MANUFACTURER – Police Ordnance Company, Los Angeles, CA.
STATUS – Obsolete
SERVICE – Limited commercial success, Cuban Navy (under Batista), Peruvian Army, Law enforcement
This was the second submachinegun design produced by Gordon Ingram and was intended for the post-WWII law enforcement market. Ingram’s first design, the Lightning M5, was only made in prototype form. His second model, the M6 reached a level of commercial success. The general layout of the M6 matches that of the Thompson submachinegun series. Instead of being made of machined components as the Thompson was, the M6 was primarily formed from steel stampings, making the design much less expensive than most other weapons as well as being lighter in weight.
The M6 was a straightforward blowback action, firing from open bolt. Prototype specimens were only capable of full automatic fire but production designs were capable of both full and semiautomatic fire. Some specimens of the M6 were produced with a selector lever but the bulk of the weapons produced had a progressive trigger. In the progressive system. Pressure on the trigger to an intermediate point allowed for semiautomatic fire, with only one round firing until the trigger would be released. Pulling the trigger fully to the rear allows for automatic fire, the weapon continuing to fire until the trigger is released, or the weapons runs out of ammunition. The safety is a notch at the top rear of the bolt handle slot. The bolt is drawn to the rear to cock the weapon and the handle lifted up into the hook-shaped slot for safety, much like the German MP 38-40 series of weapons.
There were two primary versions of the M6 produced, the Military and the Police models. The military model of the M6 has a horizontal foregrip, running the length of the barrel in front of the receiver. The front sight is part of a very robust muzzle cap on the military model with wings protecting the front sight blade. There is a hole in the muzzle cap of the military model, below the muzzle of the weapon, that accepts a spike-type bayonet.
The Police model of the M6 had a vertical front grip, very much like that on the Thompson submachinegun. The barrel behind the front grip mounting band was finned to increase the cooling area when the weapon was fired on full automatic. Otherwise the barrel was a simple exposed round turning with an exposed front sight blade and no compensator. A third variation of the M6 was the Guard model with a smooth barrel and horizontal foregrip.
There were about 15,000 M6 submachineguns of both the Military and Police models produced. An additional 8,000 weapons were produced in the 1950s under license in Peru. The primary caliber of the M6 weapons produced was .45 ACP. Though it was listed as being available in 9x19mm and .38 Super, very few M6 submachinegun were produced in this caliber. Reportedly, only twenty 9x19mm Model 6 weapons were produced and two in .38 Super out of the total number made in the United States and Peru.
The Police Ordnance Company, the producers and sellers of the M6 submachinegun, went out of business in the mid-1950s. Gordon Ingram had left the company some time earlier.
