Nylon 66s

[dennie]

I went to an auction/yard sale today. A fellow there had 3 different nylon 66s. One was the black/chrome for $500, a brown/blue one for $400 and another that had a sorta green stock and different looking metal, and supposedly unfired. It had a short magazine instead of feeding thru the stock. $400 for this one also. All 3 looked to be in excellent condition. I debated for quite a while on buying 1 or 2 of them, but finally walked away. Did I screw up? What are these going for where you'uns live? This auction is a weekly thing in the summer, so they may be there again next Wednesday.
Thanx for comments.
dennie

[geobru]

From what I have seen in the last year, $275 to $325. I am no expert with them, but for nice guns that is the range I have seen. $400 to $500 seems way high IMHO.

[Pete44ru]

While the others were a bit overpriced, that (1970-71) Seneca Green (color) Model 77 (detachable magazine) is worth over $650 if it was rust-free.

FWIW, I sold my Seneca Green Model 66 (tube magazine) for $600, over 6 years ago.




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[Concho]

I have never understood the facination with the nylon 66. But then again, I prefer mine clad in wood, preferably walnut.

[jdad]

The Nylon 66......the only semi-auto you never want to disassemble because you'll go insane trying to put it back together. Definitely designed as a "disposable" firearm.

[Larkbill]

About 15 years ago I bought a Nylon 76 a guy was selling because he had several and this was the roughest one. Chip out of the butt plate and some pitting on the receiver cover. I paid the princely sum of $185 and thought I might have been a little crazy. But since have turned down $400 and $450. What's a Nylon 76? A LEVER! Still kicking myself for not buying a green bolt action NIB, with all the hang tags and papers. At a yard sale and priced at $250. After all, I only paid $30 for my 511-X when it was brand new, and it has a pretty walnut stock. Sometimes even I am amazed at the depths of my stupidity.

These guns are the '59-60 Chevies of the gun world. Ignored and ridiculed at the time because of their appearance, but now timeless classics because of their rarity. My brother still swears his Nylon 66 is the most accurate .22 he's ever owned. He just hasn't had a 511.

[Pete44ru]

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My Nylon 66 was accurate enough, for what it was used for - the arcane sport of dump rat shooting.

The ranges were in feet, not yards, so I had the open rear sight cranked all the way down !

My pals & I only gave it up when other dump rat shooters started standing at the bottom of the refuse pit , and were shooting upwards towards the rats (and us ) .


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[1894c]

I owned one for a couple of years, it was OK, my first contact with plastic guns, but in the end I let it go...what I did like was the Remington Ads where 1,000's of wooden blocks would be piled up and a smiling guy would proclaim the virtues of the 66... :)

[Blaine]

I owned one for a couple of years, it was OK, my first contact with plastic guns, but in the end I let it go...what I did like was the Remington Ads where 1,000's of wooden blocks would be piled up and a smiling guy would proclaim the virtues of the 66...

I liked that one with the Eskimos and the 66....Neither snow, nor, ice, etc etc.....always wondered how it stacked up against polar bears

[Sixgun]

I have never understood the facination with the nylon 66. But then again, I prefer mine clad in wood, preferably walnut.

I'll agree to that. I remember they came out and I was just a kid. They did not excite me then and still don't. Trigger pulls are terrible. That sheet metal receiver really turned me off. I must have turned down several dozen of them over the years and I could have had them for a c-note.---------Sixgun

[M. M. Wright]

I had a few of the 66s. Turned me off when I scoped one with the mounts clamped to the top of that sheet metal cover. Never would hold a zero. Would have been alright with a mount like the browning take-down 22s, screwed to the barrel and swoops back over the receiver.

They are super tuff. I had one in the back window gun rack of my pickup when I felled a big oak tree on it. (Vision obscured by a Coors can.) The Nylon 66 survived just fine. Truck didn't.

[jeepnik]

Pete beat me to it on the Seneca 77. I need one to add to my collection, green is the only color I don't have. Although I have a 77, I'd take anything in seneca.

[dennie]

Thanx for the replies. I always thought they looked pretty cool. Guess I won't go outta my way to get one next week. Today I stopped by the LGS and they had a Marlin lever action .410 that looked like new. Asking $625 and would not budge from that. I didn't get the model number but it had a pistol grip stock and cross bolt safety. May have checked further if I didn't already have a Win. M9410 Packer that I rarely ever shoot.
dennie

[AJMD429]

Definitely a very nostalgic gun but even as a kid I had the same impression I did with the first triangular forend AR-15's I saw. Looked 'cheap'. I guess they were kind of like a Glock pistol though because they seemed very reliable no matter how much you abused them.

[AJMD429]

They did make a lever action version I think...???

[EdinCT]

I saved 3 bucks a week until I had the 54.00 dollars for a Nylon 77. My dad wouldn't let me buy a 66 because he said he wanted me to be able to pull the clip to empty it.
All I ever saw was the pictures in the mags advertising them and when I first saw it I thought that is one ugly rifle. I couldn't back out after saving so long and it did everthing a 22 should do for close to 100000 rounds I think.

[66GTO]

I had a 66 that went over 20 years without cleaning. The only time it malfunctioned was because of a bad primer in a round. When I finally cleaned it there was powder residue caked in the receiver. As my dear old Daddy used to say "that thing ran like a sewing machine." They are light as a feather at 4lbs and you can carry it all day.

The stamped metal receiver cover doesn't make a very stable base for a scope, as mentioned earlier, so it is best used with open sights.

[Hagler]

dennie,

This site has some information on the Nylon rifles:

http://www.nylonrifles.com/wp/documents/

Shawn

[44-40 Willy]

My first one was a "Black Diamond" 66, black stock with blued barrel and receiver cover. I still don't know what possessed me to let it go. My last one was a green 77 with what looked like a parkerized finish I bought at a K-Mart in the 80s. My oldest son has that one now. The only thing I didn't care much for on the Nylons was that thick blade front sight. It always seemed to cover up a lot of what I was shooting at. But darn could those things shoot and keep going forever... The only problem I ever had out of one was with that 77. Darn clips kept coming apart.

[66GTO]

The only thing I didn't care much for on the Nylons was that thick blade front sight. It always seemed to cover up a lot of what I was shooting at.

Not a target rifle, for sure. I never could not get used to that plastic trigger. It seemed like it had about a 10 lb pull. But it was tough and reliable. If I had to depend on a semi-auto as a survival gun, the Nylon 66 would be it. My other choice would be a Henry lever .22 LR or Steve's Gunz Rossi 92 in .357 Mag.

[klhill]

Local shop has one that has gone unsold for several months at $359. As a kid in the 60's I was the envy of the neighborhood with my 10-22 compared to their Nylon 66 and Marlin 60's.The light weight of the Remington was nice though!

[Birdman]

I have one I bought bran spankin new in the early 70's. I still have the box, receipt, and all the paperwork. Black and chrome. Love that thing. I don't really understand the appeal I have because I have always liked wood, but that thing has been a great rifle and dependable as the day is long. And accurate enough to put more squirrels in my belly than I can count. They have become collectable and some people are asking crazy prices. I've thought about collecting all the different combinations of all the nylon models but I'd have a bunch of money tied up if I did. I'll just keep what I have and be happy knowing I have a great peice of my childhood to pass along to my son someday.

[cas]

Even though it makes absolutely no sense, I swear my Nylon 66 is one one of the quietest .22's I've ever shot.