Smith & Wesson Model 916
The Smith & Wesson Model 916 is a pump-action 12-gauge shotgun produced by Smith & Wesson during the 1970s.History
Noble Manufacturing Company of Haydenville village within Williamsburg, Massachusetts, was a small gunmaker that produced shotguns and.22 caliber rifles. Noble, incorporated in 1943, was in bankruptcy as of mid-1971, and went out of business in 1973. In 1972, Smith & Wesson—located in Springfield, approximately from Haydenville—bought patents and tooling for Noble's Model 66, a 12-gauge pump-action shotgun.
Smith & Wesson produced the shotgun as their Model 916, with a sportsman version, takedown version, and tactical version. The guns were plagued by a variety of quality issues, including a recall due to a safety issue with barrels of the 916T version rupturing. The series was later discontinued and replaced by the pump-action Model 3000 and the semi-automatic Model 1000.