Knight's Armament Company LAMG

The KAC LAMG's lineage can be traced back to the Stoner 63, which was designed by Eugene Stoner. The Stoner 63 was a lightweight, highly configurable machine gun that saw heavy use by U.S. Special Forces during the Vietnam War. 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. 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 (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 and STANAG magazines. Despite its merits, the LMG-1 was never adopted by a military unit. Instead, the FN Minimi would become the LMG of choice for many militaries around the world, including the United States 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. 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 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. This resulted in the gun being extremely controllable, producing very little felt recoil. Knight's also implemented Magpul furniture for enhanced ergonomics. The LAMG and AMG can also be outfitted with sound suppressors.

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 in limited quantities, potentially for evaluation purposes.[5]

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, designed by Stoner 63 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.[2] The KAC LMG is extremely accurate due to the secure mounting of the “quick change” hammer forged chrome lined barrel.

•  United States: USASOC[5]

• The Stoner LMG on KAC's Official Site
• Stoner 86 patent
• Stoner Model 86
• Modern Firearms: ARES Stoner 86 and Stoner 96 / Knights LMG
• KAC LMG