Knight's Armament Company LAMG
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Knight's Armament Company Light Assault Machine Gun (LAMG) is a
light machine gun A light machine gun (LMG) is a light-weight machine gun designed to be operated by a single infantryman, with or without an assistant, as an infantry support weapon. LMGs firing cartridge (firearms), cartridges of the same caliber as the othe ...
system developed by
Eugene Stoner Eugene Morrison Stoner (November 22, 1922 – April 24, 1997) was an American machinist and firearms designer who is most associated with the development of the ArmaLite AR-15 rifle that was redesigned and modified by Colt's Manufacturing Compan ...
and manufactured by
Knight's Armament Company Knight's Armament Company (KAC) is an American firearms and firearms parts manufacturer, known for producing the Rail Interface System (RIS) and the Rail Adapter System (RAS) grips for firearms use. The company produces a variety of firearms, ...
(KAC). It was previously known as the Knight's Armament Company LMG. It is the current evolution of the Stoner Light Machine Gun concept.


Development

The KAC LAMG's lineage can be traced back to the
Stoner 63 The Stoner 63 is a 5.56×45mm NATO modular weapon system. Using a variety of modular components, it can be configured as an assault rifle, carbine, top-fed light machine gun, belt-fed squad automatic weapon, or as a vehicle mounted weapon. A ...
, which was designed by
Eugene Stoner Eugene Morrison Stoner (November 22, 1922 – April 24, 1997) was an American machinist and firearms designer who is most associated with the development of the ArmaLite AR-15 rifle that was redesigned and modified by Colt's Manufacturing Compan ...
. The Stoner 63 was a lightweight, highly configurable machine gun that saw heavy use by U.S. Special Forces during the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...
. Though it was highly regarded by small specialized units, the Stoner 63 required a lot of maintenance to run properly; therefore, it was never adopted by standard infantry units. In 1971, Eugene Stoner founded the firearms company
ARES Incorporated Ares Incorporated is an American weapons manufacturer and firearms engineering company co-founded by the American weapons inventor and developer Eugene Stoner in 1971. The company is based in Port Clinton, Ohio, and produces fire control systems ...
. In 1986, Stoner and ARES introduced the ARES LMG-1 (AKA Stoner 86). The LMG-1 was Stoner's concept for a
Squad Automatic Weapon A squad automatic weapon (SAW), also known as a section automatic weapon or light support weapon (LSW), is a man-portable automatic firearm attached to infantry squads or sections as a source of rapid direct firepower. Weapons fulfilling th ...
(SAW). Like the Stoner 63, the LMG-1 was very lightweight, weighing only 12 lb (5.47 kg). It could also accept both an
ammunition belt An ammunition belt is a firearm device used to package and feed cartridges, typically for rapid-firing automatic weapons such as machine guns. Belt-fed systems minimize the proportional weight of the ammunition apparatus to the entire weapon ...
and
STANAG magazine A STANAG magazine or NATO magazine is a type of detachable firearm magazine proposed by NATO in October 1980. Shortly after NATO's acceptance of the 5.56×45mm NATO rifle cartridge, Draft Standardization Agreement ( STANAG) 4179 was proposed i ...
s. Despite its merits, the LMG-1 was never adopted by a military unit. Instead, the
FN Minimi The FN Minimi (short for ; "mini machine gun") is a Belgian 5.56mm or 7.62mm light machine gun, also classified as a squad automatic weapon developed by Ernest Vervier for FN Herstal. Introduced in the late 1970s, it is in service in more than ...
would become the LMG of choice for many militaries around the world, including the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
military. Eugene Stoner would leave ARES Inc. in 1989. In 1990, Eugene Stoner re-emerged on the scene with his partnership with Reed Knight Jr. and Knight's Armament Company (KAC). The two made many groundbreaking products, including the
SR-25 The SR-25 (Stoner Rifle-25) is a designated marksman rifle and semi-automatic sniper rifle designed by Eugene Stoner and manufactured by Knight's Armament Company. The SR-25 uses a rotating bolt and a Stoner bolt and carrier piston gas syste ...
. In 1996, Stoner and Knight's Armament developed the KAC Stoner LMG (AKA Stoner 96). Unlike the Stoner 63 and LMG-1, the Stoner 96 was strictly a belt-fed weapon. The Stoner 96 LMG was extremely lightweight, weighing just under 10 lb (4.5 kg). Following the death of Eugene Stoner in 1997, Knight's Armament Company decided to further improve upon his design. In 2017, Knight's Armament Company unveiled the KAC LMG/LAMG family of machine guns. The LMG (now named, LAMG) is chambered in 5.56×45mm NATO cartridge and the LAMG (now named, AMG) is chambered in 7.62×51mm NATO. Many features on the platform are unlike that of any other
Light Machine Gun A light machine gun (LMG) is a light-weight machine gun designed to be operated by a single infantryman, with or without an assistant, as an infantry support weapon. LMGs firing cartridge (firearms), cartridges of the same caliber as the othe ...
currently available. The LAMG and AMG weigh 11.4 lb (5.1 kg) and 13.9 lb (6.3 kg) respectively. In the design, Knight's Armament implemented the constant recoil system that was originally designed for the
Ultimax 100 The Ultimax 100 is a Singapore-made 5.56mm light machine gun, developed by the Chartered Industries of Singapore (CIS, now ST Kinetics) by a team of engineers under the guidance of American firearms designer L. James Sullivan. The weapon is e ...
. This resulted in the gun being extremely controllable, producing very little felt recoil. Knight's also implemented
Magpul Magpul Industries Corporation is an American designer and manufacturer of high-tech polymer and composite firearms accessories like M-LOK. Magpul Industries takes its name from its first product, the MagPul (Magazine Puller), an accessory for th ...
furniture for enhanced ergonomics. The LAMG and AMG can also be outfitted with sound
suppressor A silencer, also known as a sound suppressor, suppressor, or sound moderator, is a gun barrel#Muzzle, muzzle device that suppresses the muzzle blast, blast created when a gun (firearm or airgun) is discharged, thereby reducing the sound inten ...
s. Currently, there are few military users of the KAC LAMG/AMG system; however, it is highly regarded within the firearms industry as the latest evolution of the light machine gun. Notably, however, recent photos show the KAC LAMG has been adopted by
USASOC The United States Army Special Operations Command (Airborne) (USASOC) is the command charged with overseeing the various Special forces, special operations forces of the United States Army. Headquartered at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, it i ...
in limited quantities, potentially for evaluation purposes.


Design

The LAMG was intended to be lightweight but reliable. It is an open bolt, belt-fed, gas operated, air-cooled light machine gun utilizing the Constant Recoil system found on other machine guns such as
Ultimax 100 The Ultimax 100 is a Singapore-made 5.56mm light machine gun, developed by the Chartered Industries of Singapore (CIS, now ST Kinetics) by a team of engineers under the guidance of American firearms designer L. James Sullivan. The weapon is e ...
, designed by
Stoner 63 The Stoner 63 is a 5.56×45mm NATO modular weapon system. Using a variety of modular components, it can be configured as an assault rifle, carbine, top-fed light machine gun, belt-fed squad automatic weapon, or as a vehicle mounted weapon. A ...
contributor Jim Sullivan. In this system the bolt carrier group is fully decelerated by the return spring before hitting the housing to minimize felt recoil and improve controllability. For this reason, the KAC LAMG lacks a bolt buffer. The belt feed mechanism is a lever-type one, somewhat reminiscent of the vz. 52 and the PK, but with an unusual exposed lever hinged at the side of the receiver swaying horizontally instead of vertically. The top cover above the feed tray is very short to allow for quicker reloading and the mounting a receiver-integral optics rail. The KAC LMG is extremely accurate due to the secure mounting of the “quick change” hammer forged chrome lined barrel.


Variants


ARES LMG-1

Introduced in 1986. Developed by Eugene Stoner and manufactured by ARES Inc.. Featured a magazine feed device, M16A2 pistol grip, and fixed tube stock.


KAC Stoner LMG

Introduced in 1996. Developed by Eugene Stoner and Reed Knight Jr.. Manufactured by Knight's Armament Company (KAC). Simplified derivative of the ARES LMG-1, lacking the magazine feed device. Has shorter barrel and M4 carbine type retractable stock for Close Quarters Battle (CQB) and Picatinny rails for sights/grips/bipods etc.


KAC ChainSAW

The ChainSAW was originally developed in 2008 as a technical exercise to test new ergonomic designs for light machine guns. The ChainSAW was designed to only be fired from the hip, with a handle along the top to hold the firearm (which is mounted instead of a stock) meaning the user would wield the ChainSAW as if they were using an actual chainsaw. As the ChainSAW is intended to be hip-fired, various targeting aids were developed alongside it to aid the aiming and accuracy, although KAC admits that more work on targeting aids will have to be made before the ChainSAW could be produced and used effectively.


KAC LAMG and AMG

Introduced in 2017 in both
5.56×45mm NATO The 5.56×45mm NATO (official NATO nomenclature 5.56 NATO, commonly pronounced "five-five-six") is a rimless bottlenecked centerfire intermediate cartridge family developed in the late 1970s in Belgium by FN Herstal. It consists of the SS109, ...
and
7.62×51mm NATO The 7.62×51mm NATO (official NATO nomenclature 7.62 NATO) is a rimless, straight walled, bottlenecked, centerfire rifle cartridge. It is a standard for small arms among NATO countries. First developed in the 1950s, the cartridge had first be ...
. Both versions feature Magpul polymer pistol grips and butt stocks. Both are constructed of mostly
aluminum Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...
and can be outfitted with Knight's Armament QDC sound suppressors. The AMG variant can be configured to fire
6.5mm Creedmoor The 6.5mm Creedmoor designated as 6.5 Creedmoor by SAAMI, and as 6,5 Creedmoor by the C.I.P. is a centerfire rifle cartridge introduced by Hornady in 2007. It was developed by Hornady senior ballistics scientist Dave Emary in partnership with D ...
as well as .260 Remington, 6.8mm PCP Ammunition polymer case-metal cartridge or .277 True Velocity polymer cased ammo.


Users

* :
USASOC The United States Army Special Operations Command (Airborne) (USASOC) is the command charged with overseeing the various Special forces, special operations forces of the United States Army. Headquartered at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, it i ...


References


External links


The Stoner LMG on KAC's Official SiteStoner 86 patent
{{Knight's Armament Company 5.56×45mm NATO machine guns Squad automatic weapons Machine guns of the United States Long stroke piston firearms