April 24/article

Eugene Morrison Stoner passed away on this day in 1997 at the age of 74. The man most associated with the design of the AR-15, which was modified and adopted by the US military as the M16, is regarded by most historians, along with John Browning and John Garand, as one of the United States’ most successful military firearms designers of the 20th century. He is also, along with the Soviet designer Mikhail Kalashnikov, considered by some historians as one of the two men whose work most shaped the events of the last half of the 20th century. The prolific designer of rifles began work in the aircraft industry before taking his expertise, along with plenty of new notions about engineering and alloys, to ArmaLite where his career in firearms design really took off. (Read more ...)