#63

Knight’s Armament Company has announced a new very light weight belt fed light machine gun – which they have appropriately termed the Stoner X-LMG (for “Extra Light Machine Gun). The new weapon is based on the previous Knight’s LMG, itself a development of the ARES, Inc (unrelated to ARES Defense, now called FightLite Industries) Stoner 86 LMG which itself descended from the famous Stoner 63 Light Machine Gun. Like those weapons, the new Stoner X-LMG is a 5.56mm caliber weapon, but unlike those it achieves a virtually unheard of light weight of just 8.6 pounds, unloaded. The release of the X-LMG was announced via IHS Jane’s, as well as – oddly enough – Turkish gear outlet Öztekin. From IHS Jane’s:

At this point, I’ve written relatively few articles about small arms design in general, due to my time going to a certain other writing project. However, small arms design and theory has always captivated me, since the beginning of my interest in firearms. Ian McCollum’s recent Forgotten Weapons video about the CMG-3 has really excited my interest, as the Colt machine gun design is a virtual incarnation of “best design practices”. The video, which includes disassembly and shooting segments, is embedded below: