What did Eugene Stoner say about corrosion resistance as it relates to improving the M16? Well let’s listen to him:
Small Arm Solutions Youtube video December 24, 2021; minute mark 22:40:
“I at one time or another I tried to get back in and make some contribution you know, to the weapon. And it turned out to be rather a fruitless thing I was told.
For instance: I wanted at one time, due to some field problems they had, to go in and I suggested to the Army in how to make the weapon a little better and particularly in corrosion resistant materials.
And they said well that’s real nice and they would think about it. And so, they got back with me and said this is going to cost 5 or 6 dollars more to make the weapon corrosion resistant and we don’t feel that it’s cost effective to do such a thing.
And I said well this is no consideration to the man in the field that was trying to stay alive with it.
And they said no but that had nothing to do with it, it was a cost effectiveness that guided these things.
And with that kind of an answer I just kind of threw up my hands and said there is not much one can offer as far as redesign or contributions to the thing.
But there, you know, materials do change, and when these new materials come along you’d like to be able to I think introduce them into something that you know is as important as this.” (Eugene M. Stoner)
From my viewpoint Eugene Stoner just said that it is extremely important for us to use corrosion resistant materials in our AR’s for maximum safety even if it costs us a little bit more.
The passivated stainless steel roll pins on this site are exactly the kind of material he was telling the US military about years ago.
Maybe they didn’t listen to him back then, but you should understand what he was saying and make a better decision than they did.