Author Topic: Do you remember the "Nylon 66"? (Read 5802 times)

RMc · « **on:** November 26, 2016, 05:20:49 am »

Have you ever shot one of the Remington "Nylons"?

Excellent article on "The First Polymer Gun"

http://www.historicalfirearms.info/post/153318810640/the-first-polymer-gun-remington-nylon-66-in-the

WeTheArmed.com

21B · « **Reply #1 on:** November 26, 2016, 10:26:59 am »

Yes, my first gun was a Remington Nylon 66 from my great-grandpa. I still have it in my safe, it has a cracked stock and no charging handle, but still shoots accurately. I have fully taken it down once to clean it, but upon re-assembly broke one of the receiver screws, so I haven't taken it apart again. It is a rifle that I will keep as a family heirloom and pass down, worth more for sentimental value than actual money.

MTK20 · « **Reply #2 on:** November 26, 2016, 10:32:01 am »

I have yet to read the article, but I also have one. It was my Grandpa's. He's passed away now.

I still have childhood memories of walking the tank in the pasture with it, and shooting any turtle or frog that I could see.

GeorgeHill · « **Reply #3 on:** November 26, 2016, 06:41:28 pm »

I remember the ads for the Nylon 66 in G&A Magazine. Dude sitting on a mountain of 1" blocks that each one had a .22 caliber hole through... the fellow was sitting there, proudly holding a Nylon 66 he had used to shoot all the blocks.
Interesting advertising from a marketing perspective.
The guns sold for a long time. Remington should have updated it and continued them.

coelacanth · « **Reply #4 on:** November 26, 2016, 11:51:35 pm »

Agreed. They had a winner but didn't really commit to it the way they should have. I owned one in Mohawk Brown many years ago and found it to be a pretty good rifle. I ended up trading it for a custom knife and eventually replaced the rifle with a Marlin Model 60 - also a pretty good little rifle.

I think that when the Nylon 66 came out it was competing with a lot of "blue steel and walnut" inertia from not only other manufacturers but also within Remington's own lineup. A lot of the complaining I heard about them centered around the "cheap feel" of the plastic and also the fact that the stock was noisy in the field - not a good thing in the squirrel woods or the briar thickets after rabbits. They were apparently pretty popular in places where the weather got really cold because they could run indefinitely without so much as a drop of oil inside - therefore no oil to gum up in sub zero temps.

MTK20 · « **Reply #5 on:** November 26, 2016, 11:59:54 pm »

Quote from: coelacanth on November 26, 2016, 11:51:35 pm

Agreed. They had a winner but didn't really commit to it the way they should have. I owned one in Mohawk Brown many years ago and found it to be a pretty good rifle. I ended up trading it for a custom knife and eventually replaced the rifle with a Marlin Model 60 - also a pretty good little rifle.

I think that when the Nylon 66 came out it was competing with a lot of "blue steel and walnut" inertia from not only other manufacturers but also within Remington's own lineup. A lot of the complaining I heard about them centered around the "cheap feel" of the plastic and also the fact that the stock was noisy in the field - not a good thing in the squirrel woods or the briar thickets after rabbits. They were apparently pretty popular in places where the weather got really cold because they could run indefinitely without so much as a drop of oil inside - therefore no oil to gum up in sub zero temps.

RMc · « **Reply #6 on:** November 28, 2016, 07:29:38 pm »

Quote from: GeorgeHill on November 26, 2016, 06:41:28 pm

I remember the ads for the Nylon 66 in G&A Magazine. Dude sitting on a mountain of 1" blocks that each one had a .22 caliber hole through... the fellow was sitting there, proudly holding a Nylon 66 he had used to shoot all the blocks.
Interesting advertising from a marketing perspective.
The guns sold for a long time. Remington should have updated it and continued them.

George,

Here is a link to that 1959 picture of Tom Frye along with details of the exhibition shoot:

http://www.gunsandammo.com/remington200/#yr1959

GeorgeHill · « **Reply #7 on:** November 29, 2016, 12:06:02 am »

That was 1959... Now, didn't Remington try to recreate that with the 597 Rifle? I seem to remember a similar sort of thing with the 597.
I may be wrong...

RMc · « **Reply #8 on:** November 29, 2016, 01:22:59 am »

George,

I could not find any record of the 597 Remington used in aerial exhibition shooting.

However, a fellow known as Chief A.J. went after the record with several Ruger 10/22 rifles in 1987.

http://www.chiefaj.com/chief-world-record-shooting

RMc · « **Reply #9 on:** November 29, 2016, 09:42:16 am »

Rifles for the Space Age
Guns Magazine March 1959
Remington Nylon 66 Cover Story:

http://www.gunsmagazine.com/1959issues/G0359.pdf

Fenderbassist · « **Reply #10 on:** November 29, 2016, 05:40:35 pm »

My father had one many years ago, I got to shoot it back in my grammar school years, around 5th grade or so with him at a range. Sold it long before he realized I was interested in having firearms.

JackCrow · « **Reply #11 on:** November 30, 2016, 03:34:58 pm »

A Nylon 66 was supposed to be my first firearm.
My father took me down to the local Western Auto store and I picked out a nylon 66 (the green one if I remember correctly). It was put on lay-away as a Christmas present.
Unfortunately he died shortly thereafter and the rifle was forgotten about in the aftermath.

Fenderbassist · « **Reply #12 on:** November 30, 2016, 03:38:02 pm »

Quote from: JackCrow on November 30, 2016, 03:34:58 pm

A Nylon 66 was supposed to be my first firearm.
My father took me down to the local Western Auto store and I picked out a nylon 66 (the green one if I remember correctly). It was put on lay-away as a Christmas present.
Unfortunately he died shortly thereafter and the rifle was forgotten about in the aftermath.

My sincerest condolences to you and your family for your loss.

JackCrow · « **Reply #13 on:** November 30, 2016, 03:54:02 pm »

Thank you.
It was a very long time ago.

MTK20 · « **Reply #14 on:** November 30, 2016, 04:16:44 pm »

Quote from: JackCrow on November 30, 2016, 03:34:58 pm

A Nylon 66 was supposed to be my first firearm.
My father took me down to the local Western Auto store and I picked out a nylon 66 (the green one if I remember correctly). It was put on lay-away as a Christmas present.
Unfortunately he died shortly thereafter and the rifle was forgotten about in the aftermath.

I'm very sorry to hear that.

mrrobinhood5 · « **Reply #15 on:** January 03, 2017, 10:31:15 pm »

had the pleasure of cleaning one for my friend. Hadn't been touched since 69.

Sent from my SM-G935T using Tapatalk

CaseyRebel · « **Reply #16 on:** January 05, 2017, 02:11:45 pm »

Quote from: RMc on November 26, 2016, 05:20:49 am

Have you ever shot one of the Remington "Nylons"?

Excellent article on "The First Polymer Gun"

http://www.historicalfirearms.info/post/153318810640/the-first-polymer-gun-remington-nylon-66-in-the

Yes I sure do!I laid 1 in the back dash of car and melted the the dam* thing up!Had to get a new stock and refinish the barrel and receiver on it and got shed of it right after that.No more of those for me and use to shoot them at a park at th targets and had to make the man reload the 1 I was shooting cause every one he had the sights were off and he would let just peck the front sight to make it shoot straight,in other words I made a scene and people said go ahead and let him use the 1 he was shooting since he found the feel and way it shoots!

I was knocking every thing down or making it ding since I found the offset of the front sight.Love the gun but hate the nylon they are made of.I bought a Woodsman Remington after that and a Fieldsman.Loved both of those and sold them for more than I paid for them after having them for 18 years..

CR

sqlbullet · « **Reply #17 on:** January 05, 2017, 06:29:17 pm »

Quote from: CaseyRebel on January 05, 2017, 02:11:45 pm

I laid 1 in the back dash of car and melted the the dam* thing up!

Impressive. The melting point of the zytel 101 compound is 392°F.

coelacanth · « **Reply #18 on:** January 06, 2017, 12:56:37 am »

Yeah but it was a dry heat . . .

First Shirt · « **Reply #19 on:** January 14, 2017, 04:28:04 pm »

My grandmother had an Apache Black version, with the chrome accouterments, that stood beside her bed, for years. She was sure that it was all she needed for any problem that she encountered. (Along with the 7-shot Rossi Ladysmith .22 LR pistol that she carried in her apron pocket every day, for as long as I can remember. It was either in her apron pocket or on her nightstand.)

Plebian · « **Reply #20 on:** January 14, 2017, 07:42:11 pm »

My father has a black stocked model in chrome with the odd white diamond.

He has had it as long as I remember, but we have only shot it a handful of times.

MTK20 · « **Reply #21 on:** January 14, 2017, 10:32:22 pm »

Quote from: Plebian on January 14, 2017, 07:42:11 pm

My father has a black stocked model in chrome with the odd white diamond.

He has had it as long as I remember, but we have only shot it a handful of times.

We've got a brown one with the white diamond.

Unobtanium · « **Reply #22 on:** February 11, 2017, 12:33:03 am »

As a child I saw one at a pawn shop. I urged my father to buy it for me, but he felt it was an econo type rifle and of poor quality, and instead I got a Remington 552? Speedmaster. I think my father's impression of the nylon was due to his then opinion that plastic = cheap. He thought the 9mm was a pop gun round and carried a 1911. How times have changed...he now has a dozen AR type rifles and carries a g17.