Eugene Morrison Stoner (November 22, 1922 â April 24, 1997) was an American firearms designer who is most associated with the development of the ArmaLite AR-15 rifle that was redesigned as a civilian sporting rifle, then modified by Coltâs Patent Firearm Company (now known as Coltâs Manufacturing Company, LLC) for the US military as the M16 rifle.
Stoner, the father of the AR-15 and the M16, is a titan in the world of both military- and civilian-use firearms. If he had done nothing but design the AR-15, his name would go down in history. But, of course, he did so much more than that. In addition to changing the landscape of American firearms, as well as the world stage, Stoner was also the archetypal âself-made American man,â working his way up from nothing on a high school education to forever change the world as we know it.
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