Remington's Iconic Nylon 66 Rifles: Historical Lookback

In addition to being a field representative for Remington, Tom Frye was a talented exhibition shooter. His most lengthy stunt was suggested to him by friend Newt Crumbly, who owned the Holiday Hotel in Reno, Nevada. On a bright, sunny day in 1959, Frye stood before a mountain of pine blocks, each measuring precisely 2.5 inches square. Also there were three lightweight autoloading rifles and stacks of Remington .22 Long Rifle Golden Bullet ammunition. As Frye shouldered a rifle, one of seven assistants hurled a block into the air, and it tumbled to earth with a dead-center hole. By the end of that first day, Frye had fired 3,000 rounds and ventilated the same number of blocks. He was just getting warmed up. On the afternoon of the fourth day, 32,250 spent rimfire cases lay on the ground, and Frye had missed only two targets. On the 12th day, he had only three misses while shooting at a total of 72,501 flying targets. Exibition shooter Ad Topperwein’s 1907 record of 72,500 wooden blocks with nine misses had been broken.

Frye kept on shooting. He had been averaging a shot every 3.6 seconds, and on the 13th and final day he increased the pace to a shot every 1.5 seconds. When Frye called it quits at 100,010 blocks, he had missed only six. Each of the three rifles had fired more than 33,000 rounds of ammunition with not a single malfunction. The only maintenance they received was removal of bullet lube and propellant fouling from the bolt face every 6,000 rounds with a toothbrush. While the exterior of the bolt had taken on a more polished finish, measurements taken with sophisticated equipment revealed no wear on its nylon rails in the receiver. A new Remington development, the rifle had been introduced a few months prior to Frye’s shooting exhibition, and it was called the Nylon 66. It was designed by Remington engineer Wayne Leek and his staff, who set out to create what he described as a maintenance-free, trouble-free, all but totally indestructible .22 rimfire rifle at an affordable price.

His initial design criteria were that the styling of the rifle and its functioning must be superior to anything on the market, and accuracy had to be as good or better. It must be capable of withstanding more abuse than any known design. Its weight had to be less than five pounds, and its price had to be competitive. It was decided that the receiver of the new rifle would be an integral part of its one-piece stock and fore-end. Steel was specified for the bolt, barrel, firing pin striker, firing pin, extractor, receiver cover, sights and various small parts. The cover was grooved for scope mounting, and it also held the fully adjustable rear sight. In a search for the synthetic material he needed, Leek turned to the polychemical department at DuPont. He told the scientists there he wanted a material that would be suitable for molding into intricate shapes. It must have extremely high structural, shear and impact strength. It must be highly resistant to abrasion and to distortion when subjected to extremes in temperature.

When ignited by open flame, the material must be self-extinguishing. The material must be totally resistant to solvents, oils, acids, alkalis, fungi, rodents and insects. It must be light in weight with a permanent color, and its finished surface must be easy to repair. The material must be self-lubricating and without any corrosive effect on metal. DuPont met all those specifications with structural Nylon Zytel 101, which was a member of the company’s Nylon 66 series of plastic materials. Left-side and right-side halves of the rifle were injection-molded and then bonded together. The wrist and fore-end had molded-in checkering, and in addition to a white diamond on each side of the fore-end, the stock had white spacers at the black fore-end tip, grip cap and buttplate. After four years of development and testing, the Nylon 66 was introduced in 1959, and it weighed a remarkable four pounds. The barrel was 195/8 inches long and overall length was 38.5 inches. Its rear-load tubular magazine was brass, and it held 14 .22 Long Rifle cartridges. The bolt rode on what Remington described as self-lubricating rails, with the owner’s manual advising against the application of gun oil or other lubricant. A two-position safety slide rode to and fro atop the grip of the stock.

The rear sight was adjustable for windage and elevation, and the shark fin front sight would also appear on other Remington firearms, including the Model 600 rifle and the XP-100 handgun. A removable label guaranteed that should the stock ever warp, crack, chip, fade or peel, the rifle should be shipped collect to Remington for replacement. The first variations to be introduced in 1959 at a price of $50 were the Nylon 66MB (Mohawk Brown) and the Nylon 66SG (Seneca Green). Beginning in 1978, an additional five bucks would buy the Nylon 66MB with a factory-mounted Universal 4X scope. The Nylon 66GS (Gallery Special) in .22 Short was introduced in 1963. Shooting galleries at county fairs and other places were still quite popular, with shooters often standing shoulder-to-shoulder. A metal attachment on the receiver of the rifle deflected spent cases toward the ground. To prevent a customer from walking off with the rifle, a small chain could be clipped to a steel loop attached to the bottom of its stock. Flashiest of the bunch was the Nylon 66AB (Apache Black) featuring a jet black stock with white diamond inlays and chrome-plated barrel and receiver cover. It was introduced in 1962, and somebody obviously liked it because more than 220,000 were built. More subdued, the Nylon 66BD (Black Diamond) unveiled in 1977 had a black stock with black diamond-shaped inlays and blued metal. It was available with a scope.

Remington celebrated its 150th anniversary in 1966, and the receiver cover of special Nylon 66 rifles built during that year had a commemorative oval embossed in gold-colored paint. And the Nylon 66 Bicentennial commemorative edition was built only during 1976 to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the United States. The price was $85 or $90 with 4X scope. It and the 150th anniversary rifle were basically Nylon 66MG rifles with special markings. In 1970, Remington introduced the Nylon 77, which was the Nylon 66MB with a five-round detachable box magazine, or “clip magazine” as Remington described it. A 10-round magazine was offered as an accessory. Another variation called Mohawk 10-C was introduced in 1972 to be sold as a promotional rifle to distributors in large quantities. The Apache 77 variation of the Nylon 77 was a K-Mart exclusive during 1987. It had a 10-round detachable magazine, and the stock was bright green in color.

Remington did not ignore those who preferred to ventilate tin cans and harvest small game with rifles having other types of actions. Four versions of a bolt-action rifle were offered: Nylon 12 with tubular magazine; Nylon 11 with detachable magazine; and the single-shot Nylon 10, which was also available with a smooth-bore barrel as the Nylon 10-SB. It was to be used with the .22 Long Rifle shot cartridge while the other three were quite happy with .22 Short, .22 Long and .22 Long Rifle. And to keep lever-action fans like me from complaining, the short-stroke Nylon 66 Trailrider with a tubular magazine in its stock was available in Mohawk Brown or Apache Black. Whereas the Nylon 66 proved to be the best-selling .22 rimfire ever built by Remington, only about 60,000 of the bolt actions and lever actions were sold. How accurate can the Nylon 66 be? During the 1980s I was assigned the fun task of firing 10,000 rounds of Remington High Velocity, Standard Velocity, Yellow Jacket and Viper ammo in a Nylon 66 rifle and reporting on my findings.

The rifle wore a scope, and fresh from its box it averaged two inches for five shots at 50 yards with Standard Velocity. At the conclusion of the shooting, it was averaging 1.5 inches, with a number of individual groups inside an inch. When shooting a Nylon 66 keep in mind that it is quite flexible laterally. A death grip on the rifle can flex it left or right, and since the muzzle of the thin barrel follows the front end of the stock, the rifle will shoot away from its zero. A firm hand on the grip with the fore-end resting lightly in the forward hand is the way the great little rifle begs to be shot. Designers of the Nylon 66 made sure it is easy to take down for cleaning. First make sure the rifle is unloaded. With the magazine removed, the safety engaged, and the bolt locked back, remove the bolt handle by pulling it outward. Then after turning out two transverse screws holding the receiver cover in place, remove it by grasping its front end and pulling upward. The large metal ejector in the left side of the receiver fits loosely, so don’t be alarmed when it falls out.

Next, back out the barrel lock screw in the bottom of the rifle, but not enough to completely remove it. Pushing on the head of the screw elevates the barrel retention bracket, freeing the barrel to be pulled forward and out of the stock. With barrel removed, back the screw all the way out, lift the retention bracket and its attached barrel support from the stock, pull the hinged cartridge feed guide atop the bolt forward and the bolt, action spring and its guide will come with it. The Nylon’s bolt and the interior of the receiver can now be cleaned. While seldom absolutely necessary for cleaning, firmly hold the cocked striker to the rear with a thumb, disengage the safety, pull the trigger and the striker will move forward for removal from the receiver. Moving parts do not require lubrication although a light coat of rust inhibitor on the exterior of the bolt and inside the receiver cover is not a bad idea. Same goes for the exterior of the barrel.

---

With everything cleaned, install the bolt, insert the barrel bracket and barrel support into the stock, push in the barrel and tighten the screw at the bottom of the rifle. Make sure the ejector is back in its slot before placing the receiver cover back on. Remington’s Nylon rifles have maintained their value. Adjusting the introductory retail price of $50 for a Nylon 66 for inflation, it would cost $525 in 2023, and that’s about where prices for good used ones start today. This does not hold true for all members of the family simply because of big differences in production numbers among them. A Nylon 66MB Gallery Special recently sold online for $2,400, and the asking price for a smooth-bore Nylon 10-SB was $7,000. And what became of Tom Frye? During his tenure at Remington he was transferred to Billings, Montana, and among many of his recognitions, he was inducted into the Trap Shooters Hall of Fame. He loved using his beloved Nylon 66 to create outlines of an Indian chief, and various birds and animals in paper and sheets of metal, and one of those is displayed in an exhibit honoring him at the Yellowstone County Museum in Billings. Frye passed away in 1982. If you want to see him in action, go to YouTube and search for “Tom Frye—Remington Exhibition Shooter.” There’s a short clip of him entertaining a group of Boy Scouts with an exhibition that includes a Remington 870 shotgun and, of course, a Nylon 66.