Classic Army KAC Stoner 96 Repair

One of our fellow team members, Kee, has a large collection of guns. One of which is an all-time favourite of mine, The Stoner 96 Light Machine Gun (Caslsic Army version)

Classic Army Stoner 96 LMG (CA-CA063M)

Specifications

• 100 m/s (330fps)

• Material: Aluminium/ Nylon Fibre

• Length: 805mm (875mm with stock extended)

• Hop-Up : Adjustable Metal chamber

• Firing Mode: Safe / Full-auto

• Weight: 4795.00g

• CNC Aluminium Outer Barrel

• QD Spring System

• 6 Position Metal Sliding Stock

• Mini-Tamiya connector in gas-tube

• Stick battery type (sold separately)

Inner Barrel

• Inner Barrel Length: 410mm

• Barrel Diameter: 6.08mm

• Material: Brass

Gearbox

• Gearbox: V2 Gearbox (Proprietary Design)

• Gears: Steel

• Shims: 8mm Bearings

• Spring: M100

• Piston: Polymer

• Piston Head: Polymer 6 vent (Bore-up)

• Cylinder: Stainless Steel (Bore-up)

• Cylinder Head: Aluminium (Bore-up) V2 with dual seal

• Trigger Switch: Microswitch

• Nozzle: Polymer (19mm)

• Cables: 16AW Silicone coated wires

Motor

• Classic Army standard 1000 High-Torque Motor

Accessories / Magazine

• Magazine Capacity: 1200 rds ( 6mm BB )

• RIS Grip

• Side Rail Covers

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This has been my dream gun since I used one in service and it became a part of my regular inventory. The benefit of the airsoft version is there is no recoil to negate, no aching shoulders and ammunition weighs a fraction of the real thing, making it extremely light.

The Problem & Solution

Kee's LMG was not feeding BB's, misfiring, jamming and rattling.

First things first was to strip it down. The all metal, frame gives it a weight of about 5kg out of the box without the battery and BB's. Fortunately, it's fairly straightforward to strip down. The entire outer-barrel comes out once you unclip the top, making the inner-barrel slide out smoothly. The battery is housed in the gas tube.

Classic Army Hop-up Assembly & inner-barrel

Upon inspection of the hop-up assembly, I found it was slightly sheered, likely from re-insertion of the hop-up unit into the piston head. This was gently filed down by hand and then sanded with a cordless drill to keep it as smooth as possible. The valve seal was also worn out, so I had to order a replacement and a hop-up clip. It was then cleaned, polished and lubricated with silicone.

Feeding chamber is scratched and scuffed inside

The feeding problem came down to the feeding tube on top of the box mag. It was slightly warped and the inside had some debris as well as the clip interior. Getting it out required removing the whole tube and clips, and feeding a sanding tube inside and gently scraping it off and then sanding it to smooth it out.

After several hours of tinkering and tweaking, and once the new seal and Hop-up clip arrived, it was ready.

When tested, it had a consistent rate of fire, but honestly, I think it needs a Bullgear hop-up chamber to really make it shine as well as a better spring/piston assembly. Unfortunately, the Gearbox is proprietary so it makes it a little hard to modify.

Re-shimming the gears and greasing them

After this the only think left was to strip the gearbox apart and check the piston, valve, gears and connections. The shims were worn out, so I replaced them, re-greased the gears, but found the spring was kind of worn.

After firing three shots the results came back as follows.

1. 78.3 mps

2. 81.1 mps

3. 79.6 mps

This is a fairly consistent speed, but a little low. The shot grouping was very consistent and I found that when using it on the field, it was accurate to 30 metres, but after it loses power.

Overall it is a vert nostalgic LMG for me and something I have now come to own thanks to fellow leader, Kee.

Classic Army KAC Stoner 96 Essential Upgrades

Essential modifications I have made are:

• Bullgear Hop-up Assembly

• Maple Leaf Macaron 70° Bucking

• Maple Leaf Omega Hop-up nub

• Replaced 8mm bearings

• Polymer Steel hybrid piston

• Laylax 8 vented piston head

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• Regreased all gears, moving parts and cylinder

• All screws been threadlocked with Loctite (except screws on gearbox)

• XCORTECH MOSFET (just to prevent arching on the microswitch)

• TM Hyper 1000 High-Torque motor (Classic Army motors are weak and wear out fast)

• M120 spring

• PEQ-16 Battery Box

• Holosight

• New RIS front grip with bipod modification

With those modifications, the gun will be a beast and dominate the field. All you need is a sight and perhaps a bipod to really get the most out of this compact LMG.