short for "wearing" a subgun across the neckline. I will use a padded Uzi sling with MAT-49 hooks which fits better when my MAC friends aren't around. MAT-49 SMG hooks free rotate so they don't bind and maneuver well.

 

[MitchWerbellsGhost87]

Fantastic Information. I'm actually very glad someone has pride in the history and family to preserve. It could easily now be a strip mall or some form of unattractive urban sprawl.

Very cool they have the range where he's shooting an original MAC with Sionics can!

Like Retro AR15s, these just have a period romantic following that is hard to resist getting into.

That range is the famous range that they have been using for decades. Now, that range was used by the students at werbells Cobray/sionics counterterrorism training school as well as earlier, counterterrorism training programs like SATA, which was a police training program offered by Mac in the early 70s. That range is legendary.

 

[MitchWerbellsGhost87]

Has anyone seen the sling that is like the one in the original manual photo? Unlike most I have seen (which appear to be Cobray logo Ink-Marked USGI Utility slings) The one in the photo looks different (more narrow and can extend longer, narrow hooks.)

I find that the USGI utility slings are decent but short for "wearing" a subgun across the neckline. I will use a padded Uzi sling with MAT-49 hooks which fits better when my MAC friends aren't around. MAT-49 SMG hooks free rotate so they don't bind and maneuverView attachment 38362 well.

that is a very early sling that was made by military armament corp and it’s made of unobtanium. They also made a leather sling. That web sling was listed in the manual and price list as a “assault sling”. The sling that you are referring to that was made from the surplus general purpose Sling was an early RPB example. They were taking thesurplus slings and repurposing them with their logo. Then they started making their own nylon web swing with their logo on it. It was available in green with a black logo and black with a white logo. It was advertised as a “alternate shoulder, sling”. That is the sling that became the standard all through the 80s distributed by SWD. The earlier versions made by RPB had a large Cobray logo with no circle around it, the later SWD version had the circle around it. That style of sling is still available from FTF industries, but it’s made of a heavy seatbelt material now and does not have any logo on it. I have quite a few examples of the early ones, as well as an obscure early one that’s made of them more narrow webbing with .I have quite a few examples of the early ones, as well as a obscure early one that’s made of a more narrow webbing, with a very small logo stamp on it. I will put them all together and take a photo of the different varieties. The only one that seems to elude me as the early black RPB slang with the large white logo, I have one, but it’s a very poor example. That is so faded You can barely see the logo anymore.

 

[cherenkov]

That range is the famous range that they have been using for decades. Now, that range was used by the students at werbells Cobray/sionics counterterrorism training school as well as earlier, counterterrorism training programs like SATA, which was a police training program offered by Mac in the early 70s. That range is legendary.

So I have asked on this forum and in the past on other's trying to find out if there were any training materials regarding Werbell's classes and did they have any specific techniques for MACs - Training materials? documents photos? or was it all secret squirrel stuff. I assume they wanted customers to get the most out of the MAC platform - or perhaps at that point had Werbell moved on past MAC corp.? It would be interesting if they had some techniques for MAC use that are interesting considering its not easy for most to shoot. I find that given the amount of time I have spent with mine I can hit a target well in the original configurations However If I hand it to many experienced shooters) not MG shooters - they just can't hit anything with it or control it well. It takes time and practice. Curious if Werbell was cashing in on that and were there any tips tricks, etc he documented, especially photos?

 

[strobro32]

Thanks for posting the images. My Dad lives down the road and I had gone by a few times to look. It would have been nostalgic to unload a few mags from my baby MAC at the range.

 

[MitchWerbellsGhost87]

So I have asked on this forum and in the past on other's trying to find out if there were any training materials regarding Werbell's classes and did they have any specific techniques for MACs - Training materials? documents photos? or was it all secret squirrel stuff. I assume they wanted customers to get the most out of the MAC platform - or perhaps at that point had Werbell moved on past MAC corp.? It would be interesting if they had some techniques for MAC use that are interesting considering its not easy for most to shoot. I find that given the amount of time I have spent with mine I can hit a target well in the original configurations However If I hand it to many experienced shooters) not MG shooters - they just can't hit anything with it or control it well. It takes time and practice. Curious if Werbell was cashing in on that and were there any tips tricks, etc he documented, especially photos?

They didn’t really specialize with the MAC more than any other gun. watch these, they will give you some insight to the school and what was taught and how it was taught:

Fast forward to 35:30

This one has a lot of footage of the school as well


I have some certificates from the school (Cobray school and SIONICS school) . I will post pics in a bit, I will dig them out.

 

[cherenkov]

They didn’t really specialize with the MAC more than any other gun. watch these, they will give you some insight to the school and what was taught and how it was taught:

Fast forward to 35:30

This one has a lot of footage of the school as well


I have some certificates from the school (Cobray school and SIONICS school) . I will post pics in a bit, I will dig them out.

Wow - Brings back memories from the 1980s. Growing up in the 80s as a young gun enthusiast - The "survivalist" movement was gaining popularity and fanning the interest of gun ownership, especially military "style" weapons - This is Pre-Prepper but essentially in the same vain gave some credibility to self protection and reliance which at that time in the USA (Post WW2 Boomers growing up in a very secure, wealthy state) was shocking and alarming. The Oil crisis, economic turmoil of inflation, fear of nuclear war, and shortages due to environmental resources running out. A lot to worry about when your only concerns before that were minimal.

You can see in the BBC documentary the media slant that painted "survivalists" as people who merely wanted to kill and were just waiting for the circumstances to to present the opportunity of societal collapse for their desired violence. This was largely a media pressure to dissuade "good" people from turning into one of these "survivalists" and heaven forbid buy a gun for personal defense - that isn't "proper" societal behavior rather than a documentary that offered a calibrated / balanced look at societal violence and self defense risk vs benefit.

Thanks for sharing this information, I was looking for more history of Werbell and his exploits. Seems like a very entertaining and enigmatic character - Would have been fun to have a drink and a cigar with him.

Editing to Add that my first MAC in the 80s was a "Texas" semi-auto MAC10 in 45, which I loved the look of but had the absolute worst trigger in the world. I could say a staple gun had a better trigger. I could not use it for much besides range toy and admiration while reading Mack Bolan I sort of lusted after real MACs until I just but the bullet and bought one later in adulthood. Glad I did. Love the retro stuff about these more than the improved aftermarket ones. Love my Lage but the retro ones with the history attached to them are far more interesting to me.

 

[M16er]

I have an oddity, it's a shoot through pistol grip forend that screws onto the barrel threads. Also a Roy Riddle business card for Stephenville TX MAC days. Moved over a year ago, so much still packed in boxes to try to find for a pic.

 

[MitchWerbellsGhost87]

I have an oddity, it's a shoot through pistol grip forend that screws onto the barrel threads. Also a Roy Riddle business card for Stephenville TX MAC days. Moved over a year ago, so much still packed in boxes to try to find for a pic.

Which style is it? These are the only 3 I know of personally besides the ventilated barrel shroud with a plastic street sweeper grip attached to it

Tim Bixler made this style




I don’t know who made this one but I like it better than the bixler grip. Wish I hadn’t sold mine





And then there is the Cobray K-grip

 

[MitchWerbellsGhost87]

Wow - Brings back memories from the 1980s. Growing up in the 80s as a young gun enthusiast - The "survivalist" movement was gaining popularity and fanning the interest of gun ownership, especially military "style" weapons - This is Pre-Prepper but essentially in the same vain gave some credibility to self protection and reliance which at that time in the USA (Post WW2 Boomers growing up in a very secure, wealthy state) was shocking and alarming. The Oil crisis, economic turmoil of inflation, fear of nuclear war, and shortages due to environmental resources running out. A lot to worry about when your only concerns before that were minimal.

You can see in the BBC documentary the media slant that painted "survivalists" as people who merely wanted to kill and were just waiting for the circumstances to to present the opportunity of societal collapse for their desired violence. This was largely a media pressure to dissuade "good" people from turning into one of these "survivalists" and heaven forbid buy a gun for personal defense - that isn't "proper" societal behavior rather than a documentary that offered a calibrated / balanced look at societal violence and self defense risk vs benefit.

Thanks for sharing this information, I was looking for more history of Werbell and his exploits. Seems like a very entertaining and enigmatic character - Would have been fun to have a drink and a cigar with him.

Editing to Add that my first MAC in the 80s was a "Texas" semi-auto MAC10 in 45, which I loved the look of but had the absolute worst trigger in the world. I could say a staple gun had a better trigger. I could not use it for much besides range toy and admiration while reading Mack Bolan I sort of lusted after real MACs until I just but the bullet and bought one later in adulthood. Glad I did. Love the retro stuff about these more than the improved aftermarket ones. Love my Lage but the retro ones with the history attached to them are far more interesting to me.

I collect all of the old 1980s survivalist magazines and gun magazines. I have a texas semi auto MAC, it is a piece of garbage…. But it looks nice! I like the gray finish on the texas guns

 

[cherenkov]

Looks like one of the leftover Werbell made M16 suppressors is going up. RPB and HTA must have inherited the ones he made for the US Army. Someone on AR15.com had a copy of the US Army evaluation report.

https://www.gunbroker.com/item/995710809

 

[MitchWerbellsGhost87]

Looks like one of the leftover Werbell made M16 suppressors is going up. RPB and HTA must have inherited the ones he made for the US Army. Someone on AR15.com had a copy of the US Army evaluation report.

https://www.gunbroker.com/item/995710809

View attachment 38374View attachment 38374

That guy who is listing those is a friend of mine, he got some cool stuff in that hard times deal.

My desert Camo swat case came from the hard times inventory.

Those M16 suppressors were sold by RPB brand new, same with the M14 suppressors. They must have gotten a ton of parts for them when they bought out MAC

 

[cherenkov]

I collect all of the old 1980s survivalist magazines and gun magazines. I have a texas semi auto MAC, it is a piece of garbage…. But it looks nice! I like the gray finish on the texas guns

Same here. My absolute favorite was SWAT Showdown (83?) where they tested all popular tactical weapons and did a review of them in one magazine. Also enjoyed "Firepower" magazine.

 

[MitchWerbellsGhost87]

Same here. My absolute favorite was SWAT Showdown (83?) where they tested all popular tactical weapons and did a review of them in one magazine. Also enjoyed "Firepower" magazine.

I have almost every issue of swat and firepower from the 80s. I recently purchased every issue of “gun world” from the 1980s that had an “assault weapon” on the cover. I found a guy who had the entire library of gun world From the 80s who was nice enough to go through them all and pick out all the issues with cool stuff on the covers! Firepower is my favorite , one of the early issues has the SWD “strictly on the QT” suppressor parts ad inside the back cover..

 

[M16er]

Identical to the Tim Bixler style you posted. Thanks for clearing that up! No identifying info at all on it.

Which style is it? These are the only 3 I know of personally besides the ventilated barrel shroud with a plastic street sweeper grip attached to it

Tim Bixler made this style

View attachment 38371

 

[MitchWerbellsGhost87]

Looks like one of the leftover Werbell made M16 suppressors is going up. RPB and HTA must have inherited the ones he made for the US Army. Someone on AR15.com had a copy of the US Army evaluation report.

https://www.gunbroker.com/item/995710809

View attachment 38375
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View attachment 38374View attachment 38374

I have the original SIONICS Manual for that suppressor I can’t recall the model name it was like MAW or something like that. The manual is a full size book with all sorts of info in it about how to use the suppressor effectively in combat with photos and illustrations. It is 23 pages long and large format like 8.5x11 kind of size. I’ll post some scans from it

 

[Remo Williams 1]

Cherenkov and Mitch’s Ghost. You inspired me to start a magazine thread. Take a peek.

https://www.uzitalk.com/forums/index.php?threads/firearms-magazine-collection.99278/

 

[cherenkov]

Anyone have original MAC contracted ammunition? or happened to ever stumble upon any or empty boxes.

 

[MitchWerbellsGhost87]

Anyone have original MAC contracted ammunition? or happened to ever stumble upon any or empty boxes.

I know a guy who has a full box of the 380 ammo…. I’d give my left testicle for that box and I’ll never get it.

 

[MitchWerbellsGhost87]

Looks like one of the leftover Werbell made M16 suppressors is going up. RPB and HTA must have inherited the ones he made for the US Army. Someone on AR15.com had a copy of the US Army evaluation report.

https://www.gunbroker.com/item/995710809

View attachment 38375
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View attachment 38374View attachment 38374

By the way, RPB manufactured those suppressors as well, they were not all left over MAC. I have RPB catalogs that advertise those suppressors brand new as well as the parts for them, in that Hard Times Armory lot he got a whole bunch of the internal parts kits to complete those suppressors from scratch, all of the parts are in the white, original… I believe they are all RPB and SWD parts, my buddy who got them all says some of it is early MAC as well but most of the stuff I’ve seen is RPB/SWD era internals.