The Stoner System
 

I didn't realise that the Stoner uses proprietary magazines and will not accept STANAG mags. That's a bit of a bummer. I'm fairly sure the Stoner magazine won't fit in ARs either.

Definitely not compatible in either direction. The Stoner uses a "rock-in" style magazine, and has locator tabs on the magazine sides (to keep the magazine from going too far into the receiver).

I'll scan the "engineering changes" book I have, it shows 20- and 30-round Stoner magazines.

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Michael B.

Here's the scan of Stoner magazines. Note the small tab protruding on the front "top" -- that and the side lugs will stop this from going into an AR15/M16 magazine well (presuming that the general "sheet metal" dimensions were otherwise STANAG-compliant).

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Michael B.

Another issue: the Stoner LMG uses a proprietary S-63 disintegrating metallic link that’s not compatible with the M27 link that the M249 SAW uses. The M249 SAW entered U.S. Army service in 1984, but most production (and adoption) was delayed until the very late 1980s.

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Michael B.

I was coming to post this, it's worth noting if they capture belts from the KFS Army.

My research on the Stoner 63 and the M27 link says that it may not work reliably because of the different angle of pitch. This sounds like the Stoner 63 could use M27 linked ammo, but with greater misfire and jamming.

I'm thinking that with the last upgrade of all the caches they might straight out pull out the Stoners and replace them with M4s, M16s and M249s. This will, however, make Project teams difficult to tell apart from US Military teams. Is there some other 2013 weapon system that uses STANAG magazines and belts?

Lots! Of course you get the whole "how do you use this weapon, sight, accessory, etc." issue (probably not a big issue, but I'm not sure magazine compatibility is a big issue either). Or, just add a lot of empty Stoner magazines to some caches.

Weapons that aren't AR-15 under another name, which use STANAG 5.56mm magazines: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STANAG...16_type_rifles

Some weapons that use NATO standard 5.56mm belted ammunition:

• M249 SAW, L110A1 or Minimi
• HK23E
• Daewoo K3

The Ultimax 100 uses a proprietary drum holding 100 rounds of 5.56mm ammo (no links), and lately the Beta C-Mag (which also holds 100 rounds).

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Michael B.

The Stoner can be modified to take Stanag magazines. the belt fed portion can also be slightly modifird to take M27 link.

I'm pretty sure you're correct on both -- the magazine adapter is part of the rifle or carbine forestock assembly, although the geometry of magazine lips, etc. can be important for reliable feeding. I'm not certain that "just" changing the adapter would be sufficient -- you might have to alter other internal parts, as well.

But is opening every bolthole, and many of the caches, to replace all the weapons, magazines, and linked ammunition worthwhile to make the system compatible with magazines and ammunition that may no longer be widely available 5 years after the atomic war (plus 4 edition catastrophes)?

Of course, the Project never gets caught in a security boo-boo, since opening and closing boltholes, etc. all takes place as "backstory" ...

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Michael B.

I think there's not really that many bolt-holes, and compared to the big bases which I assume are not at any point sealed before the disaster occurs the job of updating the kit would be fairly easy.