This video is one of many in a series created from an interview conducted by Edward C. Ezell with Eugene Stoner in 1988 at ARES Inc. in Port Clinton, Ohio. All the footage is courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution Archives. All I have done is cut some of the waiting time between tapes out and tried to fix the audio. Otherwise, what you are seeing is entirely unadulterated.
Feel free to ask any questions about the various topics of the video in the comments. I will do my best to answer them.
TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Project AGILE, McNamara, and early military use of the AR15 in Vietnam
4:50 Bobby MacDonald and why Colt didn't produce AR10s
6:32 How the AR15 stopped M14 production
8:37 The Army and Airforce's one time buy of M16s, and Colts offer of a free license
10:54 Comments on how the Army "firmly" wanted the M16 to fail
12:50 Comments on how the Army's failure to create a proper tech data package for the ammunition
14:08 Stoner addresses the effects of the Army's switch from IMR powder to ball powder
18:31 The Ichord subcommittee investigation into the "criminal things done" in the M16 program
20:27 Stoner discusses the forward assist on the M16A1/XM16E1
22:12 A humorous story about the M16 project director and the forward assist
23:58 Other changes made with the M16A1
26:58 Stoner on the redemption of the M16
30:22 Criticism of the many "socalled improvements" of the M16A2
37:04 Stoner's approval of the new handguard design
37:25 A story about being shown the M16A2 for the first time by the Marine Corps
38:50 Criticism of the threeround burst mechanism
The Eugene Stoner Tapes playlist: • The Eugene Stoner Tapes
All footage is used with permission from the Smithsonian Institution Archives.