Weapon Name- Argus Stoner 63
Round Type- 5.56mm Wild
Over-all length- 30 inches, 24.5 inches
Barrel length- 20 inches, 14.5 inches
Weight- 10.3 lb, 7.5 lb
Rate of Fire- 600 RPM
Feed Mechanism- Detachable Box Magazine
Round Capacity- 30, 100+ Belt
Effective Range- 600 meters
Range- 1200 meters
Accuracy- 1 MOA
Accessories- Picatinny Rails
Quick switch firing mechanism- N/A
Scope/Sights- Picatinny Rails, 4.2 x 34mm
Muzzle Velocity- 870 m/s (2350 joules, 6.2 grams), 800 m/s (1980 joules, 6.2 grams)
Firing System- Stoner 63 Long stroke gas piston
Miscellaneous/electronic information- The weapon is essentially a bullpup Stoner 63 with a long stroke gas piston, a detachable barrel, and capable of being belt fed, while being chambered in a higher powered 5.56mm x 45mm NATO cartridge.
Basic Information
The weapon is essentially bullpup Stoner 63 with a long stroke gas piston, using a slightly modified 5.56mm x 45mm NATO cartridge. It makes extensive use of high strength polymers and composites, which significantly reduce it's weight. With carbine, SAW, and standard configurations available, it is capable of fulfilling a broad array of roles. With a somewhat unique firing system and cartridge, it is essentially a low recoil long stroke gas piston based on the Stoner 63, and designed to be converted easily between light machine gun and carbine variants, but is bullpup and better sealed off from the environment. The parts are also slightly larger, to allow for looser tolerances and reduce the amount of cleaning that is needed. The firearm has a quick detachable barrel, which allows for a quick switch between carbine and SAW barrels, being useful both for the light machine gun variant, as well as the ability to switch between different versions of the firearm. The carbine and standard barrels are approximately 1 pound, while the light machine gun barrel is approximately 4 pounds and is fluted. Due to the nitrided barrel, inherently accurate firing system, and low mass of the recoiling parts, the weapon is inherently accurate and controllable, allowing it to be useful as both a marksmen weapon and light machine gun. The low recoil allows the weapon to accurately hit targets in rapid fire, which improves the suppression capabilities by getting closer to the targets.
The barrel is a 1 in 7 inch /254mm (1 in 7 inch / 177.8mm right hand twist 6 groove barrel) free floating hammerforged 4150 chrome moly nitride treated barrel. The barrel is heavy and accurized, designed to increase the range of the weapon and it's resistance to heat, which helps increase it's capabilities in regards to sustained fire. While Chrome Moly barrels typically have a shorter barrel life than equivalent stainless steel barrels, the titanium nitride coating increases the hardness of the steel, and thus it's durability; combined with the hammer forging and polygonal rifling, this gives the barrel a considerably longer life in comparison to standard Chrome Moly barrels, lasting approximately 10,000 rounds in comparison to the generally shorter, 5000 round life, while still maintaining all the advantages of a chrome moly barrel. The barrel uses plasma nitriding to thinly coat the barrel in a corrosion resistant materiel, which is also much harder than the base material, which significantly increases barrel life. Compared to Chrome plating, nitriding is a much more uniform process, which leaves substantially less variation in the barrel surface, or less bumps and imperfections, which means a smoother, more precise fit between the bullet and the barrel, which increases accuracy. The Nitriding proccess is the closest fit to the barrel as possible, which while less accurate than a barrel with no coating at all, provides more corrosion resistance than an untreated barrel (and about as much as Chrome), which is important considering a normal barrel would fail under ordinary environmental conditions, such as exposure to water, which can cause various metals to warp or rust. The nitride finish is also more heat resistant than a standard chrome lined barrel, increasing the barrel's durability to heat and thus it's ability to maintain sustained fire in combat. Being much heavier than an ordinary barrel, it's large size naturally serves as a heat sink, which decreases it's temperature in sustained use. However, while Chrome barrels would start to crack or flake if the temperature of the barrel was increased to only a few hundred degrees, the nitrided barrels are capable of much more rapid sustained fire (which increases the heat of the weapon), making the weapon more suitable to harsh combat conditions.
The Stoner 63 series of weapons are long stroke piston driven, air-cooled, belt or magazine-fed and in rifle and carbine configuration, fire from a closed bolt to ensure maximum accuracy, or in machine gun mode, fire from the open bolt position to prevent cook-offs and enhance cooling. Incorporated into the bolt carrier/piston group is an anti-bounce device, consisting of a 4 in (101.6 mm) carbide rod that rides within the piston extension’s hollow interior and moves back and forth during the recoil and counter-recoil cycles, reducing bolt bounce and preventing the possibility of firing out of battery during closed bolt firing (in the Rifle/Carbine models). The Stoner 63 has a unique buffering system contained within the bolt carrier. In front of the carrier cap are a steel shim and a set of 27 saucer-shaped Belleville washers oriented in opposing sets of three, which absorb energy from the piston stroke by deforming into a flat plate when the bolt carrier strikes the receiver’s end cap. When the plates return to their original shape they release a pulse of strain energy which propels the reciprocating parts forward in counter-recoil with a speed only slightly below that of the original recoil velocity. The plates will function without failure for between 40,000 and 50,000 rounds (depending upon the type of ammunition used and cyclic rates employed). This feature was designed to extend the weapon’s service life. The recoil is virtually absent, allowing the weapon to fire accurately in rapid fire, allowing for extremely accurate follow up shots in rapid fire. The higher accuracy and range of the more powerful 5.56mm cartridge allows for a longer range and higher power, making it more viable at long ranges and against heavier barriers, as well as giving it more stopping power.
The weapon uses a slightly modified, improved version of 5.56mm x 45mm NATO cartridge with a longer .223 bullet, and more powerful gun powder, typically paired with a high strength aluminum case. The 5.56mm Wild cartridge has a 6.2 gram g (95 gr) bullet and a muzzle velocity of 870 m/s (2,850 ft/s, 2350 joules) from a standard 20 inch barrel, and 800 m/s (2624 ft/s, 1984 joules) from a 14.5 inch carbine length barrel. It has an effective range of 600 meters and can penetrate 3 mm steel plates at a distance of 1000 meters. It has a maximum range of 1500 meters, maintaining 1 MOA of accuracy until the round crosses the super sonic barrier. The firearm uses the same gun powder as the .25-45 Sharps and a slightly thicker aluminum case, allowing it to produce 2350 joules from the same sized case, with 28-30 grains of powder, in comparison to 1800 joules with the 5.56mm, generating 30% more energy. The round is 95 grains (6.2 grams), and has a BC of .6, giving it a far longer range the standard 5.56mm cartridge, and a comparable range to the 7.62mm NATO, allowing it to serve in the general purpose machine gun role and be used far behind enemy lines. The cartridge is still super sonic out to 1500 yards, vs. 550 yards for the 5.56mm x 45mm NATO and 850 yards for the 7.62mm x 51mm NATO, and still has 1000 joules of energy at 700 yards vs. 150 yards for the 5.56mm and 600 yards for the 7.62mm x 51mm NATO, finally maintaining 500 joules at 1300 yards, while the 5.56mm has the same at 350 yards, and the 7.62mm NATO at 1000 yards. While having more energy than the standard 7.62mm NATO round at approximately 500 yards and beyond, it is still a lighter weight bullet, and thus has less momentum, inertia, and force, but it is far greater than the 5.56mm. The flat trajectory, high energy and good accuracy allows it to be more useful at long ranges, thus serving well in the general purpose role.
The weapon utilizes magazines similiar the magpul magazine, although designed slightly differently to accommodate for the belt fed mechanism of the firearm. When a magazine is loaded the firearm automatically switches to being fed from the belt fed mechanism to the magazine, and vice versa when a belt is loaded, it automatically moves a switch that allows the round to be loaded. The magazines can comfortably hold approximately 30 rounds, or the same as 5.56mm magazines, although it is slightly lighter weight at 10.2 grams in comaprison to 12.3 grams, being approximately 20% lighter weight. In addition, a redesigned bolt catch notch in the rear of the magazine provides increased bolt catch clearance, while an over-travel stop on the spine helps ensure the magazine will not over-insert on compatible weapons. Low profile ribs and new aggressive front and rear texture gives positive control of the GEN M3 in all environments, and a paint pen dot matrix has been added to the bottom panel of the body to allow easy marking by the end user for identification. The new, easy to disassemble flared floorplate aids extraction and handling of the magazine while providing improved drop protection, but is slightly slimmer than before for better compatibility with tight double and triple magazine pouches. An included pop-off Impact/Dust Cover can optionally be used to minimize debris intrusion and protect against potential damage to the top cartridge during storage and transit. Durable dual-side transparent windows allow for quick determination of approximate number of rounds remaining in the magazine. Utilizing a high visibility indicator coil on the spring and numerical markers on the magazine body, the MagLevel™ system provides positive verification without affecting the durability or reliability of the magazine.
Each barrel possess a muzzle break designed after the surefire muzzlebreak. Though there are numerous ways to measure the energy of a recoil impulse, in general a 10% to 50% reduction can be measured. Besides reducing felt recoil, one of the primary advantages of a muzzle brake is the reduction of muzzle rise. This lets a shooter realign a weapon's sights more quickly. This is relevant for fully automatic weapons. The weapon also possess a hydraulic recoil buffer similiar to that in the M249. The, the design of the weapon and it's straight back recoil impulse, as well as the tighter, more steady grip on the weapon, combined with the impact gel recoil pad, makes the weapon very easy to use and relatively comfortable. The weapon uses a Blackbox round counter that can be hooked up to an LCD screen to show the rounds remaining. The magazines are generally color coded, which provides indication of how many rounds are within each magazine, although loading in another magazine that does not meet the criteria can result inaccurate round counting predictions; the round counter mechanism itself, however, will not falter. The weapon is made from composites and polymers similar to the P90 and XM8, to both reduce the cost and weight as of the weapon, as well increase the durability. The weapon fires from a closed bolt for both maximum accuracy and reliability. The weapon has picatinny rails, and thus an array of different sights are available for the weapon.
