[5] While often attributed as Stein's work, the Stinger was actually the brainchild of two marines, namely Sergeant Milan "Mel" J. Grevich[1] and Private First Class John Lyttle.

[citation needed] What Colby did was rather simple; he simply fitted a bipod onto the muzzle of his AN/M2, ensuring a weapon that could be somewhat practically used on the field even with its awkward spade grips.

Milan "Mel" J. Grevich and PFC John Lyttle, would later design an improved variation of the concept by taking steps and measures to make the weapon a more man-portable and legitimately usable machine gun; with these modifications, the Stinger was born.

[5] Stein used his Stinger to provide covering fire for his platoon mates and purposefully exposed himself to reveal enemy pillboxes and emplacements, eventually gunning them all down.

The Stingers had bipods and rear sights from Browning Automatic Rifles, a shoulder stock cut from an M1 Garand and a rudimentary solenoid trigger mechanism to replace the spade grips as seen on the aircraft AN/M2.

[5] Another fully-functioning replica was produced by Guiette Mfg., Inc. for the movie Flags of Our Fathers, but the scene where the weapon was used ended up being cut from the final film.