Remington design engineers launched the most extensive field-testing program it had have ever attempted, conducting tests almost continuously in late 1955, 1956, 1957 and into 1958. Hundreds of thousands of rounds were fired. In January 1958, Remington provided each of its sales representatives two prototype Model 555s for field-testing. They were each given one in olive drab green (later renamed Seneca Green) and one in walnut (later renamed Mohawk Brown). The salesmen were asked to fire a minimum of 1,000 rounds in each gun under adverse conditions, then return the gun with the results within 30 days. On Feb. 23, 1958, salesman Delbert Conner sent his written report to Wayne Leek, Remington's primary gun designer of the day. Conner's summary was four pages long. His report began: "My first impression of these guns was, that they were just toys – or maybe air rifles for Buck Rogers. I doubt that the color or material will make much difference on the first showings. The public will refer to them as plastic"

Conner then went into detail about the testing routine to which he subjected the rifles. He fired 2,000 rounds of various brands of ammunition. He held the guns right-side-up, upside-down and sideways. He fired slowly, then rapid fire by fanning the trigger until the barrel on one of the test guns was too hot to touch. He tested it in a blinding windstorm with blowing sand. Then he deliberately drove his station wagon over one (front and rear tires). The next morning, he took it in a boat to the middle of a lake and lowered it, fully loaded, to the bottom with a string on the trigger guard. He retrieved it, drained the water, and shot 100 rounds without a malfunction. He did manage to crack the front of a stock by deliberately dropping a gun from an unspecified elevation onto a concrete sidewalk. He reported that it functioned flawlessly both before and after that incident. His summary stated: "Looks like a plastic toy - performance and accuracy unbelievable." And then he returned the rifles to Ilion, but wrote "I would surely like to have one back – charged to my sample account – if and when available."

Introducing The Nylon 66
On May 2, 1958, Remington changed the model designation from Model 555 to Nylon 66. The final approval for formal introduction was given by management on Dec., 17, 1958. Just why Remington changed the model designation from Model 555 to Nylon 66 is not known.

Approximately 4,450 production Nylon 66s were made in late 1958 for shipment after the first of the year. The retail price in January 1959 was $49.95. The Nylon 66 was called the "Gun Of Tomorrow" and introduced with an advertising blitz. Its dependability in adverse conditions was used as the primary selling point. Remington ads said: "This is the rifle trappers depend on from Hudson Bay to the Everglades. The only .22 that Alaskan fisherman find able to withstand the attacks of corrosive sea spray – To protect their nets from marauding sea lions!" Remington claimed "lubricant-free nylon ball bearings throughout the mechanism eliminate the need for lubricants of the functional parts of this rifle."
Initial Nylon 66 Publicity

In 1959, Tom Frye, a field representative for Remington, set out to surpass Ad Topperwein's world record (set in 1907) of shooting 72,500 2 1/2-inch wooden blocks as they were tossed into the air while missing only nine. Frye used three Nylon 66 rifles and maintained an average pace of 1,000 shots per hour (one shot every four seconds) for 13 consecutive eight-hour days. When the smoke cleared, he had shot at 100,010 blocks and hit 100,004, missing only six! The rifles were cleaned only five times during the Marathon trial. The Nylon 66 was accepted enthusiastically. Demand exceeded projections and production capacity during its introductory year – 1959. The Nylon 66 was initially available in two colors; Mohawk Brown (N66MB) and Seneca Green (N66SG). Production was scheduled to be 70 percent in Mohawk Brown and 30 percent in Seneca Green. The names were derived from the Mohawk and Seneca American Indian tribes that originally lived near what would become Ilion, N.Y. Production rifles in Seneca Green were dropped in late 1962 because of limited demand.

Nylon 66 Characteristics
The Nylon 66 had a Zytel-101 stock that was injection-molded in two halves, of which one-half had a tongue and the other a groove. They were then bonded together. The buttstock and fore-end were two pieces and the middle section was the receiver.

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