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Dfariswheel · February 17, 2019, 08:39 PM

For a time S&W sold the imported Model 3000.
This was when they were trying to take the entire law enforcement market.
They already owned the revolver market, and were introducing holster, handcuff, gas guns, ammunition, and thought they'd take Remington's huge market share of the police shotgun market.

Remington ate their lunch and soon after S&W dropped the shotgun and most of the rest to "Get back to our core market.... police revolvers".
The problem was, the 3000 was a nice gun but had nothing to offer over the 870 and too many people remembered the disastrous S&W Model 916, which was a version of the old Noble shotgun.
It's believed that the 916 was made for S&W by a contractor.
It was so bad, at one point S&W actually debated buying them back to salvage the hit on the S&W name caused by the 916.

Having been burned by Winchester with the 1200 and 1300 shotguns law enforcement simply stayed with the well proven 870.

After S&W dropped it, Mossberg picked up and marketed the Howa made 3000 for a couple of years, then when they too dropped it Howa imported it under their own name for a couple of years.
For a time the 3000 had a sort of cult following with individual police.

February 17, 2019, 08:39 PM	#40
Dfariswheel Senior Member Join Date: May 4, 2001 Posts: 7,478	For a time S&W sold the imported Model 3000. This was when they were trying to take the entire law enforcement market. They already owned the revolver market, and were introducing holster, handcuff, gas guns, ammunition, and thought they'd take Remington's huge market share of the police shotgun market. Remington ate their lunch and soon after S&W dropped the shotgun and most of the rest to "Get back to our core market.... police revolvers". The problem was, the 3000 was a nice gun but had nothing to offer over the 870 and too many people remembered the disastrous S&W Model 916, which was a version of the old Noble shotgun. It's believed that the 916 was made for S&W by a contractor. It was so bad, at one point S&W actually debated buying them back to salvage the hit on the S&W name caused by the 916. Having been burned by Winchester with the 1200 and 1300 shotguns law enforcement simply stayed with the well proven 870. After S&W dropped it, Mossberg picked up and marketed the Howa made 3000 for a couple of years, then when they too dropped it Howa imported it under their own name for a couple of years. For a time the 3000 had a sort of cult following with individual police.