Stoner 63

Development

Eugene Stoner began developing this revolutionary model of small arms in 1962, working as an independent consultant for the Colt company, initially the Colt engineers requested the US Air Force to develop a compact collapsible survival rifle for arming pilots and crew members of aircraft that were shot down or accident victims (adopted finally adopted under the symbol CAR-15 ), from Stoner already had experience in the development of this type of small arms samples, it later turned out that were developed the they had a sample of the weapon foundation for further development, much richer than just a survival rifle for the Air Force ^[8] . At the end of the same year, Stoner headed a group of design engineers of the Cadillac-Gage weapons division, ^[9] where he was tasked with developing a cheap machine gun for the US Army in production and an efficient gun, for this he decided to make a complex with interchangeable elements , combining the basic properties of a rifle and a machine gun - the cheapness and simplicity of a rifle with the ballistic characteristics of a machine gun ^[10] . During the year, the developers made a number of prototypes and successfully conducted their factory tests, by 1963 the weapon was already ready for production ^[11] .

Presentation

In the fall of 1963, the first press screening of the combat capabilities of the complex in all configuration options at the US ILC in Quantico , Virginia, took place . Initially, the complex was designed for a 5.64 mm cartridge ( .223 caliber ), like other small arms developed by Eugene Stoner ^[12] . Subsequently, the barrel and the bolt group were redone to the standard 5.56 mm caliber NATO ammunition ^[3] .

The penetration ability of a 223-caliber bullet (5.64 mm) is sufficient to destroy concrete blocks and break through brick walls ^[13] .

At the same time, the recoil of the weapon is so insignificant that during the display of the combat capabilities of the weapon for the press, the Marine Corps officer demonstrating the Stoner 63 fired holding the carbine in half-bent hands (which is not allowed when shooting from standard samples of hand small arms) with the butt plate butt to the chin and a grip with the left hand behind the store ^[14] .

Production

Stoner 63 was produced by Cadillac Gage. ^[13] Until 1966, production was concentrated in Costa Mesa , California , after which it was relocated to Warren , Michigan. ^[15] During the Vietnam War, reports of naval officers on the operation of the Stoner 63 in Vietnam were sent directly to the Cadillac Gage Design Bureau in Warren, ^{[16] the} number of design changes in 1968-1970. reached two or three modernizations during the year, ^[17] - for example, the quick disassemble pin of the breech block tended to fall out from vibration loads, which threatened to spontaneously drop the entire bolt group from the machine gun’s body and could lead to firing without pressing the trigger. After this feature, one SEAL fighter was killed on a boat by accidentally releasing a queue in his chest, protection from a fool was immediately introduced into the design - instead of a smooth pin, they began to use a screw lock, called "dead man's pin", which made disassembling the weapon longer, at the same time, thanks to him, such incidents became impossible ^[18] .

With the exception of barrels, the production of which was organized at state-owned arsenals, all other nodes of this type of armament are made of sheet steel by cold stamping without any tricks and can be produced in any metalworking workshop without special equipment ^[13] .

A feature of the Stoner 63 complex is the possibility of modifying it from one type of infantry small arms to another “on the knee”, in the field. For reconfiguring weapons from one option to another, special tools are not required, just one cartridge is enough ^[13] .

The Stoner 63 rifle complex consists of 16 interchangeable assemblies and includes the following six basic options for their configuration (six-in-one) and a number of intermediate options ^{[3] [12] [13]} :

• (1) Assault Rifle (Rifle)

• Automatic Rifle
• Semi-Automatic Rifle (Semi-Automatic Rifle)

• (2) Carbine

• Submachine Gun (Machine Pistol)

• Light machine gun (Light Machine Gun)

• (3) with top linkless store (carob) food (LMG Magazine Fed)
• (4) with side belt feed out of the box (LMG Belt Fed)

• (5) Medium Machine Gun on a Tripod Machine (Medium Machine Gun)
• (6) Tank / aircraft machine gun (Fixed Machine Gun)

• with vertical fire control knobs and trigger arms
• with electric start

85% of the weapon parts for any configuration are completely interchangeable, in particular, the bolt group , the chamber and the trigger mechanism ^[13] are the same (except for parts that can only be used in one or another version, such as vertical fire control handles with trigger for option “Machine gun”, tripod machine M2M122 for the option “ medium machine gun ” or bipod for the option “ light machine gun ”). The receiver of the receiver can be easily adapted to power from any side - lower, upper, side left and right. The standard type of power supply in the “carbine” and “rifle” variants is a sector magazine with 30 rounds, while the M16 adopted for service in 1962, for another seven years, had a magazine for 20 rounds until 1969. In the “light machine gun” variant, disk stores with tape power for 75, 100 and 150 rounds of ammunition are used (the latter was produced only for the US Navy at the final stage of the Vietnam War). In the easel version, the weapon is fed from a metal tape from a plastic box with 150 rounds. In the “light machine gun” variant, it is also possible to use food from a box docked to the machine gun. In tank or aircraft versions, linear feed is applied by means of a flexible sleeve. In case of overheating of the barrel or other urgent need to replace it, it is undocked from the body of the weapon by pressing the button without much effort and replaced with another just as easily ^[13] .

To transform weapons from rifle to machine gun configurations, a standard barrel is removed and replaced with a thickened barrel, the weapon is turned up and down, as a result of which the gas pipe is under the barrel, the pistol grip is disconnected from above and attached from below. The “light machine gun” version is equipped with a transfer handle that deviates vertically downward or 90 ° to the left. In the “light machine gun” and “ machine gun ” versions, part of the receiver parts and the receiver cover are interchangeable with the M60 machine gun , which is very convenient for replacing these parts in the event of a malfunction ^{[19] [20]} .

In addition to all of the above, a weapon in any configuration can be used as a rifle-type grenade launcher for firing standard rifle grenades under a blank cartridge as a propelling charge. The Stoner 63 base model provides effective fire in all configurations for distances up to 400 yards (365 meters). ^[13] Subsequently, the indicated value was increased for advanced production models.

The shutter is unique in its kind, for use in the assault rifle and carbine versions, an open shutter is used, which, by replacing several parts, was converted into a closed shutter for machine gun fire (although an open shutter can also provide fully automatic fire by replacing four parts). Due to the unique shutter, all of the configuration options listed above provide both tape and magazine supply with cartridges of the M193 ( shell ) and M196 ( tracer ) type. ^[3] In the "assault rifle" and "carbine" versions, the complex supports automatic and semi-automatic fire modes ^[12] . On the gas pipe there is a rate of fire controller, which has three positions - 750, 900 and 1000 rounds per minute ^[1] (the version with a shortened barrel has only two positions - 750 and 900). In the “carabiner” version, the stock can be folded, fixed on a latch, for example, to fit a soldier to the body before landing by parachute or for other purposes. In this form, the weapon can be used as a submachine gun for arming the crews of military vehicles and the like ^[13] . For the top store food, as on British Bren machine guns, a remote-mounted sight is used. Top power is used not to be compared by the British military, but to provide a more squat frontal silhouette of a shooter pressed to the ground, but in this configuration and position for shooting (when lying as close to the ground as possible, the elbows are widely spaced apart) the weapon was practically not used ^[21] . The barrel in its front part outside has four stamped grooves in the form of a groove, increasing the total area of ​​the barrel surface being cooled and accelerating the process of air cooling ^[22] . The reload lever (shutter handle) is located directly under the barrel in front, it is also the lever for disconnecting the barrel ^[23] . The fuse is located behind the trigger guard ^[24] . The accuracy of the weapon battle when firing in bursts is phenomenal. Very weak recoil allows for accurate automatic fire in a long and continuous burst, unsurpassedly accurate in comparison with any other serial models of American small arms ^[25] . The belt allows you to fire at close distances from the hip, but at the same time limits the ability to aim, as it covers the front of the sight, but according to the SEAL fighters who used the Stoner 63 in combat, this absolutely did not stop them from firing without applying cheek to the sight, and for aimed fire at medium and long distances, the front swivel was simply twisted sideways so that the belt would not interfere with the quick aiming when shooting offhand ^[26] .

Tests

March 30, 1964 US Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara ordered the purchase of 60 units of the Stoner 63 in the "rifle" and 20 subassemblies for testing the U.S. ILC. For the US Air Force, Stoner developed, on the basis of the Stoner 63, a collapsible survival rifle from the experience of the previously created AR-7 (the model for pilots and crews was so unique that it only became known in 1994, one copy was kept in a private collection in Charleston ) An air machine gun based on the Stoner 63 (two outboard machine-gun gondolas with three trunks each) based on the Stoner 63 for arming counter-guerrilla AT-37 aircraft, which was tested at the Eglin air base in the winter of 1963-1964, was also developed for the Air Force. unsatisfactory results in terms of the number of misfires for reasons beyond the control of the weapon - due to the frequent rupture of machine gun belt links. For the British Armed Forces , a special bullpup version was developed with a store and a bolt group in the butt, one and a half times shorter than the standard version for the US Armed Forces, but failed to interest the British ^[8] .

In the configuration of the “machine gun” configuration, the Army and the United States Marine Corps carried out joint tests of this type of weapon (the Stoner 63 Army was interested as a machine gun), in the “rifle” and “carbine” versions, the KMP was based on the army test shooting range. The test program was funded by the two armed forces in a 50/50 principle. At the stage of field tests, the weapon did not cause any complaints ^[3] . After joint tests of the Army and the ILC, taking into account the changes introduced in the design of the base model, the latest model received the designation Stoner 63A.

Nevertheless, the complex was never adopted for armament of linear units, and it fell into Vietnam as a limited party in 1967, having been only in the hands of special forces of the Navy (not all, but only SEAL, while UDT units still armed with M1 ) rifles ^[27] , which tested it in combat conditions in all possible configuration options ^[28] and gave it an excellent characteristic, according to veterans of special units of the Navy, Stoner 63 “increased firepower like no other weapon”, “after how you got used to him, you fell in love with this weapon and refused any other. ” Sergeant R. Lee Ermey , who fought there as part of the marine corps, who personally forced the rearmament from M14 to M16 , subsequently lamented in his weapons television program: “Why is he still not in our arsenal? I don’t know this is a hell of a great weapon " ^[29] . The command of the Marine Corps considered the adoption of the Stoner 63 as a standard small arms and conducted tests in 1963-1964, but budgetary restrictions did not allow this, instead of the Stoner 63, the KMP acquired another deck aircraft ^[30] . Along with the army, which completed its tests by September 2, 1964, weapons were tested in the same year by the Agency for Advanced Military Development , which also showed no interest in the revolutionary system. Subsequently, the army and the ILC conducted repeated tests of the modified weapon model, which started in January 1968 and ended in February, which also did not lead to anything ^[31] .

Combat use

The SEAL platoon consisted of two sections of seven each, a total of 14 people in the platoon, of which eleven lower ranks and three officers. One compartment accounted for three Mk 23s (all three, as a rule, in the “light machine gun” version), two M60s , one automatic machine (M14, M16 or Soviet AKM ) and one CAR-15 carbine ^[32] . Thus, having ten machine guns at its disposal, of which six were Mk 23, a SEAL platoon of fourteen sailors had firepower comparable to a company of light infantry in the amount of hundreds of soldiers ^{[33] [34]} . For raid-ambush operations and searches in the jungle on foot (since SEAL, unlike the Marine Corps, did not have armored vehicles), all its participants, except the radio operator , carried an increased ammunition load of 500 rounds per person, some carried an additional 100 cartridges instead of a flask with water (the IRP was not taken with them) and were wrapped with machine gun tapes with an overlap ^{[35] [36]} . The rounded plastic store of increased capacity was a deeply modified disk store from the Soviet RPD machine gun and its Chinese copy of the “Type 56”, which were both very popular among the American military, who captured them as military trophies ^[37] , except for the RPD, Chinese unloading vests were popular type 58 ”, which allowed carrying additional ammunition in breast pockets ^[38] . SEAL fighters, with the approval of their superiors, were re-armored in a semi-artisanal way: the side wall was cut off from factory shops by 100 rounds, the store’s body was increased by soldering an additional volume, resulting in stores with a capacity of up to 180 rounds, which however significantly violated the alignment of the weapon, since the center of gravity of a fully loaded weapon shifted in the direction of the added volume, but this did not bother anyone, since in the jungle the fire was fired mostly blindly (by sound) at very close races -being ^[39] . During the Vietnam War, Cadillac-Gage engineers responded to military requests and to stop using home-made stores, they developed a serial disk store with 150 rounds of ammunition ^[40] . Disk and box magazines equip quite simply and quickly: a cover is removed from them and a metal machine gun belt wound with a spiral is inserted inside, after which the cover closes and the store is ready for loading. Some fighters put a home-made butt or even dismantled it, but this very unbalanced the weapon, making it practically impossible to aim fire from it ^[41] . A great advantage in Vietnam and in any other combat situation is the ability to carry weapons on a belt, having previously placed them on a combat platoon - with a weapon on the guard, the presence of a cartridge in the barrel with a cocked drummer is safe for movement in a marching column and in other situations, allowing by pressing a finger, remove the weapon from the fuse and immediately open fire on suddenly appearing targets ^[42] . As part of the Phoenix program, Mk 23 armed the officers and foremen of SEAL, who served as advisers to provincial intelligence units, using the dagger mainly from an ambush (an ambush with an L-shaped combat order became the main and most effective way of conducting SEAL combat operations in Vietnam) ^[43] . According to the results of the application in Vietnam, the complex was equipped with a flash suppressor for firing at night without outbreaks of shots ^{[44] [45]} .

315 copies were sent to the Netherlands , where the local company NWM De Kruithoorn NV was experimenting with equipping them with retractable butts from MP40 submachine guns or Soviet AKMS assault rifles .

Weaknesses

Operation of weapons in combat revealed a number of shortcomings ^[46] . The big problem was the frequent misfires during the power supply of the weapons in the early production models, which could not be completely eliminated during further development, due to the fact that the ejector was not reliably synchronized with the reflector, which often led to reflection of the links of the tape, and sometimes the sleeves are not outward, but inward, back to the chamber with delays resulting from this when firing, poking a cartridge or a shot cartridge case across the chamber, etc. But if the misfire itself was quite easy to eliminate the banal having pulled the reload lever and pulled out the jammed ammunition, the feed mechanism failed from one or two pokes, which was almost impossible to replace in a combat situation, as the sailors regularly faced this problem, this turned the weapon into a "13-pound metal club." ^[47]

Reliability and unpretentiousness were not the main priorities in the development of small arms in the United States, ballistic qualities (accuracy and accuracy of the battle, firing range, etc.) were always in the first place. Therefore, like all the small arms developed by Eugene Stoner, including the M16, the Stoner 63 was not unpretentious. On the contrary, his “capriciousness” was an important negative factor - he had to be regularly and very carefully taken care of, according to the sailors, in order for it to function properly, he had to “babysit” with him, after each use it was necessary to clean the powder deposit from the gas tube and the entire bolt group, otherwise delays were inevitable. In the conditions of Vietnam, this was difficult to do, because the soot, cooling, quickly crystallized and hardened. To scrape it off in such a state, great effort was required ^[48] .

• Berthier (automatic rifle)
• URZ AP

• Description of Stoner 63 assault rifles on weapon.at.ua
• Description of machine guns Stoner 63 on the site fire-arms.ru

Video

• The Stoner Machinegun: A Navy Seal Remembers (SEAL veteran Lieutenant Commander Michael J. Walsh, USN (Ret.) (31:40) Narrated by Jerry Tarble, 1994.
• Unicorn Guns: Stoner 63 Full Auto LMG / Assault Rifle (C. Reed Knight Jr., Principal of the Institute of Military Technology, Titusville, Florida) . (5:44) by Jerry Miculek, 2014.
• GunnyTime: The Stoner 63 Machinegun (R. Lee Ermey and Craig Sawyer discussing the Stoner 63 machinegun , (6:39) Presented by Glock, Inc. , Outdoor Channel, 2017.