Floro MK - 9 The Floro Mk . 9 is a submachine gun designed by Floro International Corporation of the Philippines . The Floro Mk . 9 submachine gun is a private venture of Floro International of Tanay , Rizal Province in the Philippines . The weapon is being marketed to local security forces as a low - cost alternative to imported submachine guns and is currently in limited use . Development . Though several Philippine enterprises are involved in the manufacture of small arms , submachine gun production is mostly limited to copies of foreign designs such as the MAC - 10 and the KG - 9 assembled in clandestine workshops for sale in the black market . There are few openly marketed indigenous submachine gun designs owing to the availability and popularity of imported weapons such as the Israeli Uzi and the H & K MP5 . The Floro Mk . 9 submachine gun was developed as a private venture by Floro International Corporation , an ISO 9000 certified company providing precision manufacturing and digital / optical media services . It was offered for evaluation to the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police . Initial responses were favorable and some sales were made , particularly to the AFP ' s Anti - Crime Task Force and the Philippine Navy ' s Special Warfare Group . The Philippine Marine Corps had a standing requirement for submachine guns to serve as personal defense weapons for armor crews and the Floro Mk . 9 was an option . Limited funds and the availability of M3 Grease Gun s from reserve weapon stockpiles caused these to be issued instead . The M3 had the advantage of using the . 45 ACP cartridge which is more widely used in the AFP and has greater stopping power than the 9x19mm Parabellum . Floro International currently markets an updated Mk . 9 and a shorter , lighter version , the MP - 9 . It is believed to be formerly known as the MK - 19 submachine gun . Design details . The standard Mk . 9 is a blowback operated weapon chambered for the 9 mm cartridge . It fires from a closed bolt with a selector switch allowing semi - automatic or full - automatic fire . There is no bolt - locking mechanism . The upper receiver is a steel tube and the barrel is held in place by the perforated barrel jacket . The lower receiver and magazine housing are of sheet metal . The long magazine well has a plastic handguard and doubles as a forward grip . It has the Uzi submachine gun - type magazine interface and uses Uzi magazines which are locally available . The folding metal butt is based on the Uzi pattern as well . The Mk . 9 uses the firing mechanism of the M16 , the standard service rifle in the AFP . Speaking of the origin of the design , on the external look of the gun , there is a striking resemblance to the Federal Engineering XC series of semi automatic " assault rifle lookalike " carbines ( marked 220 , 450 and 900 ; in . 22lr , . 45 ACP and 9mm Para calibers respectively ) produced in mid 1980s in the USA , approximately 20 years before the emergence of Floro MK 9 on the market . It is undoubtly certain that the makers of Floro MK - 9 studied the XC 900 carbine and based their design directly on it , although with some slight differences , addons and modifications that in some way improved the original design . One such improvement is usage of the Uzi magazine style catch in Floro magwell , rather than making modified Uzi magazines with welded steel insert at the top of the magazine , serving the purpose of catch retainer surface , as in the original XC 900 . This decision to bind the users of the gun in buying only the company spare parts , certainly made logistic problems as it disabled the compatibility in using that particular magazine directly in Uzi ( which cannot be put in the magwell due to the steel insert ) , or buying the standard 25 or 32 round Uzi magazine on the surplus market to be used as a spare one for XC 900 carbine . Other usable addon to the design is the Picatinny rail , allowing to easily place scopes and other equipment , which was in the original XC troublesome . Also sights are different , as the original ones were very user unfriendly when trying to zero them . The cocking handle is on the left side of the upper receiver incorporated with a dust cover . The front sights are fixed and rear sights have an adjustment knob for windage . The upper receiver has a Picatinny rail installed allowing telescopic and red dot sight s to be used . Variants . The MP - 9 is a shortened version with a skeletal wire stock and no barrel jacket . Both the Mk . 9 and the MP - 9 are available in semi - and full automatic versions .