Ulitmax 100 Light Machine Gun

Since we looked at the final (for now) evolution of the venerable Browning 1919 this week, I thought I would also discuss one of the most interesting new (ish) developments in machine guns as well.


This is the Ultimax 100 from The Charted Industries of Singapore. It is a 5.56NATO chambered light machine gun/section support weapon depending on which nomenclature you prefer. It can be fed from a proprietary 100 round drum or 30 round box magazines (Mk 4 and Mk 5 versions accept M16-type mags). The number one difference between the Ultimax and other LMGs is weight. The Ultimax weighs in at about 10.5 pounds (unloaded) compared to the FN Minimi (M249 in US service) at about 17 pounds and the Israeli Negev LMG at 16.5 pounds.

Now there are problems associated with drum magazines. They are almost always expensive, they are bulky (even when empty), some are brittle, most rattle fairly loudly and many have reliability issues. Of course, many box magazines have reliability issues too. The ammo load for a SAW gunner can be between 600-1200 rounds. It would be very difficult to impossible to carry 12 drum mags and even if you could, you wouldn't be climbing mountains, jumping in and out of vehicles or climbing walls. At least not very quickly.


The Ultimax is also said to have a much lower felt recoil than would be expected due to the fact that it uses a constant recoil mechanism. The way that works is that the bolt carrier group travels rearward during the cycle, but never impacts the rear of the receiver. Instead of the jarring impact of metal on metal at hundreds of feet per second, the bolt group is slowly stopped by the action springs. This combined with the balance of the weapon make it very easy to shoot accurately, even at a rate of fire around 600 rounds per minute. With a raked pistol grip and forward grip, the ergonomics have been compared to the Thompson submachine gun. It is a full auto only weapon that uses a striker fired system and fires from the open bolt position to facilitate barrel cooling during auto fire. Most of the variants have a quick change barrel which is vital to any weapon designed for support fire. The cocking lever is on the left side and does not reciprocate when the weapon is fired. The Ultimax has a adjustable bipod and can be fitted with M16 style bayonets and also specialized day or night sights. The buttstock is removable, but in my opinion, the lost accuracy would not be worth the reduction of weight and length.

Here is a video of the Ultimax 100 being fired. Notice the almost complete lack of muzzle rise and the ease in which it is fired. And, I'm not trying to be mean here, but that guy isn't exactly Rambo.





While the design of the Ultimax was completed in 1977 and it has been in service since the early 1980's, it has recently been the focus of several Western Armed Forces, including the USMC. The USMC is currently running the Infantry Automatic Rifle Program for a weapon to replace some of the M249 light machine guns in their squads. The main design deficiency of the M249 in the eyes of the Corps is its weight. Also in competition against the Ultimax 100 are entries from H&K, FN and Colt Defense. (The Ultimax is pretty much not going to win though, despite its many advantages)

Rare Weapons - Stoner 63

The Stoner 63 was designed by the one of the most loved (by some) of all firearms designers, Eugene Stoner, who is most famous for bringing us the AR-15 series of weapons. The Stoner 63 was one of the first weapons to be designed with modularity in mind. From the outset, it was intended as a weapon that would fill the roles of a rifle, carbine, automatic rifle, and light machine gun.
The original prototype was called the M69W, because the receiver is actually turned upside down in the AR and LMG configurations and M69W reads the same upside down. Clever.

The Stoner 63 was ultimately made in 8 different versions although it was often produced as a system with all the barrels, stocks, pistol grip/trigger groups and everything else in the photo above.The main idea was for the weapon's receiver to be invertible to allow it different modes of feeding. As a rifle or carbine, it was fed from the bottom mounted, 30 round, detachable box magazine. In Automatic rifle or Bren gun configuration, it fed from the same type of mag, top mounted. Then the machine gun variant was used its own proprietary disintegrating metal links. Drums and plastic boxes were used, with a 100 to 200 round capacity. Unlike the AR-15, the 63 is operated by a gas piston, which increases weight and felt recoil, but makes the weapon operate cleaner, cooler, and somewhat more reliably.

Automatic Rifle "Bren gun" configuration

If you are not familiar with military small arms you might be thinking to yourself, why the hell is the magazine coming out of the top of the gun? To answer that we go back to WWII. The best of the magazine fed light machine guns or automatic rifles was a Czech design used by the British and Commonwealth forces known as the Bren gun. There are several advantages to the top down magazine system. Namely, you can mount a larger magazine and still go prone. Also the magazine gains some reliability by feeding with gravity instead of working against it. Usually the sights are offset to the right so you can see them clearly.

Stoner LMG with right side feed and short fluted barrel

The belt fed version is the most interesting in my opinion, it is one of the first belt-fed, intermediate caliber light machine guns ever made. For light infantry or special operations troops, this was an important step. In 1963, the M1919 Browning and BAR were still in use.
Not even hard asses can carry either one of those very far without wishing it were lighter. And while the 5.56mm gives up some power and range, you can carry about three times as much. For small units, operating far from resupply, this could be vital. If you look at photos of the Navy SEALs from Vietnam, some times you will see a group and they are all carrying multiple belts of 5.56mm, so that they can achieve high volumes of fire to offset being a small group. Unlike earlier weapons used by US forces, the 63 had a quick change barrel. A machine gun's barrel can be made completely useless if it is fired too fast, for too long. The amount of firing necessary to accomplish this is probably less than you would think.

Rifle configuration, note the gas tube is now above the barrel



The Stoner 63A in the hands of a US Navy SEAL in Vietnam

While the Stoner 63 was evaluated and used by the Marines, SEALs, and US Army Special Forces in Vietnam, no large scale orders were made for it and it has largely faded into obscurity. About 4,000 were made, and some reportedly stayed in service until being replaced by the M249 SAW in the mid 1980's. Today probably less than 50 are in existence. The carbine and rifle versions were fairly heavy because they had the reinforced receiver needed for the LMG version. The design was fairly complex, and is said to need a good deal of maintenance to stay reliable in the Southeast Asian jungles. it ended up that, as a carbine or rifle, it was heavier than the M16, and it was not as powerful as the 7.62mm M60 machine gun. All that being said, it was a revolutionary design, in my opinion at least as good as the AR-15. (Keep in mind the AR-15 has been upgraded and tweaked for many years now.)

Today, Robinson Arms Company makes a similar (looking) weapon, a semi auto rifle, carbine, or Bren type called the M96. However, they are more than $1500.00, so I won't be getting one.
(unless one of you nice folks wants to make a contribution)

The Stoner 63 Family

Rare Weapons- XM-214 Microgun 5.56 NATO

General Electric developed the XM-214 Microgun in the late 1970's in an attempt to make the lightest practical high volume of fire machinegun. . It was based on the successful GE 7.62 NATO M134 Minigun The XM-214 was primarily intended from to be mounted onboard a light helicopter. However, plans to use it on Jeeps and APCs as an anti-ambush weapon and even on infantry tripods for possible use as base defense weapon.

The XM-214 was put together into something called the "6-pak" system, a self-contained weapon that consisted of the gun, firing motor, rechargeable battery good for some 3,000 rounds of continuous fire, electronic control box and special ammunition containers that held 1,000 rounds in two belts. The total weight of the "6-pak" system with 1,000 rounds was 85 pounds, which makes it technically man portable (by a team of 2 or 3, hopefully) .

The XM214 Microgun is an externally operated weapon which uses electrical motor drive to operate its action. The gun operates on Gatling principle, that is it employs a rotary cluster of six barrels, each with its own bolt group. Bolts are moved back and forth behind each barrel as their operating roller passes an internal curved track machined inside the receiver cover. Typically, the topmost barrel in the cluster has its bolt fully open and the bottom barrel in cluster has its bolt fully closed during the firing cycle.

It turned out that the 5.56 cartridge did not have the range or power to be an effective heli-borne weapon or as an anti aircraft gun. Additionally, the rather primitive battery by today's standards hurt the weapon as batteries have tendency to fail or run out most inopportune times.The system was found to be unsuitable for infantry use as the battery unit was very environmentally sensitive as well as lacking sufficient battery life.As a mounted infantry weapon the Brass decided that it had an excessive rate of fire for most infantry applications and if you let a 18 year old use this thing he would likely go through about 1000 rounds opening a C ration can.

Since the gun operates on external power, it is immune to misfired rounds, which are ejected during the normal cycle of operation. The XM-214 is fed through the now standard flexible chute and disintegrating metal links. It was normally fed with two 500-rounds containers, connected to feed switch which automatically switches over to full container once another one is empty; this was to allows for continuous fire, as the empty container would be switched out by the assistant gunner while the Microgun still feeds and fires from another ammo box.

The XM-214 was not adopted in any real numbers by the US Department of Defense and GE removed the weapon from its offerings in 1997. Now for what you have all been wondering: Yes, it is possible that you might be able to pick the weapon up and Jesse Ventura-style fire it.However, the recoil impulse is said to be around 99 lbs on average, with peak recoil being over 220 lbs, so you might look cool but would likely be incontinent later in life from all the shaking this thing would do to you.

I think that this weapon should be resurrected though, mounted on the back of a Stryker or other armored vehicle and with a battery that could be counted on, it would make a extremely effective rear defense weapon. Since it would be normally used against infantry, the somewhat anemic 5.56mm might be a good compromise in weight versus power, enabling the vehicle to carry 2 to 3 times the number of 7.62 rounds.

Guns I Wish I Had (part3) IMI TAR-21

Israeli Military Industries Tavor Assault Rifle- 21st Century, also known simply as the Tavor.


Designed to replace M16 and M4 rifles and carbines, the Tavor is chambered in 5.56NATO and is compatible with STANAG AR-15 magazines and all NATO 5.56 cartridges.

The Israel Defense Forces decided that they were unhappy with the overall performance and characteristics of the M4, especially its high rate of stoppages and overall length. They began a lengthy process to design a new rifle that would be much more reliable with a shorter overall length, while retaining some of the positive features of the AR-15 series.

The TAR 21 is a bull pup-style assault rifle, meaning that the operating group and magazine are located behind the firing hand, decreasing the overall length of the weapon while not reducing the barrel length. This makes the Tavor much easier to use in urban areas (such as Gaza) and when exiting vehicles than longer weapons. The Tavor was also designed with a red dot sight and a IR/visible laser aiming module built into the weapon. It also has a fold-up iron sight.

The ambidextrous safety/selector has a semi auto, burst, and fully automatic mode and the optic powers off when the safety is on. The end result shows that the Tavor is a very accurate and reliable weapon and in addition to the IDF it has been adopted by several Special Forces and SWAT units worldwide, including India, Turkey, Georgia, and Portugal, with more units and Countries likely to adopt in in the future.

The Tavor is offered in 4 variants:
T.A.R. 21--Basic Carbine

G.T.A.R. 21-- Notched barrel version for attaching a 40mm grenade launcher such as the M203

C.T.A.R. 21-- Compact version for Special Forces



S.T.A.R. 21-- Sharpshooter's version with a bi pod and magnified optic scope

Civilian-legal semi automatic versions of the Tavor are being made, although I have yet to see one for sale, and I imagine they will be quite pricey, likely over $2,000. Oh well.

For purposes of comparison, look at this TAR 21 and a SIG 556. As you can see the Tavor is much shorter than this SIG and yet retains the accuracy of a longer weapon.
Fight smarter.