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Secured a little Nylon 66 Brown Apache .22 the other day for a good price because the stock was cracked up near that front sharkfin sight (likely dropped, in good shape otherwise). It's for shooting (& not for collecting, although these guns were reasonably inexpensive objects of desire for the kids of the 60s and 70s). Made from '59 to '89 (in brown, black, and even green) I suspect parts are now non-existent. So... how does one go about repairing Zytel (or whatever Remington called it)?

I have a friend; Alan Oliva, who works at "Big Shots" shooting range in Lincoln, NE. He knows more about the Nylon 66's than anyone I know.
You might give him a call.

Sam Ogle, Lincoln, NE.

An interesting development in plastics has been the use of UV curing resins. The type used in windshield repair as well as jewelry, surfboards, etc. They are very tough, durable, and very clear. They might be a good choice for repairing a plastic stock, but I haven't tried it yet. It could be as easy as applying the resin, cleaning up any excess, then putting it in the sunlight to cure. Windshield repair kits are available everywhere. I use them in very specific instances on wood and metal, I prefer them to epoxy, but only when shear strength is not necessary.

Regards
Ken

The prices they have reached is amazing to me. Funny thing is that at one time they looked very futuristic. You see nib at gun shows with asking prices that just make me wish I'd bought several back in the day.

Zytel is one of those very difficult to bond polymers like PP, TPE, or TPO. The special repair adhesives that you can buy are usually expensive, and not very strong. Plastic welding often works very well if you have some of the correct plastic rod to use as filler rod. I have a couple soldering guns reserved just for plastic repair because I got tired of wasting money on the expensive special adhesives. You can read about a few methods recommended by DuPont on pages 112-113 of this pdf file:

http://www2.dupont.com/Plastics/en_US/assets/downloads/design/232409d.pdf

Or, sometimes you see one of these Remington Nylon 66 plastic stocks for sale on E-bay.

Good luck with the repairs, Lloyd. Please let us know what you do for it, and how it works.

I bought my wife a new Apache Black model in 1972, as a gift. She has had it ever since, and it looks like new. Occasionally I will hear something in the night that will awaken me and I'll notice she isn't beside me in bed. If I look out the window I can usually see her walking around the yard with a handheld rechargeable spotlight and her Nylon 66 .......... on armadillo patrol. She is deadly with that thing. I once drove up in the front of the house and heard shooting in the back. I ran around the side of the house to see what was happening and saw a hapless black racer in it's death throes about 20 yards from the back door. She was standing there looking through the scope at it. I went over and she had hit it 3 out of 4 shots. That's pretty good shooting on a moving target. Blacksnakes aren't much bigger around than my finger.

My first .22 was a Nylon 11, the clip fed bolt action model. Tough guns. Even tougher to completely disassemble and get back together. Hers has never been apart, in 45 years, and never failed to eject and feed.

SRH

My father had one of the nylon 66 that had spent its entire life in his pickup. After we moved from the farm it continued to ride in his truck for four decades. About ten years ago he traded trucks and was half way home before he remembered his .22 was in his old truck. Called the salesman and told him to get it for him. He'd pick it up in the morning. That .22 must have traveled a million miles in pickups. Works every pull of the trigger like clock work. The scope cost a lot more than the gun in his case. Inside a hundred yards it hit everything.

Remember this pic of Frye?

http://www.shootingtimes.com/remington-history/remington-timeline-1959-nylon-66-autoloading-rifle/

SRH

I had one when I was in my early teens. One day a bluejay was sitting on a telephone support cable about 40 yards behind our place. My dad had an odd disdain for bluejays (said they were nest robbers) and he unbelievably told me to take a crack at it. Unbelievable because we were on the edge of town, but in city limits and dad was strict about not shooting at home. Anyway I'm pretty sure he didn't think I could hit it, but that Nylon 66 was accurate and down it went!

Can't remember exactly when, but not all that long ago, the used rack at Cabela's in Owatonna must have had about a dozen of those. I had one of the Nylon Model 10's: single shot bolt action.