You all know how I feel about plastic stocks....

[sakorick]

with one exception. The Remington SA Nylon! Yes, well actually Zytel and DuPont made nylons for ladies with the stuff....hence Remington Nylon. Remington sold over 1M of these from 1959 to 1989 and they came in various flavors all named after Indians, The Mohawk, Seneca and Apache. At one time I had 6 in my collection but sold them off when the prices got crazy. however. I kept one for Evan, the 14 shot tube fed "Apache Black" 66 and one for Owen, the 10 shot magazine fed Apache 77 Green AKA, the K-Mart. The Apache Black accounted for 221,000 while the K-Mart sold 54,000 and was the last model made in 1987-89. I disassembled one once for a thorough cleaning......DO NOT DO THIS! At the end of the day I had what seemed like 10,000 parts of pins, screws, springs, and other hardware in a large box. That box sat in a closet for about 5 years when I found a gunsmith in Bogart, Missouri who reassembeled it in about 10 minutes. The poor man died about 5 years ago probably with a Nylon 66 in hand. One thing for certain is they shoot like crazy and are about as fun as it gets. Here are the Grandson's rifles.

[gitano]

Paul

[recoil junky]

Don't forget the Nylon 11's.

RJ

[sakorick]

Don't forget the Nylon 11's.

RJ

Yes there were other nylons made. They had a bolt action, lever action, the 11's and several very rare commemoratives as well. They are all pretty cool little guns!

[JaDub]

I have two but havn`t fired a round thru either.  I really thought they were awful when they came out.........  too used to good looking wood.  Now I think they`re pretty kool.  They have stood up to the test of time.

[gitano]

Don't like plastic - or whatever 'they' want to call non-wooden stocks. Hated these when they first came out. Still do in terms of "look and feel". (You should wrap your hands around one of those on a cold, snowy, winter's day. You'll be wantin' a nice wooden stock to hold on to.) I consider these rifles the bellwether of the coming trend toward plastic in firearms. Soon after these were released, both Remington and Winchester started pressing their checkering. ANOTHER "cost saving" decision. God-awful looking, and everyone told them so. Took 'em close to 10 years to stop doing that ****. To my eye, today's machine-cut checkering looks a thousand times better than pressed checkering.

These plastic Remingtons ARE fun rifles! Great for kids who couldn't care less what a 'gun' looks like as long as it's 'theirs'! They served their purpose. I'm not sure I would go with "stood the test of time". What gun hasn't? There are some old milsurps with pretty krappy designs that people LOVE! Those rifles haven't "stood the test of time", they have just become - like too many other firearms-related objects - "collectable" by virtue of their age alone. I can think of other .22s from that same era that I'd rather have. How about a Belgian-made Browning semi-auto, for one example. That may be the 'secksiest' looking production rifle ever made. Since it is still in production, I think the only .22 RF that has actually "stood the test of time" is the Ruger 10/22.  The rest have been 'sanctified' by collectors.

The above sounds like I'm beating up on the Nylon Remingtons. I'm not. To me they're kind of a cool gun NOWADAYS, simply because they 'teleport me back in time'  to the halcyon days of my youth. They will do the same for your grandkids when they are our age.

Paul

[Hunterbug]

I have one and it's a good gun. I've taken more than a few rabbits with it. Like Paul, I prefer wood stocks but these are still pretty cool.

[sakorick]

I have one and it's a good gun. I've taken more than a few rabbits with it. Like Paul, I prefer wood stocks but these are still pretty cool.

And kids are kids! These guns are very light and their cool looks go hand in hand with a 10 year old!

[Hunterbug]

And kids are kids! These guns are very light and their cool looks go hand in hand with a 10 year old!

Absolutely. Their lightness can't be underappreciated. A 22 can get heavy to a 10 year old after carrying it for a few hours rabbit hunting.

[Bill Thibeault]

Won two Nylon 66's at skeet shoots in Germany.  Sold one, and kept one for my son.  Didn't know at the time I would later have a daughter.  Don't think I have ever sold a gun that at some point I didn't regret the transaction.

[sakorick]

Don't think I have ever sold a gun that at some point I didn't regret the transaction.

I think every single person on this forum has said that exact same thing and more than once!:Banghead:

[gitano]

I think we should somehow make that the motto of THL.

I would be willing to wager that I have more firearms than anyone else at THL, and have sold fewer of them. I recall selling four firearms in my life. Two, I needed money and didn't ever plan on using them. No regrets there. I sold a first model Marlin chambered in .17 HMR. I sold that "thing" because I WANTED to sell it, and there were no, and to this day ARE no, regrets of ANY sort! (I still have two unopened boxes of .17 HMR ammo.) I sold HB one of a dozen M95 Steyrs I have. No regrets there. I don't recall selling another firearm. Had one rifle stolen from me. For the most part, I don't sell stuff. I still have a 1989 Ford Aerostar of which I am the original owner.

People say, "I sold a rifle like that and I regret it to this day", and I pay attention to that...

Paul


PS - I will admit to having sold two motorcycles that I wish I could have back: A '39 Indian, and '52 Ariel square four. Both were choppers. Great bikes, but... I needed the money and there was no way I could take them with me when I moved from Knob Noster, Mo. to Fairbanks, AK.

Paul

[JaDub]

I sold a .22 / 410 only because the buyer offered me 4 times what I paid for it. Nice gun but I had two. The other was a Remington Wingmaster 12 ga.   I was simply moving it  to put towards  buying  a Browning Goldhunter . Another plus to that sale was that my pristine Wingmaster was being bought by a father to give to his teenage son. Otherwise, like Paul, I really havn`t sold anything. Give me a few years and I`ll likely start selling off what I have.


JaDub

[gitano]

Give me a few years and I'll likely start selling off what I have.

Yup. About 75% of the firearms I own are milsurps I purchased during the 'glut', as investments for my kids.

I'm in the selling mode with those firearms now, but I'm not in a hurry to do it. I bought them purely for investments OR to cannibalize to make guns I wanted. I'll sell them when I can get a 'good' price for them. In my case, here in Alaska, I took a 30% 'hit' on the price for ones that I paid around $100 for. (Most of them were $85 to $150.) They had to appreciate more than that (in other words, double), in order for me to make a profit. In order to do better than other investments, they have to appreciate even more than that.

However, we're getting to levels at which I would be willing to sell - about a doubling, or 100% gain. That's not as good as it sounds. If I paid $100 for a rifle plus $30 for shipping (at least), then sell it for $200, I have to cover boxing and prep for sale, plus the cost of listing on an online auction site, etc. After all is said and done, I might make $50 on a $200 sale. 50% gain over 20 years ain't bad, but it also ain't exactly 'killing it' either at $50-a-whack.

I have maybe a dozen or so that I'll 'pass on'.

Paul

[JaDub]

We share the same philosophy. I`ve only been collecting for about 5 years. Prices have gone up quite a bit since you were buying but profit margins are still the same today. Buy for $200 and sell 50 to 100% or more mark-up. Buying at the right price is the name of the game. Sure beats the stock or bond market.........and having fun doing it.

[sakorick]

I always tried finding the rifle that had unique markings and ownership. Examples .....No4 MK1 marked South African Navy, No4 Mk1 Long Branch with New Zealand ownership cartouches and SN, No4 Mk2 still in cocoon wrap......these guns doubled and tripled for me. I am now selling most of my foreign pieces and funneling the money into high end US Property rifles......Garands, 1911's, M1 Carbines 1903 and A3 correct minty stuff. At the end of the day, It will be easier for my kids to sell them and I have several earmarked for the 2 Grandkids in my living trust with Eric and Ann Marie the executors fully engaged. I think the key to collecting is collect the very best you can afford then relax!