History

The Stoner 63, also known as the XM22/E1, is an American modular weapons system designed by Eugene Stoner in the early 1960s. It was produced by Cadillac Gage and used in very limited numbers in Vietnam by members of the United States Navy SEALs and several law enforcement agencies.

Soon after leaving ArmaLite, Eugene Stoner (one of the nation's most prolific and imaginative modern military small arms designers, responsible for the design of the AR-15/M16 assault rifles, AR-10 battle rifle and AR-5 survival rifle among others) devised a revolutionary concept for a weapons platform that would be built around a common receiver and certain interchangeable components and could be transformed into a rifle, carbine or various machine gun configurations by simply fitting the appropriate parts to the basic assembly.

Stoner managed to solicit the help of Howard Carson, in charge of Cadillac Gage's West Coast plant in Costa Mesa, California (where Armalite was also located), in convincing the company's president, Rusell Baker, of the feasibility and commercial potential of his new weapons system. Russell obliged and Cadillac Gage (a subsidiary of the Ex-Cell-O Corporation) established a small arms development branch in Costa Mesa. Stoner then recruited his two principal aides at Armalite: Robert Fremont and James L. Sullivan (who would later go on to design the Ultimax 100 light machine gun for the Chartered Industries of Singapore).

The first working prototype was chambered in 7.62x51mm NATO and completed in 1962. It was designated the Stoner M69W (for no other reason than when turned upside down it reads the same, symbolizing Stoner's vision of a fully invertible receiver). A second prototype called the Stoner 62 was fabricated before the team decided to focus on the promising new 5.56x45mm small caliber high-velocity cartridge, as it appeared the new round was gaining mainstream military approval. At that time the weapon became known as the Stoner 63. No more than 200 guns were manufactured at the Costa Mesa facility before production was transferred to the Cadillac Gage plant in Warren, Michigan. The weapon is covered under U.S. Patent 3,198,076.

Even very early on in its development stage, a small number of weapons were hurriedly pressed into service with the U.S. Navy SEALs deployed to Southeast Asia.[3] During 1967, the Stoner 63A system was field tested by Company L (Lima Company), 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division. Riflemen were issued the weapon in the Rifle configuration (in both 63 and 63A variants, designated XM22 and XM22E1 respectively), while officers and certain other personnel received the Carbine (XM23). The Automatic Rifle configuration was deployed on a limited basis in the squad automatic role, while Lima's weapons platoon received both the LMG and MMG configurations.

In 1967, Dutch firm NWM (Nederlandsche Wapen-en Munitiefabriek) De Kruithoorn N.V. of 's-Hertogenbosch acquired licensing rights to manufacture and sell the weapon worldwide with the exception of the United States, Canada and Mexico. NWM assembled several prototypes but the company failed to secure any export customers and the weapon was withdrawn.

In 1970, the U.S. Army designated the Commando configuration XM207 and issued it to select Army Special Forces units for evaluation. However, due to its complexity and high maintenance requirements (especially when compared to the new M16), the design was rejected, and the project was dropped in 1971. Around 4,000 63 and 63A units were built in total. Most of them continued to see use by U.S. Navy SEAL teams, under the designation M63A1. However, by the late 1980s the Stoner 63 was completely phased out in favor of the new M249 SAW, and most of the remaining guns were destroyed. Today, surviving models number in the dozens.

Singleplayer/Co-Op

 The Stoner 63 can very rarely be found on Redemption from fallen friendly characters.

Multiplayer

Damage 40 (MP)
 
Damage Multipliers 1.4 Head, 1.0 Neck, Chest, Abdomen, Limbs
 
Magazine Size 30 (60 with extended mags)
 
Unlocked at Classified LMG
 
Cost  2000 CP
 
Starting Ammunition 90
 
Reload Time 3.2, 3.8 Empty
 
Rate of Fire 937.5
 
Fire Mode Automatic 
 

The Stoner 63 is a "Classified" weapon, meaning it is unlocked by buying all other light machine guns. It has a high rate of fire and relatively low recoil, but a small magazine size, therefore many users use Scavenger or Extended Mags. Also of note is that due to the Stoner63's 40 damage and very high rate of fire, it has the highest damage per second of any gun in the game. This coupled with its decently low recoil makes it perfect for close-to-mid range combat, and also great if burst fired for long distances. It is somewhat difficult to unlock, being a classified weapon, but if the player spends the money to obtain it they will gain an extremely effective weapon at all ranges.

Challenges