MAC Stinger: Most Dangerous Spy Gun Ever?

Subcompact guns like the Springfield Hellcat are small enough to hide in the front pocket of your jeans. They shoot straight, reliably and well. By contrast, the M1A is 44” long and weighs 8.5 lbs. Those sorts of tools are quite obviously firearms.

The Braverman pen gun (top) and MAC Stinger (below), both in .22, share a similar concept, but different execution.

However, there’s some seriously odd stuff out there as well. One of the weirdest of the lot was the Stinger. The Stinger looks vaguely like a slightly oversized tube of highly lethal Chapstick. The 1970’s-vintage Stinger does not have a pistol grip, magazine or sights. It’s the sort of thing you really could hang onto your keychain.

Origin Story

Mitch WerBell III was a veteran of the WWII-era OSS (Office of Strategic Services). He was a real-deal spy. When he wasn’t overthrowing nation-states, WerBell kept busy designing gun swag.

The photo shows the process of charging a MAC Stinger pistol, a compact tubular firearm from the 1970s. The user inserts a single .22 caliber rimfire round into the short smoothbore barrel. The barrel is then threaded into the body of the gun to prepare it for firing. Unlike conventional pistols, the Stinger has no magazine, slide, or grip, making loading more awkward and hazardous. A wire safety pin could be inserted to prevent accidental discharge, though many examples are missing this safety feature. Once charged, the weapon was immediately live and ready to fire, which made it extremely unsafe to handle casually. This unusual loading method underscores why the MAC Stinger is considered impractical despite its concealability. — Charging the Stinger involves unscrewing the back cap and then pulling it back until the action locks. Then, you return the end cap to its original position.

WerBell was a prominent figure in the 1970’s-era Military Armament Corporation of MAC-10 submachine gun fame. While there, he designed the distinctive two-stage sound suppressor used on Gordon Ingram’s hyperactive little bullet hose. The MAC crew under WerBell also bodged together the Stinger.

[Be sure to see another spy gun: the Wellrod pistol.]

The MAC Stinger was patterned after a bizarre disposable WWII-era spy gun called the T-2. The T-2 fired a single .22 rimfire round and did indeed look like a pen at cursory glance. It even included a pocket clip. By contrast, WerBell’s MAC Stinger was at least reusable.

These nifty little guns were made from aluminum, so they weighed about nothing. MAC offered them either anodized gold or painted black. The Stinger was 3.25” long and weighed a paltry 2.25 oz.

The image shows a side-by-side comparison of the MAC Stinger and the Braverman Stinger. The MAC version is a short cylindrical firearm that looks like a metal tube, while the Braverman pen gun more closely resembles a folding ink pen when collapsed. Both guns fire .22 caliber rimfire ammunition and were marketed for deep concealment. The MAC Stinger was developed in the 1970s by the Military Armament Corporation, while the Braverman appeared later with a design focused more on disguise. The comparison highlights the different approaches to covert firearms during the Cold War era. Despite their novelty, both guns were considered unsafe and impractical for real-world use. Today, they are classified by the BATF as Any Other Weapon (AOW) and are sought after as collector items. — The MAC Stinger and Braverman Stinger highlight two different takes on concealable firearms. Both are extremely small, but their shapes and functions differ.

The MAC Stinger is one of those curious firearms that seems designed for some edgy hypothetical mission that doesn’t actually exist in the real world. Brooding assassins lurking in the shadows snuffing people with pen guns is more the stuff of adventure fiction writers than real-world covert operators. In the case of the Stinger, you might actually be better off with a decent baseball bat.

Each Stinger came with a short leather carrying strap to help keep it properly oriented in a pocket. The gun was designed for deep concealment and excelled at that. Everywhere else, however, it was little more than a deathtrap.

The Stinger came with two otherwise-identical barrels. One was intended for practice. The other was sealed on the end with a little red plastic shoot-away stopper to exclude pocket lint. These guns originally cost $36 apiece. That would be about $200 today.

The photo shows a person holding a MAC Stinger pistol, a small 1970s-era spy gun. The firearm is cylindrical, only about 3.25 inches long, and appears very small in the hand compared to traditional pistols. Its design lacks a grip, trigger guard, or magazine, resembling a short metal tube instead of a standard handgun. The author demonstrates how the Stinger was intended to be carried and handled, showing its unusual proportions. The firearm’s tiny size made it easy to conceal in a pocket or on a keychain. However, this same compact design made it unsafe and impractical in real-world use. The image emphasizes both the novelty and danger of this Cold War curiosity. — Holding the Stinger highlights its minimal design and lack of traditional pistol features. Ultimately, it’s more a novelty than a practical weapon.

Accessories included a ludicrous 16” barrel as well as a compact sound suppressor. Suppressor technology was in its infancy back then, so these never quite looked right or performed terribly well. These rare accessories are desirable collector’s items today.

What Does the BATFE Think?

Uncle Sam struggles to get his head around the Stinger. It’s not a conventional pistol, and it’s certainly no rifle. In the eyes of the BATFE, it is therefore an AOW, or Any Other Weapon.

The image illustrates the BATFE’s classification of the MAC Stinger pistol as an “Any Other Weapon” (AOW). The Stinger’s small cylindrical design, which lacks a grip, magazine, or sights, did not allow it to fit into standard handgun or rifle categories. As a result, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives placed it in the AOW category, which includes disguised firearms such as pen guns, cane guns, and other novelty-style weapons. This classification required the same registration process as suppressors and machine guns, though the transfer tax was only five dollars instead of the usual two hundred. The designation underscores how unconventional the Stinger’s design was during the Cold War era. The photo provides a visual reference to its status as a regulated firearm under federal law. — The BATFE classified the MAC Stinger (top) as an “Any Other Weapon.” That put it in the same legal category as disguised guns like cane guns. The Braverman pen gun, due to its design, is considered a traditional firearm.

AOWs include conventional handguns with vertical foregrips, firearms that look like canes, umbrellas, cell phones, pocket calculators, or pen guns that remain pen-shaped when they are fired. Basically, if it’s scary and it doesn’t fit into any other handy category, it’s an AOW.

AOWs transfer in the same manner as machine guns, sound suppressors, cannons and live hand grenades. The paperwork is otherwise identical. However, where the typical transfer tax is $200 for that other stuff, the AOW tax is only five bucks.

Trigger Time

The smoothbore barrel is only a quarter-inch long. Have reasonable expectations. Just shooting this gun without hurting yourself or somebody you care about is a realistic aspiration.

There is a hole to accept a small wire safety, but mine is missing. A replacement is improvised easily enough. However, I have read that it is possible to load the gun and have it go off spontaneously once the wire is removed. There’s a reason there aren’t more of these little things around.

Once the gun is thusly cocked, load a round into the barrel and thread it in place. Remove the wire safety, point the gun at your target, and squeeze. If you’re lucky, the bullet will go someplace close to where you wish it to. Beyond contact range, the Stinger becomes an area weapon system.

The image displays a MAC Stinger pistol, a Braverman Stinger pen gun, and several .22 LR cartridges. The MAC Stinger, positioned as a small cylindrical firearm, is only about 3.25 inches long, while the Braverman has a folding design resembling a pen when collapsed. The inclusion of the .22 LR rounds emphasizes the small caliber both firearms were designed to fire. The scale makes clear how tiny these weapons are, especially compared to conventional pistols. Both guns were classified by the BATFE as “Any Other Weapons” due to their nontraditional construction. While compact and easily concealable, they were considered unsafe and ineffective for practical use. The photo provides a clear look at these rare Cold War-era novelty firearms and their ammunition. — The photo shows two unusual spy-era firearms alongside their cartridges. While interesting historically, neither offered much real-world effectiveness.

There is a knurled ring up front that rotates to secure the trigger in place. Mine seems to be inexplicably and irretrievably locked in the fire position. Despite my very best efforts, I have been unable to break it free. As a result, my example is deadly as soon as it is charged and cocked. I’d honestly sooner carry a live cobra in my pocket than I would pack this thing with a hot chamber. Interestingly, the firing pin strikes the base of the case in two places on opposite sides of the rim.

I’m not the only guy in the world who rightfully fears this little monster. Mitch WerBell’s son purportedly once inadvertently shot himself with one of his Dad’s Stingers. He supposedly did fine, but I think there’s a message there.

Conclusion

The MAC Stinger is tactically worthless. It always has been, and it always will be. However, the Stinger does represent a fascinating glimpse into the Cold War-era when folks really did think covert operatives needed little lipstick-sized guns that could easily blow their own fingers off. Compact, lightweight, and adorable in a terrifying sort of way, the MAC Stinger is classic Cold War spy chic.

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