Intratec
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Intratec was a firearm company based in Miami, Florida. The company's most famous product was the TEC-9.
Contents |
[edit] History
Intratec began as Interdynamic USA, an offshoot of Swedish firearms manufacturer Interdynamic AB. Due to the lack of firearm market in Sweden, Interdynamic AB set up a subsidiary in the United States to sell the Tec-9. Called Interdynamic USA, this company eventually became Intratec, and continued to sell variants of the Tec-9. It went out of business in 2001.
[edit] Tec-9
Originally known as the MP-9, designed by Swedish Interdynamics AB, the gun was converted from a full auto version to semiauto for sale on the U.S. market. This version was introduced by Interdynamic USA and designated the KG-9. It soon became known that the KG-9 could be easily converted from semiautomatic back to fully automatic. This led to an upgraded version called KG-99, which was more difficult to convert back to full auto. Soon thereafter, Interdynamics USA became Intratec, and introduced the KG-99 as the Tec-9.
The Tec-9 gained a degree of notoriety in that it was perceived as the "gun of choice" for gang members due to being referenced in "gangsta rap" music. The weapon was infamously used in a number of gang shootings, as well as in the 1999 Columbine school shootings.
This model was renamed to the model AB-10 (After Ban - 10, in reference to the Assault Weapons Ban). The AB-10 did not have a threaded barrel and only came with a 10 round magazine. The AB-10 was a relatively inexpensive gun and was not very accurate nor dependable.
George Kelgren, currently of Kel-Tec, was the designer for the KG-9 and KG-99. Their names reflect this through being George Kelgren's initials, simply reversed.
