Nylon 66 too collectible to shoot?

[351 WINCHESTER]

One thing that will stop a nylon 66 in it's tracks is overtightening of the dust cover screws. If they are too tight they will bind the bolt causing it not to run. I had one in my youth and I shot the snot out of it without cleaning and I don't think I ever had a jam or a problem that was not ammo related.

 

[Bud0505]

If I owned one it would be a shooter.

 

[JCooperfan1911]

I appreciate everyone’s input.

Seems a few consider the Nylon worthless disposable plastic junk that won’t last.

Others call it legendarily reliable and durable.

I am well pleased with mine and it hasn’t done a bobble yet but does prefer warmer cartridges. I believe I’ll heed the majority and buy a spare just in case, and enjoy this one at the range as I have a great number of .22 rimfire shells.

 

[Sniper66]

Friend of mine back in high school early 1960s got one for a Xmas gift. He was reckless and had no respect for guns. He beat the crap out of that rifle and it performed regardless of his ill-treatment. It's not much of a collectible IMO, but some guys love them. I'd be shooting it a lot, they are fun to shoot. Great plinkers.

 

[MI2600]

I bought a 66 at a police confiscation auction in Hawaii in the '60s for $21. Full of beach sand. After removing a screw or two, I heard a "boing" inside and decided with was gunsmith time! $5 to fix it. Still have it. Shoots well.

 

[Rex in OTZ]

The Remington Nylon 66 was first offered in 1959. It was certainly ahead of it’s time in both design and manufacturing processes. It also was made in a number of variations with different colored stocks. These included the standard brown stocked version called “Mohawk Brown”, “Seneca Green” and a black and chrome version called the “Apache Black”. These all had white diamonds and white spacers in the stock. Remington made another black stocked rifle called the “Black Diamond.” It had a black diamond in the stock with white spacers. Not withstanding the bolt actions, lever actions, detachable mag versions, the two nylon rifle variations that Remington never made was a brown stocked chrome metal version or a black stocked, blued steel nylon with white diamond and white spacers.
However, a black stocked, blue steel rifle with white diamonds was regularly produced, but not by Remington. While fairly common, those rifles were actually import rifles made by a company in Brasil called Companhia Brasileira de Cartuchos or CBC for short. This is the story of that other Nylon 66There has been a lot of speculation that the CBC nylon 66 was a result of Remington selling off it’s

Receiver cover markings of the Century Arms Intl. import is on the right side of the cover below ejection port.​

used Nylon 66 machinery at the end of it’s life span. This misunderstanding was in part because the CBC rifle started showing up in retail stores such as K-Mart about the time the Remington 66 disappeared from the shelves in 1987. That same year Remington resurrected a detachable magazine nylon rifle sold exclusively by K-Mart called the Apache 77. It had a green stock and black diamond. It was sold from 1987-89 often side by side on the shelf with the CBC rifle. I’ve seen K-Mart ads offering them both for sale. Most people were unaware of the transition from the Remington Nylon 66 to the CBC version
http://www.nylonrifles.com/wp/2007/06/159/

 

[Dibbs]

I shoot mine from time to time. It doesn't do well with the cheap bulk ammo though.

Carefully remove the outer casing It needs no further disassembly, you can clean the dirt out of it. Put it back together, I'll bet it shoots bulk ammo just fine.
It's no big deal, the thing has got decades of accumulated dirt and debris in the mechanism. When I cleaned mine, I literally got a cupful of dust and dirt out of it.

 

[DR505]

Mine has always worked well. When CCI Stingers first appeared I was told not to use them in my Nylon 66 as it would be too hard on the gun. A quick letter to Remington cleared that up completely as they said it could handle the new "hyper-velocity" ammo just fine. Still have the letter.

I cannot recall ever having a misfire, jam, or failure of any sort, using all manner of ammo. Mine has been a very good rifle.

 

[Sniper66]

Is it collectible, you ask? I once saw a thimble museum. Need I say more?

 

[Rexster]

I understand the concept of retiring a firearm, that has been shot so much, that its parts are excessively worn, but keeping it, as a reminder of past adventures. My S&W Model 58 .41 Magnum revolver, which I used as a duty revolver 1985 to 1990, and had been a San Antonio PD duty gun before I bought it, is such a “collectible.” It is collectible because of the places it has been, and the things it has done.

I do not understand the concept of keeping a perfectly serviceable consumer-grade .22 rifle in an unconsumed state. Consume it!

 

[351 WINCHESTER]

Mine has always worked well. When CCI Stingers first appeared I was told not to use them in my Nylon 66 as it would be too hard on the gun. A quick letter to Remington cleared that up completely as they said it could handle the new "hyper-velocity" ammo just fine. Still have the letter.

I cannot recall ever having a misfire, jam, or failure of any sort, using all manner of ammo. Mine has been a very good rifle.

When Stingers came out in 74 I bought 2 boxes to test them out. I was sold as they brought my nylon up a few notches.

 

[jyo]

I traded an old pocket knife for a well-used Nylon 66---appeared to have been shot about a million rds---dirty as hell---took it apart (NEVER do that again!) and cleaned it---continued to shoot just fine---used it as my "teaching" rifle---all new shooters had to spend an afternoon with it to learn firearms basic safety. Then a good friend asked me to buy it because he was moving to SW Texas and that was the only rifle his wife could hold up and shoot because it was so lightweight because her arms and neck were injured in a car accident... I was not really wanting to sell it, but he was my friend and I figured I could pick-up another one anyway... It's still shooting critters down Texas way to this day...
I looked around for another Nylon 66, but they had become scare in my neck of the woods and the prices had gone way up! I sorta stopped looking, when I was approached by an older gentleman at our shooting club who said he had too many guns and wanted to sell some including a truly mint Nylon 66 in Mohawk Brown---we agreed on a fair price and it is at our house to this day---my wife loves shooting it also---it ain't going nowhere...!

 

[Rex in OTZ]

I only had one nylon 66 and stupidly sold it.
It came to me as $25 box of parts completely dissembled.
This was in the pre-internet days.
All I had to go on was a old Numrich Gun Parts catalog to order replacement parts, it took 3 years to get it together, what was missing was the receiver cover plate (FFL part) it took that long to locate one.
Back in the days before youtube to show how things come appart or go together, you just had to boldly forge ahead.
My nylon was no beauty queen it started life as an Alaskan camp gun and had a corner the stock busted off and surface rust on all exposed metal parts, the 7 years I had it, I never once could locate a bolt handle for it I used my leatherman pliars in the opening on the bolt to cycle the action.
One the more accurate rimfire rifles Id ever had.

 

[theotherwaldo]

I picked up a Nylon 66 a few years ago from my LGS.
It was a Mohawk Brown that had a poorly mounted scope on it, The LGS took the extractor off of it to fix an otherwise nice Apache Black and sold me what was left for $100.
I got a complete bolt from EBay for $35, swapped parts and had a functional but ugly little gun.

About a year later I picked up a Nylon 77 with a bent magazine guide plate.
Another EBay part ($15.00) and another magazine and that little gun was working as well.
I swapped the action covers (they're identical) and had a fairly nice Nylon 66 and an ugly but usable Nylon 77.
Both are fun little guns... .