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Hello, this is XboxAhoy and this is the thirty-seventh episode of my Black Ops weapon guide.
The following information is classified.
In this episode we're covering the Stoner63.
It's a fully automatic weapon, unlocked once you've purchased all of the other LMGs.
The Stoner 63 is an American weapon - named for its lead designer, Eugene Stoner: the
mind behind the M16 rifle.
The Stoner 63 was one of his later designs, with the first models produced in 1963.
The concept was for a flexible weapon platform that could be used in a number of configurations
- from carbine, through assault rifle to machine gun, and everything in-between.
After leaving Armalite and instead working with Cadillac Gage, Stoner produced his first
prototype: originally chambered for the 7.62mm NATO round, and known as the Stoner M69W.
This name was chosen as it is an ambigram, reflecting Stoner's vision of a fully invertible
reciever.
The follow-up design to this prototype was called the Stoner 62 - but the smaller 5.56mm
intermediate cartridge was eventually chosen for mass production, leading to the Stoner
63 design.
In 1963, the rifle was submitted to DARPA - the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
- for trials.
Although praised for its flexibilty, potential ammunition capacity and light weight, the
design fell short on the reliability front - leading to the improved Stoner 63A design.
This design saw use with the US Navy Seals, and with a company of US Marines, designated
as the XM22E1.
In 1970, the US Army issued the Stoner as the XM207 to Army Special Forces units for
evaluation - however by this point the Stoner was losing ground to Colt's improved M16 rifle
designs, and in 1971 the design was dropped entirely.
Ultimately, the role Stoner hoped to fill was satisfied by the M249 in 1984 - the Squad
Automatic Weapon, or SAW.
The Stoner fires the NATO standard intermediate cartridge, the 5.56-by-45 millimetre.
Some variants were designed to fire a disintegrating belt of ammunition, but the assault rifle
variant featured in Black Ops uses a 30-round magazine, as used on the M16.
Damage is moderately high, with no drop in damage at a distance - meaning that you'll
never need more than 3 shots to kill with the Stoner.
Two headshots will also result in a kill.
Rate of fire is the highest within the LMG class - as fast as most SMGs, or the FAMAS,
at 937.5 rounds per minute.
This gives the weapon a keen time to kill, and will mean that the Stoner can effectively
compete in close-range gunfights.
This rate of fire does mean you need to watch your trigger finger when it comes to controlling
recoil - while the Stoner is relatively easy to control, holding the trigger down will
quickly draw you off target.
Burst firing is essential at a medium to long range, otherwise you'll do naught but quickly
deplete your magazine.
The Stoner's aim time is unusually quick for an LMG - true to the real-life assault rifle
role, the Stoner will aim as quickly as an assault rifle in-game: taking just 250 milliseconds,
instead of 350.
Reloads are a little slow, however - more in line with an LMG, at 3.2 seconds to complete.
Still, 3 seconds is relatively manageable as long as you're in a safe place.
Only 5 attachments are available for the Stoner 63, with the majority being optical sights
for the weapon.
The Red Dot Sight replaces the iron sights with a precision optic, granting a better
view on target and potentially making the weapon's recoil easier to wrangle.
The Reflex behaves in the same way, and while both attachments do have marginal usefulness
- there is an altogether more useful option.
It's not the ACOG, however - this long-range scope granting a magnification advantage,
but increasing recoil and slowing your aim as a result.
When burst fired it can be effective, but the Stoner's rate of fire favours close-to-mid
range encounters.
Similar is the IR Scope, highlighting enemies in bright white as long as they're not using
Ghost Pro.
Again, with higher recoil and slowed aim it's not an ideal choice for the weapon.
Extended Mags is the only non-optical attachment available for the Stoner - and it's by far
the most useful.
It will give you double your normal capacity - 60 rounds instead of 30.
When you factor in the Stoner's rate of fire, the fact that you can go twice as long without
a reload makes this extra capacity worthwhile, and greatly reduces the need for Sleight of
Hand in your second perk slot.
For our loadout, then, we'll be making good use of Extended Mags - and building a class
designed to dispense large amounts of lead in a short space of time.
Our first perk will help keep us supplied, and is nearly essential given the Stoner's
rapid output.
Scavenger - especially Scavenger Pro - will give you the ammunition you need to comfortably
hold down a position with as much firepower as you're ever likely to require.
It's also the perfect partner to our second perk, Hardened.
With the ability to pierce through walls easily, and the sheer volume of fire the Stoner is
capable of putting out - the walls your enemies lurk behind will pose no resistance to your
ability to seek out such defenders.
Nobody expects to be shot through a wall, and so those who think they're set up in a
safe place can be easily dislodged with the Stoner, Extended Mags, and Hardened.
Hardened Pro will also prevent you from flinching too far off target upon incident fire - something
which may help you win more gunfights.
With any attachment other than extended mags, I'd recommend Sleight of Hand to counter the
all-too-frequent reloads - but with 60 rounds reloads are tolerable, and the faster aim
time of the Stoner means that Hardened is a perfect pairing.
Our final perk helps us to identify potentially fortified enemies, by highlighting enemy equipment
in red.
Hacker is an ideal choice for those who seek an insight into their enemy's movements - and
detonating a claymore through a wall can sometimes land you a bonus kill that will take your
opponent by surprise.
For your lethal grenades, frags are probably best paired with an LMG - with their ability
to eliminate enemies lurking inside buildings.
Tactical grenades are up to you - willy pete for objective game modes to obscure a capture,
or concussion or flash grenades for cases where you need to clear a building or buy
some time for a reload.
For your equipment, consider the motion sensor - ideal for defensive use, and excellent in
tandem with an LMG paired with hardened, as you can pinpoint an enemy behind a wall - and
engage them without putting yourself at risk.
For your secondary, I'd go with a pistol - the fast swap useful in cases where you need a
reload but are forced into a gunfight by the enemy.
The Stoner63 is a weapon that straddles both the assault rifle and LMG categories: with
a fast rate of fire, and moderately quick handling, it's capable of repelling enemies
up close, as well as providing support fire over long distances.
Unlike the assault rifles, the Stoner's damage is consistent at any range, meaning that you
retain the 3-shot kill potential at ranges where most weapons require 4 or 5 shots to
kill.
Of course, to use this firepower effectively you must be able to control the Stoner's considerable
recoil by burst-firing - and while you'll have an advantage over most weapons at range,
a sniper rifle or low recoil weapon may be able to eliminate you before you can get 3
shots on target.
In addition, you have to cope with the slowed movement and poor hipfire performance of an
LMG - while the Stoner might have some traits of an assault rifle, sprightly it is not.
Still, it does have an interesting balance of traits - and in terms of sheer firepower
not much can come close to this weapon.
Position yourself correctly and unleash a torrent of lead upon your foes: and this Stoner...
...will smoke your opponents.
Thanks for watching, this has been XboxAhoy.
Join me next time when I'll be covering the final shotgun, the HS10.
Until then, farewell.