WI no Armalite? More grenade launchers?

WI Eugene Stoner did not have the Armalite AR-15 rifle ready for production as American participation in the Viet Nam War ramped up?
How many American soldiers would continue to carry M-14 rifles?
How many would carry M2 Carbines?
How many would carry Submachine guns?
How many would carry shotguns through the jungle?
How many would carry M-79 teenage launchers?
How many would carry double-barrelled grenade launchers with flèchettes in the left barrel and fragmentation in the right barrel?
How many would carry pump-action grenade launchers?

Sorry folks, but I was reading Anthony Williams essay about recent developments with grenade launchers ....
 
NATO's 1951 22mm Grenade standardization predated what Stoner was doing with the AR-10 in 1955, so even though the M14 could fire grenades from the muzzle, the M79 Bloop gun was developed.

The M14 was to replace the BAR, M1 and M2 carbines, and the Grease Gun.

it never did replace the M3 in armored units.

So Vietnam you would have M14, M79, pump shotguns, and M21 sniper rifles based on the Remington 700
 
That rifle didn't do well in the company size tests the Marines did in Vietnam, but maybe with more development it could have been something.

That's what I was thinking, a more developed Stoner 63. It was about as battle ready as the original M16 was when it was shipped out: Fail-tastic.

Thing about the Stoner 63 that raises interesting possibilities is it was an entire infantry weapons system, rather than just a service rifle.

If they can work out the bugs in all four configurations, it could revolutionize the way the Defense Department equips the infantry a lot sooner.

A multi-configuration weapon would save the DoD quite a few bucks that could be spent elsewhere, going forward.

Of course, post-Vietnam conversion to a better general infantry round than that piece of garbage 5.56x45mm would also help immensely, but this thread's just regarding possible alternatives to the AR-15, so...
 
There was lots of interest in a small calibre high velocity infantry round from the US Army. The 5.56x45mm round might not be the final selection, but something in that vein would be. If no AR-15, some other rifle is designed to fire it. Knowing the US Army, a scaled-down version of the M14 seems probable - that's not too far from the Winchester Automatic Rifle above.
 
That's what I was thinking, a more developed Stoner 63. It was about as battle ready as the original M16 was when it was shipped out: Fail-tastic.

Thing about the Stoner 63 that raises interesting possibilities is it was an entire infantry weapons system, rather than just a service rifle.

If they can work out the bugs in all four configurations, it could revolutionize the way the Defense Department equips the infantry a lot sooner.

A multi-configuration weapon would save the DoD quite a few bucks that could be spent elsewhere, going forward.

Of course, post-Vietnam conversion to a better general infantry round than that piece of garbage 5.56x45mm would also help immensely, but this thread's just regarding possible alternatives to the AR-15, so...

One can't really compare the two systems. The faults of the early M16's were not a problem of the weapons designers. They were self induced by the Army who demanded unnecessary changes. The Stone 63's problems are design problems.

I doubt the Stoner even if adopted would have much impact on the Army's ideas for infantry. That service's leadership just didn't think the equipment of the average infantry was very important. They were fixated on high-tech systems like nuclear missiles, attack helicopters, new tanks, and such. Also IMO the basic idea behind a multi-configuration weapon like the Stoner was set up for failure. It's inevitable that's a system like that has compromises that sole purpose weapons wouldn't.

There isn't anything wrong with the 5.56 round. It does everything the Army wanted it to. Outside of some specialized special forces units that require a heavier round there is no need for anything else when infantry units are so heavy equipped with 7.62 GP machine guns. At the time the 5.56 was adopted the M60 was included in each Army/Marine squad. Even today a infantry company has access to a platoon worth of M240 series weapons to give them longer reach.
 
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