Remington sold everything to the Brazilian company and I think also the patent

 

Patent is surely expired by now. That gun came out WELL before the Ruger 10/22 and people are making knock offs of it now.

 

Why not? The gun is stupid cheap to manufacture- it's all stamped parts and a plastic stock. With advances in moulding/3d printing etc....they could probably make one stronger and even cheaper now.

The 66 cost $50 in 1959, that is equivalent in purchasing power to about $510 today. So they were never "cheap".

The original tooling, IIRC, went to Brasil, CBC made the 66 for a while after Remington stopped. I have one of those guns to keep my '78 Nylon 66 company.

Stamped parts aren't cheap anymore...polymer is.

Which is really what the Nylon was....the stamped metal was just there to hide the plastic gun. Mossberg made the Blaze with a polymer receiver....it didn't sell well. But still in the catalog, IIRC. It was about $250 a few years ago when I saw one. Crazy light gun.

With the interest of collectors- which is huge, there are no "shooter grade" examples floating around and lots of people would buy one I think.

Collectors wouldn't, because it isn't the original. And other people don't care, they'll just keep buying overpriced Rugers and spending more money on accessories and upgrades.

When you look at it, there are very few semi auto .22's on the market at any kind of reasonable cost right now. A 66 with a few modern manufacturing touches, could sell.

There are actually quite a few. Rossi, Mossberg, Rock Island, Citadel and Savage all make sub $150 guns. There are a few more in the "under $250" category, like Ruger, Winchester, , and in this economy.....that's reasonable.

Based on the relative value of the dollar, you could buy a LOT of gun today for the equivalent money.

Personally, I think it was a whole lot better gun than either the 522 or the 597 quite honestly.....

I like the 597, but the trigger...ugh. On the other hand, the mag on the 597 is pretty nice.

If Ruger would adopt the mag release and the way the mag is easily grabbed, they'd be FAR better than the stupid system they have now.

They could do a "classic model"..... and then a more modern version- Add a picatinny rail, thread the barrel and make it feed from 10/22 magazines- like the Winchester Wildcat, TCR etc.....I'd buy one of each!

Changing it to feed from mags would be interesting. They could bring back the lever action 76 as well...

 

I think a lot of people would buy it for nostalgia- it doesn't have to be a PERFECT copy- look at Heritage Rough Riders or the Ruger Wranglers- they are buying a "cowboy" gun......Collectors would buy one because their collection is NOT COMPLETE without a New 66, it's just not- you put the Remington name on it and it's a reasonably close copy....they gotta have it.

I think in relative terms, it could be a cost competitive rifle something between the $150 and $300 rifles. The gun was always reliable and reasonably accurate.

Just an interesting thought exercise.....

 

It comes down to how expensive the tooling is to replace, compared to expected sales.

While there is probably /some/ nostalgia factor from a modest group of potential customers, I see problems with both of the factors I listed above.

 

It was cheap to build for the time, and it was different. It wasn't cheap enough for today's throw away society where they're are dozens of cheap plastic rimfire options. Remington went cheap across the board for decades, and look where it got them. So many junk guns built only to a price point, the 522 Viper, 710, 770, 887, and 870 Express as a few examples. I'd much rather see the 572, 552, and 40x resurrected.

 

[...] Remington went cheap across the board for decades, and look where it got them.
So many junk guns built only to a price point, the 522 Viper, 710, 770, 887, and 870 Express as a few examples.

Exactly.

And furthermore, who would Remington even be at this point in time anyhow ?
I don't even see a candidate company that could/would go down that rabbit hole.

 

I was fishing under a bridge years back and found a Nylon 66 in the water, had the brown stock. Couldn’t have been in the water too long as it was still in decent shape. I wanted to keep it but did the right thing and turned it in to the police. Several months later I was let know that they found the rightful owner as it had been reported stolen. Seemed like a nice gun but I am already too deep into 10/22’s.

 

bought early in ?1968 Seneca Green, sold it, dumb of me, now have brown with serial number.
I'd buy another nylon 66 in a NY second.

 

Now that is a great topic! Way to stimulate some conversation. I missed out on the 66 as a youth and young man but always wanted one. They still turn up around the SW Missouri area in varied condition on an irregular basis. I bought a Winchester Wildcat and figured that was close enough. 4lbs., accurate, dependable, advanced polymer construction, love the open sights and takes 10/22 mags. If only Winchester had a modern day Tom Frye... Or a Mohammad Frye as the case may be...

 

My very first 22, I bought it for $49.95 new. I have loved the rifle with and without a scope. It has been through many rounds. I would buy another one if they ever started to make them again.

 

My only problem with this is that some CEO scumbag (is there any other kind?) will want to make it CHEAP. Not economical, which is what the 66 was....they will want to make it cheap with junk plastic and junkier parts.

THEN they will make it a "tacticool" abomination instead of the beautiful gun it was.

The Nylon 66 was the perfect balance of economy, durability, reliability and style.

...I am saying that and I HATE plastic guns. (Except for the Nylon series and the Steyr AUG )

What would I do????

Newest, bestest polymer out there. If I can add graphene and make it lighter and a bit of Kevlar to make it tougher...then I will do it.

All of metal internals except the mag tube : black nitrided stainless steel including the barrel. Springs will be just in the white stainless. Mag tube would be the same as it always was. (stainless spring, though)

Rear sight needs some work...just a bit, not too much.

Trigger and charging handle and safety button: Nylatron.

Barrel: fluted...possible with a lined aluminum/steel super light option.

I'd also add threaded bosses to the middle of the reciever cover so that a Pic or Weaver scope mount could be firmly attached along the tip off rail....

Mmmm.....

Here is my newest Nylon that I just bought this evening: (don't worry about the missing front sight...I have it)

I love these dang guns!

 

That would be a beautiful and functional rifle. If only companies created quality instead of cheap throw away garbage like most do these days.

 

Under US manufacture? No. No one will buy them. Too exspensive. Sentimental guys? Most are on the dirt side of life. To bad the one of that off shore makers wouldn't bring it back. I have a Mossberg 702 from Brazil thats great. I'd pay up to 300 bucks on a good Nylon copy. Thats the price of a junk used one these days. jmo

 

ajole, the 66 was made in a clip version, just look for a nylon 10, 5 shot magazine. and the nylon 77, 10 shot magazine.

 

I found a Mohawk with a broken charge handle and no mag for a hunnerd bucks OTD. Numrich had the handle ($12) and I found 4 Rem mags ($20) on a shelf in a shop going out of business. I wouldn't but a new repo, just because I have these guys. PAX

 

So you want Remington to do what?
CBC made a clone of the Nylon 66.
They look to have the tooling lets ask them.

 

To clarify some of the statements regarding the CBC; per the book, Remington Rimfires, by Gyde and Marcot; CBC began production of the Nylon GR-8 Black Beauty in the mid 60's. Remington had been affiliated with the company since the mid 1930's providing tooling, engineers and expertise for their production of firearms and ammunition. In 1981 the Brazilian government nationalized the company ending Remington's association with the company.
They note the gun is very similiar but not an exact clone, differences are listed in their book. When being sold in the U.S. the CBC guns actually had a retail price higher than the Nylon 66. Importation of the CBC gun ended in 1988.

 

I did a display at my local gun show last year of Nylon's.

 

I've got one. I set it up with a 3/4" scope. Fun little plinker,
incredibly light.

Bought it because I WANTED one when I was a kid and they were new,
but couldn't afford it.

Would I buy one as my only 22? Probably not. Darned things are getting
collectible. Around here a decent shooter with some honest wear is
$300+. REALLY hard to beat a 10-22, especially if you like to tinker a
bit.

 

Trouble with most 22 semi auto is that they get dirty so fast and that's when they malfunction FTF/ FTE regardless of models, I was under the impression that the Chinese had cloned the 66 but I could not find any info. I was wrong unless someone proves me right.

 

Rather than bring back the 66 after making all brand new tooling, they need to salvage their brand reputation using their current product lines before introducing more products. Anyone remember the R51 fiasco? Our local range was actually giving them away with range memberships years ago (that’s the only reason I have one)

I imagine they still have the tooling for the 597 and if they can turn out a decent 597 that might get the ball rolling for other rimfire rifles down the line

How any company could go broke selling guns in the last 15 years is beyond me, but Remington pulled it off

 

The holding company that bought them saddled them with ludicrous amounts of debt- siphoning off the money to pay themselves off, that's how.

The latest Remington products I have seen- a few 870's have been EXCELLENT looking firearms.

 

I just bought a Rossi for $99 new and it's better than my 66

 

When You disassemble a Nylon 66 I fail to understand the no lubrication thought process as it has as many metal on metal moving parts as any other gun with nothing Nylon on Nylon.
Before the 10-22 showed up it was the weapon of choice for survivalist due to boasted low to no maintenance and removal of all the parts left me wondering how I was going to get it put back together which was difficult and nothing I would ever want to tackle again leaving me the thought as a one gun last ditch option as a do all the 10-22 would win out hands down in every category.
With all that said and owning several Nylon 66 they carry like a stick and light in weight and long lasting rifle under hard use , very reliable.
If they brought back the original version hopefully in Seneca Green I'd get in line to get one for sure ,a great post, Thanks

 

I have a Nylon 66 which Remington shipped directly to me at our American Embassy in Indonesia, in 1975. I shortened the barrel to the U.S. legal minimum, just ahead of the forearm, and moved the front sight back. An adjustable bedding tension screw (my idea), threaded into the forearm in front, makes these guns super accurate. Most are already pretty accurate anyway, even with the front part of the barrel free to wobble all around. Which made no sense to me. So I bedded it.

Trouble shooting a Brazilian copy for a relative, I completely disassembled and closely examined it beside my Remington original. They are PERFECT, identical to the Remington in every way. Anybody who says otherwise has no idea what he is talking about.

I doubt that the Nylon 66 series could ever be made again over here, because tooling up to build them would be far too expensive for the anticipated small market. Building a mold like that is costly. Setting up to produce most of the other excellent models mentioned in this thread is also expensive. Ruger simply has that market virtually monopolized with the 10/22. And anyway, where would an American company find workers sufficiently skilled and motivated to do more than sweep floors, if that?

The problem is that there are too many excellent alternative designs from days gone by. .Somebody would almost have to pick only one, and invest heavily in that design, to compete.

 

I think it came about because DuPont then owned Remington. DuPont came up with a new "plastic" and it was the era where plastic was the greatest thing. I want to say that the CBC guns use a different "plastic" as the original was still a DuPont only thing.

Personally I have never lubed mine in any way shape or form. It just works, and keeps working till it gets so dirty you think this thing should not work, it will work a few steps past that.

I really like them a great deal, as well as the "plastic" Daisy rimfires.

 

Many years ago I became friends with an Air Force Chaplain who spent some years in Alaska. He rode a snowmobile to tend his flock and carried a .44 magnum on his hip. He told me that the Eskimos loved the Nylon 66 for hunting seals. It was rugged and reliable. They could just throw it into their kayak and go hunting.

 

Yes, as Mathews691 implies, the self lubricating quality of nylon is a special thing. You can actually foul up the works by lubricating a Nylon 66 with petroleum products. Keep it clean, dry, and leave it alone. Even in very low temperatures, it lubricates itself. Those Eskimos know what they are doing, as Adamsgt mentioned.

Dupont Nylon also seems less inclined toward low temperature embrittlement than some of the other straight plastics. It seems to me that our modern firearms designers could benefit by working nylon into certain functional areas of our modern handguns, which are already mostly plastic. Or maybe the new plastics do the same thing, and my understanding is outdated.

Just FYI, I've now had my Nylon 66 for 48 years, and I cannot see any warping, cracking, shrinking, or deterioration of any kind. Finished surfaces also look the same. That's pretty good for any synthetic material. I hope our modern plastic pistols hold up as well.

 

Mines also 48 years old,my first gun purchase. As long as you give the receiver cover a wipe with an oily rag every once and awhile to stop the freckles. Mine cost me 50$Cdn ,with my mom looking over my shoulder, I was under age