I think I recall that Remington discovered some safety issue and that's really why they quit making the rifles. They sold well enough that they could probably have bought new molds to replace the worn ones. Does anyone know more about this?
How's the quality of the Brazilian-made ones?
No safety issues that I ever heard about, and I've followed the Nylon breed pretty closely over the years. Remington made a business decision - the Nylons required specialized equipment to fabricate and assemble, and they turned to more traditional style guns that could actually be made more cheaply.
As for the Brazilian guns, here's the story.
About 1984, Remington decided that since primary tooling for the Nylon 66 had become seriously worn, they would eventually discontinue the rifle. Subsequently, they continued to make components for the assembly of the Nylon 66 and Apache 77 over the next few years, but sold a large part of their used tooling to F.I.E. (Firearms Import and Export Corpoation) of Miami, Florida. Both Remington and F.I.E. therefore offered nylon semiautos concurrently for a time, competing for essentially the same market.
F.I.E. sent the Nylon 66 tooling to South America for production. A black rifle with a blued receiver cover and a white diamond inlay on the stock was made by CBC (Compania Brazileire Cartuchos, Portuguese for Brazilian Cartridge Company) of Santo Andre, Brazil. It was imported by F.I.E. until 1990 and was known as the GR-8 Black Beauty. Each of these was serial numbered on the left of the receiver cover, with "GR", a space, and 5 digits, such as "GR 12345." The same number was placed on the barrel under the front sight. CBC took a number of production shortcuts on their version of the rifle. The result was a functional but less-than-elegant rifle. The receiver cover was not deburred, so there are some pretty sharp edges on it, and it isn't as carefully fitted to the stock as on those on the Remingtons. The front sight was cast from pot metal and lost its bluing easily through wear. The rear sight elevation screw has one slot rather than the "X" slot configuration on the Remingtons. The bolt was made with fewer machining operations, and its lower surface is solid. The barrel was not cut with the gas-escape slots that Remington chose to utilize early-on. The barrel support is marked "FRENTE" instead of "FRONT." The ejector has no holes in it. The buttplate carries the CBC-in-an-oval trademark, and other maker identification. There is a matte finish on the pistol grip cap, with no logo or trademark. The barrel is marked over the chamber with "CBC" in an oval and "22 L.R." in a straight line. A different plastic material of unknown quality was used for the stock/receiver component. The production quantity is unknown. Remington had an interest in CBC until 1981 when the Brazilian government took over the company, so there were Remington-knowledgeable people there. In 1991, Magtech Recreational Products, Inc. obtained the importation rights and marketed the same rifle for a short while as the "Magtech Model MT-66." These rifles are often confused for genuine Nylon 66s. Since they were not as carefully made as the originals, these Brazilian clones have little interest or collector value. Still, good-condition specimens should be a part of a complete collection. Last suggested retail price for the F.I.E. GR-8 was $136 in 1990, while the Magtech MT-66 was introduced in 1991 for 109.95, a substantial reduction. I have samples of each, but only for comparison's sake.
Hope this helps.
John
