NylonRifles.com

Your videos are great on the disassembly. I used it to do the basic process on my Nylon 66 that I bought in 1965 and have sent many thousands of rounds through since. About time, wouldn't you say.
After doing it I realized that some people might like to be able to print out a hard copy of these directions (basic only) to refer to. So I did a careful write up of the process for printing. Below I've copied this for any who want to useit. I hope it's not too much to post. If so, and you want to bring it onto the site as a seperate article, feel free to do so.
Jim Skelton
Royal Palm Beach, FL

FIELD STRIPPING A NYLON 66 RIFLE FOR CLEANING

One of the most appealing qualities of a Remington Nylon 66 .22 rifle is it’s reliability and durability under adverse conditions. Just before it’s introduction for sale in late 1959, Remington sent two production samples to each of their outside sales reps with instructions to fire at least 1000 rounds through it while subjecting it to the most extreme conditions they wanted to test, then return the rifles to the company with a report on performance.

One salesman took them fully at their word. He set out by firing the rifle in all sorts of positions: upright, sideways, upside down, etc. He dropped it into mud, threw sand all over it, immersed one into a lake on a string and let sit on the bottom awhile, even went so far as to drop it out of a second or third story window onto hard ground. After each bit of torture – torture that would render most rifles at least inoperable until cleaned if not entirely broken – he just shook off the mud or sand or water and started firing. The rifle never failed to continue to shoot. When he had to return the gun to headquarters, he had nothing but praise and asked that they send him two new ones charged to his personal operating account. He was sold on the gun and it’s amazing resiliency .. and so have been a million or so shooters since then.

The Nylon 66 does not require a lot of specialized and detailed cleaning like most other rifles. It has relatively few moving parts to get jammed or thrown out of alignment. The so called “Nylon” that the stock is make of has a natural ability to provide what passes for lubrication, allowing moving parts such as the bolt and extractor to slide back and forth in their grooves without need of oil or grease. In fact, the use of any lubricants in those areas is NOT RECOMMENDED. Doing so only provides grit and grime something to attach to and increase the possibility of a problem, not diminish it.

That said, the Nylon 66 is not a “maintenance free” gun. There is no such thing. After any firing session, the barrel needs to be brushed with solvent, then cleaned with cloth patches and a light coat of oil introduced to keep the rifling clean and the bore rust free. After that, just a little wipe-down of the exterior and you’re good to go again.

However, after an extended period of use, especially if the rifle has been subjected to the elements over and over again, it is inevitable that at least a little dirt and such will accumulate on the inner workings. At the very least, the area around the ejector and ejector port will accumulate a powder residue from the bullet explosions. The contentious owner will want to get in there and clean it out just to be sure all remains in working order.

My Nylon 66, which I bought in 1966 or thereabouts, had NEVER been field stripped and cleaned in this manner. In 2010, I decided to see what I could do to remedy that. Thank God for the internet! I found my answer in a web page called www.nylonrifles.com .

This page has a video – two, actually - that show clearly how to do both a basic field-stripping of the rifle and then an advance instructional on how to take that to the next, complete level. The basic stripping provides the owner with enough ability to reach most areas in need of cleaning. The advanced instruction is for a complete breakdown of all pieces and is recommended only for VERY KNOWLEDGEABLE owners or professional gunsmiths. I am neither very knowledgeable nor a professional, so I stayed with the basic process and found it served the needs of the rifle quite well. There was definitely some buildup inside that needed removal and I was able to do so in less that 1 hour including the disassembly and reassembly of the rifle. At no time did I feel “lost” in doing any of this or afraid I’d screw something up.

Below I have detailed this disassembly process which you can follow if and when you think the rifle needs a more through cleaning. You can’t hurt a thing by doing it and it will give you a little more confidence and knowledge about your rifle. So, go get the gun, a small flat-blade screwdriver, and have a seat. That’s all you need – really. As I was taught over and over again in the Army, “Take care of your equipment and your equipment will take care of you!”

BASIC FIELD STRIPPING PROCESS FOR A NYLON 66 RIFLE

1) Remove magazine tube from butt of rifle. Cock the rifle by pulling the curved bolt handle back and releasing (this will also ensure that the rifle is unloaded completely). Put the rifle on safe with the safety selector switch. This is all important as the rifle MUST be cocked to lock the bolt in its rearward position.

2) Grasp the bolt handle (curved plastic piece on right side of chamber area) and pull it out. Don’t twist it as you apply pressure to remove – it could break if you do. Just apply force as necessary and it will simply come out of its anchoring groves. The bolt handle is also sometimes called a “charging handle”. It’s what is pulled back to load the first round of ammo from the magazine into the firing chamber.

3) On the lower right side of the receiver cover there are two screws. Using a small flat blade screwdriver (or a dime), loosen and remove these screws completely.

4) With those two screws out the metal cover will lift off. Note that the rear sight assembly is a part of the cover, so it will come off with the cover itself. Just grasp the cover near the middle and pull upwards. This may offer some resistance as it is a tight fit. Just gently but firmly wiggle it a little and it will slide up and off.

5) With receiver cover now removed, look on the left side of the receiver. You will see a small metal piece embedded in the nylon about 1 inch long. This is part of the extractor. It may simply fall out when you tilt the rifle to the left or you may need to use your fingernail to pop it loose. Don’t worry about how it comes out – its design makes it impossible to reinsert incorrectly when the time comes.

6) Now it’s time to do the most important part of the disassembly – getting the barrel completely out of the stock. Start by looking as the bottom of the rifle. You’ll see a large screw head there – there is only one. This is the screw that holds the barrel lock in place. You want to loosen this screw but DON’T COMPLETELY REMOVE. It’s a fairly short thread on the screw so maybe 2 – 3 turns is all that’s needed. If you should overdo this and the screw falls out, don’t panic. Just reinsert the screw in it’s hole and tighten a full turn. No harm, no foul. Now grasp the barrel at the front end by the sight post and pull outward. This might take a little more force than anything else you do. Wiggle if necessary. If it seems just too tight, loosen the barrel lock screw a tad more. Eventually the barrel will come out. After barrel is out, REINSERT THE CURVED BOLT HANDLE FULLY INTO ITS ORIGINAL POSITION. This will keep the bolt assembly from springing forward during the next step of disassembly.

7) With the barrel out you now want to fully remove the barrel lock. The lock piece is sitting in a slot cut into the nylon – you probably noticed it when you were pulling the barrel out. It’s a machined piece of steel about 1 inch high and ¾ inch wide with a hole at the top that the barrel passes through. It also has a thin metal plate laid on the front of the piece with an oval hole cut in it that fits over a small protrusion on the lock piece itself. Just reach in and pull both pieces up and out of their docking slot. Note that the thin plate has the word “front” stamped on it. That’s so you can’t forget which way to place the plate when you reassemble – these two pieces will fall apart when removed because they are not made as one single unit. That’s how it’s supposed to be.

8) OK – now you have removed the bolt handle, the receiver cover with rear sight, the barrel, and the barrel lock. You’ve also reinserted the bolt handle. You’re almost done. All that’s left is the bolt itself. This is the only spring-loaded piece that requires you hold some stuff in place as you remove so as not to have it jump out unexpectedly. Here’s how.

9) The bolt is the metal block about 4” long that you see behind where the barrel was. It has a hole drilled into the rear of it. Coming from inside that hole we have a spring extending from its rear and fitting around a bright metal tube. Inside the spring, barely visible, you can see a guide rod that is part of the bolt assembly (3 parts: bolt itself, spring, and spring guide rod). This guide rod goes inside the metal tube. The bolt also has a small metal plate that is hinged onto it’s top front. This is part of the extractor mechanism and does not come loose from the bolt. Note that in the assembly position it is laying flat, facing forward. It will hinge back to the rear about 70 degrees. I mention this only to let you know that when doing the reassembly, be sure the plate is swung forward and laying flat down. Otherwise the receiver cover will not go back into place and you could damage this part trying to force it – in addition to making the rifle unable to fire. To remove the bolt, place your left hand over the bolt and grasp it. Put your index finger over and around the front end of the bolt. This is to hold it in place when you take the restraining pressure off it next. With your right hand, pull the bolt handle out and off again. This releases the holdback on the bolt and, as you relieve the pressure of your index finger, it will move forward a couple inches being pushed by the spring. When the spring has fully extended just grasp the bolt and pull it forward the rest of the way out of its guide grooves in the stock. All three pieces of the bolt assembly will come out.

10) And you’re done with the basic disassembly! You can now clean all the individual parts thoroughly. Use Q-Tips, small pieces of cloth, whatever kind of implement that fits to work down inside the area of the rifle that contained the parts you removed to get at accumulated carbon and dirt. When done to your satisfaction just follow these directions in reverse to reassemble.

As far as time is concerned, after I did this disassembly once – very slowly and carefully, taking note of where everything went and how it was aligned – I reassembled and then did it again, this time timing the process. Now that I knew what was going to happen, it only required 2 minutes and 46 seconds to complete. That’s how easy it really is.

I found quite a bit of carbon build-up around the hinge pin of that little metal plate on the bolt. There was also some dirt and grime in the various grooves from which pieces came, especially the barrel lock. But overall, not much – for a near 50 year-old rifle!

To clean it, you’ll find it helpful to have a small screwdriver, a small pointed tool such as an ice pick, Q-Tips, and of course cleaning cloth and your barrel rod. Whatever works. Next time I’m going to have a small can of compressed air such as is used to blow out and clean computer keyboards. That will help blow out the trigger mechanism and other stuff that stayed in place during this basic disassembly.

And I must admit to this. No matter what is said about not using any oil or lube at all on the components, I just couldn’t resist entirely. Too much old school training to overcome. I used gun solvent, applied with Q-Tips, to help clean things and loosen the accumulations of debris and then dried all parts well. And, when time to put the bolt back in, I took a cleaning rag that had been used before to wipe down gun metal with oil and rubbed the bolt with it. I didn’t add any oil other than what was embedded in the cloth already, and in fact gave it a little wipe off with a clean rag when finished. Just a tiny amount to help prevent any rust. I couldn’t help myself!

You do this once every couple thousand rounds or after getting the rifle into mud or heavy dirt and it should last forever. Plus fire every time you pull the trigger .. and that’s what it’s all about, right?

One other thing …

After doing this kind of disassembly you’ll probably want to re-zero the iron sights. Taking the barrel out and then repositioning it is bound to move things just a tiny bit. That tiny bit can mean the difference between a “one shot, one kill” performance and a miss in the field at 100 yards. Properly zeroed, and in the hands of a good shooter, the Nylon 66 is perfectly capable of taking out a target at 100 yards, scoped or not. As testament to this there are literally thousands of dead beer cans, pop bottles, and the occasional speed limit sign throughout the countryside of my home state of Mississippi and my adopted one, Florida. And more than a few Cottonmouth moccasins shot from bridges over lazy rivers while swimming (the moccasins swimming, not me!) I don’t shoot any animal unless it presents a clear and present danger to me or others, or unless I intend to clean and eat it. But snakes – well, there is no such thing as a safe snake that comes into my field of view. Got no use for those critters at all, of any kind. Other than for targets to hone my skills on, of course. So I always assume they present a danger to me or mine and fire accordingly.

Now put all this away and get out there! Adhere to all safety practices at all times and don’t abide a buddy that gets sloppy about that. Better to hurt a friends feelings than to risk him shooting you or himself. And remember .. it’s often the rifle that was “unloaded” that kills or wounds someone.


August 19, 2010

Jim Skelton
Royal Palm Beach, FL

Jim, Wow thanks for the kind words on the video. We really feel great that people find value in that content and we hope to get some addtional videos out soon. Also thank you for the effort in typing out the basic instructions for field striping the Nylon Rifle. You did a very nice job. If you haven't found it we do have the Field Service Manual and Disassembly guides in PDF format for download on our documents page at http://www.nylonrifles.com/wp/documents/. Many have found then extremely useful in servicing their Nylon Rifles. Lastly if you haven't already please join our forum. There is a great bunch of people there that are alway ready to talk about their Nylon Rifles and lend a hand to help other should they need it. From what I read in your post here you would make a great addition to that group. Thanks again.