Long story, I'll try to cut to the chase.
Years ago, S&W brought out a copy of the old Nobel pump shotgun, they called the S&W Model 916.
This holds the record as probably the worse pump gun ever made in America, and S&W took a MAJOR hit on their reputation.
At one point, they even discussed buying the guns BACK, to save their rep.
In the late 70's?? S&W decided to make a run at cornering the police market.
At that time, they pretty well owned the handgun part, and had a handcuff, gas gun, and other equipment line.
The introduced a holster and ammunition line, and wanted a GOOD shotgun to offer.
What they did was to buy two guns from the Howa company of Japan.
These were sold as the S&W Model 1000 semi-auto, and the Model 3000 pump.
Both were very close copies of the Remington Model 1100 and 870 shotguns.
For a brief time, the Model 3000 pump enjoyed a sort of "Cult" status with individual police officers.
It's when S&W sold the 3000 to police departments, that things fell apart.
NO ONE is more abusive to a pump gun than street cops, and the ways they seem to find of damaging or breaking a shotgun are legendary.
Like most aluminum receivered shotguns, the S&W/Howa Model 3000 just didn't stand up to the abuse, and S&W was unable to break Remington's near monopoly on the market.
In short, Remington ate their lunch.
In the mid-80's, S&W suddenly announced that they were discontinuing the holster, ammo, and shotguns so they could "Get back to our core business of making pistols".
With S&W dropping the Model 1000 and 3000, Mossberg picked them up for several years, also calling them the Model 1000 and 3000, before they too dropped them.
For a short time, Howa imported the guns under their own name.
These guns are not junk, and are very good quality guns. The problem was, like several other guns, they just couldn't handle a bunch of street cops abuse.
They make very good guns for civilian shooters, and are well thought of. Most all Model 3000 owners are very well pleased with the guns.
Basically, the Model 3000 is a "clone" of the Remington 870 pump shotgun, and as such, a Remington owner's manual can be used.
Here's a link to a site that has online manuals, and you can get them from Remington:
http://www.stevespages.com/page7b.htm
The Gun Parts Corporation bought all of S&W and Mossberg's spare parts and sell almost anything you might need, including SOME Police accessories:
http://www.e-gunparts.com
Bottom Line on the Model 3000: A good gun that just wasn't up to heavy abuse, but is an excellent quality gun.
S&W and Mossberg had trouble selling it because it just didn't have enough to offer over the more established Remington 870.
These make great guns, especially when you can get them at a good price.
