Remington Apache 66 .22 autoloader. Wow. The perfect all around rifle for play. I bought it in 1980 - it’s never had any problem at all. God only knows how many rounds have gone thru it. Thousands upon thousands
Mine is from the 60’s and probably been fired more than 50000 times but always goes bang and is plenty accurate....if i had to walk off into the wilderness with one gun that might my choice
As far as favorite 22...my ancient winchester model 63 is it by far..not nearly as rugged or reliable as the nylon 66 but it handles and points like a dream
Ive had several 10/22s over the years, good rifles but they always have felt clunky to me
“Remington Apache 66 .22 autoloader...never had any problem at all.” [atc23, post 16]
“Although it uses a tube magazine fed from the rear, like a carnival rifle, the Remmington Nylon is a fantastic gun, rugged and well balanced.” [PUGACHEV, post 18]
“...The plastic stock was quite a novelty. And the 14 round tubular magazine was kind of unique....” [hirn_man, post 34]
The Nylon 66 and variants (Nylon 77, Nylon 76, Mohawk 10C) were innovative designs for their day (mid 1950s-early 1960s) but aren’t a good choice today for plinkers.
Production halted in 1989. Parts are getting tougher and tougher to obtain. Collectors are snatching them up and prices are climbing as a result. Especially for the Nylon 76, Remington’s only lever action, only about 19,000 made. The last one I saw had an asking price of $1000.00.
The guns don’t have a receiver as such - what looks like a receiver is merely a cover for action parts. Many have grooves in the cover to mount a scope; but as someone mentioned, zero wanders because the cover cannot be firmly attached.
The stock is made of structural nylon, a feature Remington never failed to mention in marketing: touted as strong and durable. But aging issues are now coming to the fore, in plastics formulated in the 1950s. If the stock cracks or breaks, that’s it. There is no adhesive available on the consumer market that will repair the stuff; Remington was said to have used a specialized solvent composed of a heated acid to bond the stock halves together. Strictly confined to the factory floor.
Sear, trigger, and related parts are held inside the action by means of pins through prefab holes in the nylon. There aren’t any metal reinforcements in the nylon, so all the stresses of the compressed hammer spring are transferred directly to the nylon. Since these rifles are usually left cocked all the time, fatigue cracking has been occurring in the nylon.
The sear is a piece of stamped steel, very thin. It often cracks. Replacements are not available.
The rear sight is unique and is riveted to a thin extension of the receiver cover. Parts are small and delicate and cannot withstand any rough handling. Replacements cannot be found.
The magazine tube in the stock was not an innovation. Browning’s original 22 autoloader, made by FN, had the same type, as did Remington’s 24 and 241 which were offshoots of Browning’s rifle. Winchester’s M1903 (the first rimfire autoloading rifle offered to the American public) and its updated version, the M63, used in-stock magazines. Several Mossberg rifles also used that style of magazine.