12 May 2020
Eugene Stoner is arguably the most important gun designer of the latter half of the 20th century. Stoner went to work for ArmaLite, then a division of Fairchild Aircraft, soon after the division’s founding in 1954.
The aircraft business learned a lot about aluminum during the war, and ArmaLite was established to design small arms using aluminum forgings and fiberglass as means of reducing weight. Stoner’s first significant design, the AR-10 came in 1955. It featured the multi-lugged rotating bolt and direct gas impingement operating system presently featured on the Canadian C-7. The AR-10, in .308/7.62x51 NATO calibre, was much lighter than its conventional contemporaries, the steel and wood FN FAL (FN C1 in Canada) and the U.S. M-14. The in-line design made the AR-10 controllable in full auto mode because the recoil went straight into the shooter’s shoulder. The AR-10 was inherently accurate because it had no cycling gas piston and the multi-lug bolt-head provided a more consistent lock-up than the tilting bolt of the FN and the rotating bolt of the M-14.
The futuristic AR-10 entered late into a crowded field and had only limited commercial success. But the commercial market liked a reduced power cartridge rifle, and in 1957 Stoner downsized the AR-10 into the AR-15 in .223 Remington calibre. The AR-15 was popular with Asian militaries, and the U.S. Air Force ordered a large number of these in 1960 to replace the M2 carbine, with which Air Force ground personnel were equipped. In 1964, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara ordered the U.S. Army to purchase the AR-15, becoming the XM-16E1. The rest is history.
ArmaLite sold the rights to the AR-15 and the patent on the direct impingement system to Colt in 1959. Stoner’s next development was the AR-16/AR-18 rifles. The AR-18 was intended to be the poor country’s AR-15. This rifle was made with stampings instead of forgings; it used the multi-lugged rotating bolt and employed a short-stroke gas piston to cycle the action. The AR-18 was not commercially successful, but its operating system was employed in other firearms, like the British SA-80.
Stoner left ArmaLite for Cadillac-Gage, where he developed the Stoner 63. This platform featured the multi-lugged rotating bolt and a long-stroke gas system, like the AK-47. The idea behind the ’63 was a modular platform that, using the same receiver and operating system, could be configured into a rifle, a carbine, a Bren style light machine gun, a belt-fed light machine gun; and, with a heavy barrel, a medium machine gun mountable on a tripod. The U.S. Navy SEALs adopted the ‘63, and used it in Vietnam. Their preferred configuration was the light, belt-fed machine gun, and was carried by every rifleman in the patrol. Commercially, that’s as far as it got.
In his later years, Stoner joined Knight’s Armament Company where he improved upon his earlier work, the most famous example of which is the SR-25 designated marksman rifle. After Stoner’s death, KAC continued development of the Stoner 63 concept. Optimizing it for the SEAL role, KAC recently came out with the Light Assault Machine gun, in both 5.56 and 7.62 calibres. Both guns are exceptionally light; the 5.56 version being 5 lbs lighter than the C-9, and the 7.62 version 8 lbs lighter than the C-6. The LAMGs do not have quite the sustained fire capability of the C-9 or C-6, but aren’t far behind. Their constant recoil systems enable the shooter to hold the gun on target in full automatic fire
Since “the future will be dangerous and uncertain,” the Canadian army should acquire 500 or 1000 of these LAMGs and experiment with the firepower they provide to the infantry section. They would be outstanding patrol weapons. They are meant to be carried in the assault and have 200 rounds link on tap. They reload as fast as the C-9. In ‘the new environment,’ a section will want more firepower and might need the reach and smack of a 7.62.
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