Biography of eugene stoner

American firearms designer (1922–1997)

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 Patent Firearm Company for the United States military as the M16 rifle.

Early life

Stoner was born in Gosport, Indiana, on November 22, 1922. He moved to Long Beach, California where he graduated from Long Beach Polytechnical High School. In 1939, after the Depression, there was not enough money for him to attend college, so he went to work as a machinist for Vega Aircraft Company, the forerunner of what became Lockheed Airplane Company (now the Lockheed Martin Corporation).^[1]

During World War II, he enlisted for Aviation Ordnance in the U.S.

Marine Corps and served in the South Pacific and northern China. In the Corps, he had his first experience of working with heavy-caliber automat