The Firearms Forum banner

Expert thoughts needed RE: My Nylon 66

4K views 17 replies 12 participants last post by  cheesewiz 
#1 ·
Have had a Remington Nylon 66, Apache Black and chrome, since about 1974 or so. Paid 69.00 dollars. I know they have appreciated well, but I have heard many different opinions on them. Have thought about selling it. Some say it will develop problems and to ditch it. Others tell me it is the greatest thing since sliced bread, and I'd be a fool to part with it. Why such wide ranging opinions? Your input greatly appreciated.
 
#3 ·
Not an expert, and don't have time to get into it now, but will add later, KEEP IT, they continue to go up in value, and nothing is going to wear out, I spent 2 months giving mine a facelift. it was my first gun, but I made the mistake of leaving it with my Dad, he wasn't the problem, but he loaned it out to my nephew, I got it back, badly rusted (action cover was nearly rusted through, so I had to do something with it), some bad rust aroung the rear sight, and the stock scratched bad everywhere,

I was impressed with the simplicity of the internals, it has had 1000's of rounds put through it, the action design doesn't really leave anywhere for dirt, burned powder etc to build up, and it has never had any kind of failure, none, my first gun, got it for christmas when I was 9 or 10, killed many tree rats and cottontails with it, after taking it apart, seeing how simple everything is, them what impressed me was how accurate it always was, and still is, with the Zytel stock holding everything together, how could this possibly work?, don't know but it does, I'm sure it wouldn't work with a larger caliber,

I did some experimenting with textured paint and camo patterns, does not look like it did before, that's for sure,

Mine was the brown one, the chrome/black Apache is more rare, there is a green one, there is a bolt action one, and some of the semi-auto's are clip/magazine fed(detachable), instead of through the stock,

There are 5-6 variations at least, I think the green is the most rare, I was disappointed when later, after I had gotten mine, I saw the Apache, but only for a minute, I was just happy to have my first gun,
 
#4 ·
keep it,i have all the variations,it has taken me 30 years to get them.there was a time that you could come by them pretty cheap..........those times are gone.depending on the shape it will be worth between 250-400.this depends on the collector and how bad they need it. old semperfi
 
#5 ·
They are going to be even better collectors items as time passes. My brother had one and the stock melted on it because he left it in the sun in the back window of a car (back when they had a space back there that was big enough to hold things) and it got really hot that day. I knew a few people that had that problem actually. But mostly they were just abused because they were cheap. Now not many of them are still around but it isn't like they're a single production rifle or whatever. They will still keep gaining in value though. Just don't expect them to bring $100,000 some day. :)

They're fine guns if not the most accurate. At least the ones I shot weren't all that great. I remember people saying they were really accurate at one time though. Then some other people pointed out what a T/C would do (a top notch rifle at that time) and the argument was over quick. The T/C's were much more accurate. I saw that get proven.

If I had one and didn't need the money I'd hang on to it. It's a good investment considering you get the enjoyment of owning one too. But I've seen them for sale for around $250. I passed on those deals.
 
#6 ·
I had one of those - the brown (Apache?) model. Never had a single jam with it, while friends who had Marlins and other .22 semi-autos had them plenty. Pretty accurate little .22. Some jerk burgularized my brother's place while I was in Nam and it was gone. Love to have another, but they are way too pricey these days. Think I paid about $75 for it back in 1969.

The only problem I ever had with mine was a broken weld on the barrel lug that attached to the receiver. That was a jiffy fix. That tubular thru-the-stock mag system was a dandy. Fast and easy reloading.
 
#7 ·
Never had a single jam with it, while friends who had Marlins and other .22 semi-autos had them plenty.
I wonder why I never see these Marlins with "plenty" of jams. I have a 60 with close to 160,000 rounds through it and it doesn't jam. It did for a while after I bent the ejector wire but once I got that back where it goes it's been very good again. I've been shooting Marlins since the days of the Nylon 66's and I've never had all the problems others say they have. I wonder if they're spraying WD-40 in their actions or what. Any kind of lube in a semi-auto action is asking for problems.
 
#8 ·
I've had two of them in the regular Nylon 66 (brown).
One of which was my Dad's and as a kid we put thousands of rounds through it and
if I recall, we NEVER, ever cleaned the inside, as in a good taking apart cleaning.

Well a couple years back, I got the old Nylon 66 out as it was in my brothers possession
and he had...well the rifle had been abused. Barrel band, bolt handel, etc., broke and
what not.

I completely broke down the rifle, cleaned it good and startd looking at all the missing/
broken parts. I went ahead and basically re-done the inners with all new parts and
a couple a days later, it worked as good as new.
I still have it and will never get rid of it as it was my Dad's and the work I put into it
as well.

Any of the Nylon 66's is something I NEVER see for sale or at any gun shop around
here for sale.....
I'd keep it!
 
#10 ·
Thanks to all. I would only sell it if I learned it was going to turn into junk. It is in excellent condition at this time. My main concern is it's use over the long haul. For example, if I have to depend on it in order to shoot game to survive, will it always be in working order? Should I sell in order to get, say, a Golden Boy? I don't want anything in my safe that it not rock solid. But then again, what the heck, I already have it and it is a pretty neat little rifle. Thanks again and Merry Christmas all!
 
#11 · (Edited)
CJ - I am not against Marlin .22s at all. I've personally only owned 1 Marlin .22 semi-auto (99 M1 or something like that - clip fed and looked a lot like an M1 Carbine) and it was a 'jam master'. Another .22 Marlin that I shot many hundreds of rounds with had a plastic end to the forearm that folded down and I don't know what model it was, but it was also clip-fed, and it jammed almost every 5th or 6th shot. The others - my friends who had other Marlin .22 semi-auto rifles had lots of jam issues. By "lots of jams" I am saying at least one jam every other loading or so. Sometimes more often.

Back then we were not concerned about the brand of ammo, either. Just bought 5 or 10 boxes of whatever .22 Long Rifle the hardware store had. These days I'm pickier about what I feed my rifles, and learned much about what feeds and functions the best.

Granted, at the time we were young teenagers back in the 60s, and it is more than likely that their rifles were not cleaned properly. I can only state what I observed, in that my Nylon 66 never seemed to malfunction while their's did.

By the way, that was truely a brilliant call on your part about maybe WD40 being involved. That was about the time that WD40 became very popular. You may be onto something with that....
 
#12 ·
Jim-
I may be mistaken, but it sounds like your rifle w/ a 'plastic' forearm that folded down & had a 7-rnd clip, may have been a Mossberg. Maybe a mdl. 152K perhaps. I do not recall a Marlin w/ that feature...but there may have been. (Another .22 Marlin that I shot many hundreds of rounds with had a plastic end to the forearm that folded down and I don't know what model it was, but it was also clip-fed, and it jammed almost every 5th or 6th shot). I have owned several of those Mossy's and never had an issue w/ them....pretty accurate little shooter's also. I also have several of the different configurations of the Marlin 60's.....a 1975 Glenfield, and also a 1968 Revelation. All good shooter's w/ very little problems, and great accuracy at 50 yrds.
 
#15 ·
I don't recall what was special about the green ones, but I think they were the fewest made, I think they may have been made for a hardware store like Coast to Coast, or a farm implement company, something like that, a quick google search would probably yield the answer,
 
#16 ·
According to google, the Seneca green was not popular and was discontinued in 1962, so only 2 yrs or so of production, there was also a funky looking bolt action that I knew about, but also lever action,

Not sure which is the most rare, maybe the green lever action(if there was even one) or maybe the gallery guns are most rare, I'll have to do some reading,

If it ever stops raining I'll take some pics of my refurb/mod of my Mohawk Brown, it was near being a parts gun, but I saved it and gave it a new look and life,
 
#17 ·
The Apache Black with black stock and chrome metal is the most common, the Mohawk Brown with brown atock and black finish (matte for mine) is the second most common, the Seneca Green is rare, then the very rare Black Diamond model with black stock, black diamond replacing the common white diamond and black meal finish.

I have a well-worn Apache Black and a nicer Mohawk Brown. The Apache functions flawlessly and is reaonably accurate, the Mohawk has a loading quirk and is somewhat less accurate. I lucked intot hem for cheap at the local Pawn&Gun shop. Hoping to oneday find a Seneca Green to complet a Nylon Trifecta.
I once swapped the stocks and metal and took them to the range - really had the local Nylon guys bamboozled for awhile...... :D

I find the Nylon rifles okay shooters, certainly not great. They feel rather cheap, especiall alongside the Remington 552 and older 550-1 - those rifles are quality! Steel and Walnut will always win out over plastic and sheetmetal.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top