unclebird,

RG guns were made in Germany by Rohm. Most people will tell you that ALL Rohm/ RG guns are junk, primarily because they were sold for very cheap prices, and because they were made mostly of "pot metal" (some alloy of aluminum & zinc). You will usually hear the term "Saturday night special" applied to every Rohm/ RG firearm. John Hinkley shot President Regan with a .22 RG revolver, low model# (like an RG 10, or such).

There is some concensus that the higher model-numbered RGs are better than the lower numbers are. Your 66 may be "better" than a model 10, for example. I have an RG 10. It is a well-thought-out design, but not very user-friendly: it is toyish in proportions, and I am a full-grown man. Only those parts which need to be made of steel are made of steel. My barrel is now a little wobbly, after who knows how many rounds that were shot by the previous owner.

Rohm Gun is still in business. They now make "signal guns", flare guns, and air guns:

http://www.roehm-rg.de/?&L=1

...including the ultracool "Desperado Guitar Case":

Way back when, Rohm produced some of their guns with almost any other company's name on them.

Finally, please do not let any of what I said reduce your enjoyment of your 66. Just be aware of the reputation that precedes these items, and shoot the snot out of your new gun!:bthumb:

BigLoop22

 

I have one of those RG Model 66 rimfire single action revolvers.

I bought it 30 years ago off a friend for $30. I don't consider this to be a Saturday Night special type pistol. It's an inexpensive pistol but actually fairly well made. It came with a holster and two interchangeable cylinders; one for 22 Long Rifle, and the other for 22 Magnum cartridges. This pistol has one of the nicest, lightest, triggers I have ever felt on a revolver. After I bought and repaired it, I was very pleased with the accuracy. The nickel finish makes it nice for carrying in a holster.

The gent I bought it from wanted it repaired but decided to sell it once he heard how much it was to fix. There was a forked spring underneath the trigger that had one of the forks broken off. The broken fork was for the cylinder locking lever, without it the pistol was useless and unsafe to operate. I bought it off of him and fashioned a new trigger return/cylinder locking spring out of spring steel. The pistol has worked flawlessly over the years. The Model 66 is very shooter friendly. I taught all my children how to shoot with it.

R,
Bullseye

 

Saw one go for about $90-100 at an auction a few weeks back.

 

I've had a 9" blue RG66 for about 15 yrs and had no problems either. It shoots good and a fun plinker...and a cheap clone of the early Colt 22 buntline. After a few bricks it still functions like new but isn't made to compete with the durability of a single six. It has no safety or transfer bar. The 66 is way better than the Saturday nite versions everyone says are so bad. I had an RG23 and it was real junk compared to the 66.

p

 

Such a pleasent surprize to see so many glowing RG 66 reports! Over the years I seen many so called gun experts proclaim anything made by RG as junk. But the 66 is definantly a sold, more robust and generally much better pistol than the other RG models.
Principle drawbacks IMO are an almost universal light (IMO often TOO light) trigger pull. Which can be easiy remedied. And the usual cheap looking reddish plastic RG logo grips.
Replace those funky looking grips and you'd be amazed how many people are surprized to learn that such a solidly made and fun to shoot gun was made by RG.
Have you checked Numrich Arms (e-gunparts.com) for replacement parts?

 

Picked up an RG 66 off a guy I knew about 30+ years ago. Paid $25 for it. Decided to sell it before I had fired a full box of ammo through it. It indexed improperly, the cylinder and the barrel were misaligned and the revolver would shave lead. By shaving lead, I mean as a slug left the chamber and entered the barrel a small sliver of lead came off. This is very disconcerting if you are standing next to the shooter as he fires. I was the recipient of some of the lead shaving and decided it wasn't for me. Yes, the trigger was real nice. Will stick with Colt .22 revolvers.

 

What little info I've found does speak poorly about some of the earlier models. Other than this gun being in poor condition, I think it is put together well, and shoots very well. Having shot so much benchrest, I like the light trigger pull. When I say it is in poor condition, I mean the finish is worn, and it's missing the housing, and spring for the extractor rod. It's not difficult to remove spents with a thumbnail. I have the I have both cylendars, but have no use for .22 mag. It's fun to shoot, and worth what little bit I paid for it. Thanks for the replies, and history report!


Brad

 

If you will pm me with your address I'll send you one no charge, I have a spare housing and ejector rod in black but no spring. We got to keep everybody shooting.

 

Geez allen...it's a small world. We share the same bday, 12/7, and I grew up in Cocoa Beach.

bp

 

Bob's Gunparts online catalog lists the RG-66 ejector rod spring and screw.
Also ran across this:
Gunbroker.com Auction # 105526420
Rosewood grips for the M-66. Kinda pricey, but probably not an everyday item.

 

I have one of the Rohm 22 cal saturday night specials. It laods through a gate like the old single actions but there is no ejector of any kind. There is an extension of the base pin you unscrew and punch out the empties. It is made out what I think is compressed powdered metal.

Even though it is very cheap gun it will hold the black on the 25 yard bullseye rapid fire target.

I didn't buy it my cousin died and left it to me. Also a FIE 25 acp that amazingly will also hold the black and a Taurus 38 special that shoots 2 feet high at 23 with the rear sight all the way down.

 

I bought a blue RG66 with a 9" barrel, also, back in the 70's. I even shot silhouette with it once or twice. Four of the chambers were pretty accurate and it was a fun gun to plink with. It had plastic grips but I built a pair of walnut grips for it.

Germans make some good stuff; even when they cut corners it is still pretty good.

Longbeard

 

To understand why most Roehms are not good quality, you have to understand the history of gun control in Germany. The "junkers" are based on gas and starter guns, that had been available without a license until a few years ago. The RG66 was based on a 4mm cartridge that until 1972 was available without a permit. It was more of a simple 10 meter target gun.

I had bought many .22 l.r and a few .38 Specials from law enforcement auction for $5 to $35 plus tax. $ 35 got me a well working 38 Special with a swing out cylinder that worked with HKS 10A speedloaders. Over the years I sold or gave all of them away.

 

For my 11th bithday, I received a lever action rifle. It made me want a six-shooter so bad that I got a job bussing tables after school and on weekends until I had enough cash to buy one. At barely 12 years old I walked into a Gibson's Discount Center on the very Saturday that my savings had amounted to $50 and bought a German-made Liberty Arms Model 66 (ROHM). I told the gal at the counter that I wanted THAT .22 pistol. I gave her the cash, she gave me the pistol and that was that. That was early in 1973 and I still have that pistol today.

It's just as cheap-looking and much more worn than it was then, but it's walked with me many a mile as I was growing up. I've had to work on it a couple of times over the years and lost the rear sight blade on some venture in the past, but it has eaten thousands of rounds since purchased without a single failure. Wonder what would happen if my 12 year old walked in to a store and tried to purchase a .22 pistol today?

 

Thank you so much Allen! PM sent.


Brad

 

No problem. I picked up over a hundred guns in a deal last fall, which most are parts guns or plain junk, and there is most of one of these guns in there, plus three spare rods and housings, but not a single spring or screw, go figure. I will mail it out to you monday, as the local P.O. closes at 11:00 on Sat. allen

 

Good news, the parts you sent showed up today! Thanks Allen!!! It's going to take some "creative engineering" to make it work though. The screw hole on the housing is about 3/32" short of the tap on the barrel. Since it is what it is,,,,,JB Weld. I'm not in the habit of doing things like that, but the gun is nickel, the housing blue, so I'll throw the JB to it. I may have someone strip it down and put some type of Parkerizing finish on it one day anyway. Thanks so much for getting it to me as fast as you did. If I can throw any parts or pieces your way let me know. I am a pack rat.


Brad

 

No problem, glad I could help. Nothing bothers me more than a gun that doesn't do what it's supposed to.

 

RG66

Stumbled on this post. POI, I bought my RG66 in 1971 and paid less than $20 for it brand new. Came with two cylinders including .22 Mag. Still use it occasionally for fun.

 

Love these old threads. :t

At a gunshow I bought a sack of parts that turned out to be an RG14. Molded-in hammer pin was broken so I drilled it out and used an appropriate-size pin, reassembled, and had an operational revolver.

Sold it at a later gunshow since it was short barrel and only shot shorts.

Look in old Gun Digests and you will see a lot of RG's.

 

Nago: What is the difference between the 2 cylinders?

 

NAGO's last activity was in 2021 so I'll answer.

22LR cyl and 22 MAG cyl.

 

I’m currently taking care of my 90 year old father and staying with him 24/7. The house he lives in belonged to his sister in law. My mothers family had the farm granted to them by King George III in 1762.

No body has ever thrown anything away. For the past year I have been sorting through “stuff” from grand parents and great grand parents from both sides of the family.

I have found 5 RG 10 revolvers and an Iver Johnson owl head .32 top break revolver. 3 of the RG 10s are still in the box. There is one 4” that appears unfired. I might would shoot that one , but not any of the other ones.

I bought one 40 years ago from an old guy. I asked him how much, and he said, “ it’s a 22, give me 22 dollars.

Just like a previous poster stated, it shot more lead from the side than down the barrel.

I’ve never seen a model 66. That’s interesting.

 

Thanks, Plinkhead. But I am more interested in the difference in the dimensions. Is the 22mag cylinder longer? If not, are the 22 LR chambers countersunk? Things like that.

 

.22 LR and .22 WMR cylinders are exactly the same except that the .22 WMR (Mag) cartridge holes are slightly larger diameter to accept the Mag ammo. The cylinder on either are not countersunk.

 

a lot of similarity to the single six it seems ,