State-of-the-Artwork Engineering
Of their hunt for supplies inexpensive than the day’s normal of metal and walnut, the designers at Remington partnered with the chemists at dad or mum firm DuPont to concoct a brand new artificial materials. It wanted to meet many stringent requirements, together with power, moldability, and weatherproofing, whereas remaining each heat- and solvent-resistant.
After a lot work and testing, the fabric referred to as Nylon 66 was born. Its namesake line of rimfires grew to become referred to as the primary synthetic-stocked firearm, however it’s extra appropriate to say it was the primary one to achieve success. See our related Nylons article for extra on how the seemingly magical polymer was created.
The higher a part of Remington’s Nylon rifle was comprised of this new-age polymer, with the addition of a metal receiver cowl to provide it the look of a extra conventional firearm. Regardless of the uncertainly of not figuring out how the taking pictures public would react to a plastic gun, Remington started producing the 66s in 1958.
RELATED: Collecting Remington’s Nylon Rimfires
Meet the Nylon 66
We snagged a candy Nylon 66 specimen from the GDC Vault. The weapons are semi-automatic, blowback-driven rimfires chambering .22 LR solely. The rifles are fed through {a magazine} tube that holds 14 rounds. Fairly than in entrance of the motion, Nylon 66s are loaded via the buttplate, with the tube operating lengthwise via the buttstock.
Two colours of Nylon shares have been initially supplied: a extra conventional Mohawk Brown and a jade-tinged Seneca Inexperienced. The latter was produced in far fewer numbers and discontinued sooner – thus the higher demand. Within the Sixties, Remington added an Apache Black variant with jet-black shares and chromed metalwork. That is the one we have been tickled to search out on-line.
The barrel on our take a look at gun measures 19.5 inches and consists of iron sights. In an attention-grabbing design ingredient, the barrel attaches to the receiver with a easy bracket that slips contained in the inventory and permits simple elimination of the barrel for cleansing. The adjustable rear sight travels with the detachable metal receiver cowl.
Why So Engaging?
The weapons are extremely light-weight – simply over 4 kilos – in stark distinction to heavier walnut and metal rifles of the day. Of explicit be aware, these weapons have been marketed to run with out lubricant, because the Nylon Zytel-101 materials was self-lubricating.
Seems to be are elegant, with contrasting black buttplate, grip cap, and forearm tip, every set off by a white spacer that coordinates with white diamond inlays alongside the forearm. The set off guard can be plastic, and even the bolt mechanism slides alongside grooves within the nylon receiver.
Rifles produced earlier than the Gun Control Act of 1968 carried no serial quantity. The unique Nylon 66 was marketed for $49.95. By its discontinuation in 1991, the Nylon 66 had turn into Remington’s top-selling rimfire, with over 1 million produced. The corporate’s wild plastic gamble paid nice dividends.
Vary Time
We headed to the vary with a wholesome mixture of ammunition. The rifle took some getting used to so far as loading, however the course of is definitely fairly easy. As an alternative of charging via the aspect of the buttstock, shooters should invert the rifle and absolutely take away the interior magazine tube to fill.
Our take a look at rifle didn’t differentiate between normal or excessive velocity hundreds, biking all of them with ease. The identical goes for various bullet varieties – hole factors, copper, lead, spherical nostril – no drawback. The set off broke just a little below 5 kilos with slight creep, however all informed, not dangerous.
Through the years, one of many knocks on the design point out the inventory can flex – and drift bullet affect – below excessively tight gripping, wrapped sling holds, or vice clamping. We didn’t apply nice torque to the rifle and by no means skilled an issue. It’s actually a testomony to the standard of the engineering and design that these largely plastic 60-year-old plinksters usually are not solely fully intact however operating simply as properly now as they did then.
The receiver cowl is grooved for straightforward optics mounting, and our take a look at mannequin got here with an outdated Weaver rimfire scope in place. Even with barely foggy glass, our Nylon 66 shot impressively and reliably. Shares are modern and slim, simple to understand with their checkering panels, and engaging in the best way a Remington 700 BDL got here to be. Whereas we by no means gave a lot thought to those weapons earlier than, it has received over a spot in our hearts and an area on our want lists of their many variations.
RELATED: The neat-o and retro Remington Nylon 66 rifle (VIDEO)
Nylon 66 Variants
- Nylon 66 MB: The preliminary semi-auto mannequin, produced in Mohawk Brown (MB) with fake woodgrain.
- Nylon 66 SG: Quick run of Seneca Inexperienced (SG) fake woodgrain stocked fashions.
- Nylon 66 AB: Line of Apache Black (AB) rifles with black shares, white inlays, and chromed metalwork.
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Nylon 66 BD: Later model known as Black Diamond (BD) with a black inventory, barrel, and receiver cowl.
The Different Nylons
Although essentially the most well-known and with biggest manufacturing numbers, the Nylon 66 was removed from the one member of the family on this spacey entourage. In reality, a number of the shade variants and alternate designs are much more fascinating. With the 66 as profitable proof of idea, Remington continued launching associated rifles.
- Nylon 10: A bolt-action single shot.
- Nylon 11: A bolt-action rifle fed by a removable field journal.
- Nylon 12: A bolt motion with {a magazine} tube beneath the barrel.
- Nylon 76: A lever-action model of the rifle with a brief throw motion.
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Nylon 77: A dropbox magazine-fed model of the unique semi-automatic Mannequin 66.
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