Past Auctions

These were the only lever action rifles ever produced by the Remington Arms Company. There were only a very limited number made, and today one version is considered so rare that it’s worth thousands of dollars on the collector market. This is the story of these unusual .22 rifles.

The more widely-known Remington Nylon 66 semiautomatic rifles chambered for .22 Long Rifle were a smash hit on the marketplace, with over a million of all variations made and sold from 1958 to 1991. This rifle, designed by Remington’s Wayne Leek and his team of research and development engineers, pioneered the extensive use of a plastic material for its construction. In fact, the entire frame of the rifle was made from a blended DuPont Nylon formula, “Zytel 101.” It had high tensile, impact and flex strength, was virtually indestructible, and provided a self-lubricating framework for the moving metal parts of the gun. Encouraged by the evident early success of the Nylon 66, Remington authorized a number of spin-off rifles using the same Nylon material. These included both bolt action rifles and a lever action that somewhat resembled the parent Nylon 66 in outline.

The standard lever model, outfitted in a “Mohawk Brown” color that mimicked real wood, was introduced as the Nylon 76 Trail Rider in early 1962. This .22 Long Rifle repeater had a blued receiver cover and barrel.

The lever had a very short stroke of only 30 degrees, and was billed as the fastest-operating lever action in the world. It opened and closed the locked-action repeating design, using a substantial number of the components already being manufactured for the semiauto Nylon 66. Like that parent design, this one had a capacity of 14 rounds in a tubular magazine located in the buttstock. This was accessed from the rear of the stock for loading. Removal of an inner spring-loaded tube from its outer housing allowed cartridges to be dropped nose-first into the magazine. Replacing the inner tube and locking it with a clockwise twist readied the arm for action, and operation of the lever loaded the first cartridge into the chamber. Like the Nylon 66, the forestock of the rifle had a white diamond-shaped insert on each side. The adjustable open rear sights and the racy-looking front sights were identical and interchangeable with the ones on the Nylon 66. The barrel length was nominally 19 ½ inches. It was exactly the same barrel as the one used on the Nylon 66. The ambidextrous safety button was located on top of the stock, just to the rear of the receiver cover, same as on the Nylon 66. It was pushed forward for fire and back for safe. Pushed forward, a red dot was exposed to indicate that the rifle was ready to fire. 25,312 of these brown-stocked rifles were made. The original price for one was $59.95.

The “Apache Black” version came out in late 1962. It had a black stock with white “diamond” inlays on each side. The receiver cover, finger lever and barrel were chromed. This was sometimes called the “presentation” model. Only 1,615 of these were ever made, making it extremely rare when found today.

An enigmatic version turns up now and then. It has a black stock, blued barrel, and a receiver cover with a rough matte finish. I’ve seen enough of these to suspect that Remington did a clean-up of leftover parts once production of the two official models was finally halted. I owned one once, but sadly let it go, not realizing that this “ghost rifle” has become a collectable in its own right. I have seen individual matte-finish Nylon 76 receiver covers come up here and there; enough to make me suspect that they were re-finished overruns used to make a very few of these oddball rifles. No one at Remington today can confirm that they ever existed, but they are definitely out there.

The gear-driven Nylon 76 action, while innovative, was somewhat complex and subject to being misassembled and possibly damaged thereby. A word to the wise – you need to be very observant and careful when removing and then cautiously replacing the receiver cover correctly. It retains a number of parts on both sides of the nylon framework. In particular, the gear and rack need to be properly re-seated and retained in position by partially replacing the receiver cover before fully seating it. Such esoteric techniques have to be learned by trial and error in order to reassemble the gun without incident. Although categorized as “hammerless,” the action does incorporate an internal hammer, which is actually a spring-loaded sliding metal block.

Although the Trail Riders were slick and handy, they could not compete with the popularity of the then-running-strong Nylon 66. Accordingly, production of them was discontinued in 1964, and the last ones were sold in 1965. The grand total of both the Mohawk Brown and Apache Black versions came to 26,927. None of these guns were serial numbered, as this was not required prior to the Gun Control Act of 1968.

Now as to collector value. Many of these rifles were knocked about and scuffed up. Others were damaged and discarded when the owners screwed up in their attempts to disassemble and reassemble them. Some parts, when lost or damaged, have become virtually irreplaceable today, available usually only by cannibalizing other rifles. Some guns have been stowed away in attics, gun vaults or closets, only discovered when the heirs of their deceased owners found them. In short, the numbers produced were small, and surviving examples in any condition have become increasingly hard to find. From the low end, scuffed up but serviceable Mohawk Brown rifles have been seen on auction going from $750 to over $1,000. Better condition examples go for more, and if accompanied by an original factory box, the value jumps considerably.

The elusive Apache Black versions, with their very small production run, command premium prices in virtually any condition. Perfect condition examples in their factory boxes with papers are priceless to Remington Nylon collectors and are now available only to the very lucky or very well-heeled. Excellent stand-alone guns (such as illustrated above) have been sold for as much as $5,000 or more at auction and through private sales between collectors.

Remington collectors prize these rifles because they are the only lever actions ever manufactured under the Remington banner. Nylon collectors salivate when they find one or more. These collectors have motives like filling a void in a collection, or re-selling a gun at even higher prices to other collectors. With each passing year, I see these lever action nylon rifles garnering amazing and ever-increasing asking prices and these guns are often sold for those asking prices. Limited production and decreasing availability make for more value on the market.