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Posted: 11/16/2006 7:15:11 PM EDT
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Several years ago I picked up a Mossberg model 3000 used for $75.00 bucks. I liked it cause it was made in Japan. Does anyone know anything else about this gun? Is it rare ? I could not find much on line. |
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Years ago, S&W wanted to get into the shotgun market, especially the police shotgun market. They'd sold an older gun known as the Model 916, which was a total disaster and caused serious damage to S&W's reputation. They determined to do better next time and imported a pair of shotguns made by Howa of Japan. These were the Model 1000 semi auto, and the Model 3000 pump. The Model 3000 pump was a fairly close copy of the Remington 870, and had some what of a cult following among individual police officers for a while. The problem for S&W was, Remington OWNED the police shotgun market, and S&W's guns just failed to break in to the market. Since the guns were close copies of the Remington, they really had no selling point to set them apart from Remington, and Remington ate their lunch. So, S&W dropped both the Model 1000 and the 3000. Mossberg picked up the guns, and sold them for about one year, before they too dropped them. After Mossberg dropped them, Howa themselves imported both guns for a year or so, before finally stopping production. Gun Parts Corporation bought up all of S&W and Mossberg's spare parts and still sell most parts for both, including some police accessories for the 3000. They list Model 3000 parts under both S&W and Mossberg. www.e-gunparts.com/productschem.asp?chrMasterModel=1980z3000 The Model 3000 was a good quality gun, made in a variety of versions, including sporting and police models. While it closely resembles the Remington 870, parts DO NOT interchange. I "think" that Choate makes magazine extensions that will fit the Howa/S&W/Mossberg Model 3000. The Model 3000 was a high-quality gun that was doomed by just not being able to compete against the Remingon 870 which it perhaps too closely resembled. While the S&W Model 3000 was made in larger numbers and isn't rare, the Mossberg version was only sold for about one year and is less common. If yours is in fairly good condition, you got an absolute flat-out steal at $75.00. |
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