Noble Shotguns?

[mgmorden]

Quick question: there's an older brand of shotguns made by (or at least marketed as) "Noble".

From what I can gather than were low to mid quality and made in the 50's and 60's, but I've been on a bit of an "old pump gun" collecting kick lately and was trying to find out some more info on them. Google doesn't turn up a whole lot of data.

Basically, is there any history available about these? Are they their own unique design or are they a clone of another action type? (Specifically the model 60 which seems to be by far the most common model that crops up)

Any info is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Crawdad1]

Not a very good reputation from the vast majority of people.

Typical opinion of their guns,

"Noble Manufacturing Company, located in Haydenville, Massachusetts was in the business of manufacturing a line of utility grade shotguns and rifles from 1953 to 1971. Noble made mostly low cost guns for the mass market which sold reasonably until they began to have quality control problems in their manufacturing process resulting in them going out of business in 1971."

"The ejector problem is caused by some internal design flaws. The Model 80 is notorious for destroying themselves during live fire in the field. Parts are available but expensive as compared to the actual value of the gun and usually require the involvement of a gunsmith as there are no schematics or manuals readily available for the Model 80 today. I assume this shotgun became available once the gun damaged itself and the previous owner realized it wasn’t worth fixing. A working Noble shotgun has little value in the marketplace; a broken Noble shotgun has no value."


It looks like their design was just a little to fragile and overly complicated. They also imported Spanish side by side shotguns.

 

[John Joseph]

My brother in law had one. He bought it at Woolworths (remember those?) IIRC he didn't like it enough to keep it very long.

 

[22250Rem]

I've heard of them and probably a couple decades ago saw one or two on a used gun rack or a gun show table somewhere and they were priced quite cheaply. Now I'm starting to learn why. But it's interesting and helps me to avoid stuff like that. Knowledge is power.

 

[entropy]

I had a Noble Model 80; it was a fun little gun, but in agreement with the consensus, not very well made, at least for the long haul. The speed at which the action worked was glacial, like some Springfield .22 autos.

 

[John Joseph]

I could be wrong, but I think S&W sold Nobles under the S&W brand name (briefly) sometime in the 70's

 

[Carl N. Brown]

John Joseph "....S&W sold Nobles under the S&W brand name..."

Smith & Wesson decided to test the shotgun market on the cheap.
Quote Wikipedia:
Smith & Wesson bought patents and tooling for a 12 ga. shotgun design [the Noble Model 66 -cnb] from Noble Manufacturing Co. in 1972 [after Noble ceased operation -cnb] and produced it as the Model 916, 916T, and 916A. The guns were plagued by a variety of quality issues, including a recall due to a safety issue with barrels rupturing.
:End quote
S&W discontiued the 916. Later S&W re-entered the pump shotgun market with a clone of the Remington 870 produced by Howa of Japan.

I owned a 916 from 1977 to 2016. Gifted it to my son because he had fond memories of us shooting it together. It was a steel frame, screwed in barrel, pump action, 12ga 3in chamber, five shot magazine. I managed to break a firing pin by dry firing too much (my bad - it was not designed for dry fire). I had kept the manual and was able to replace the firing pin myself (ordered the part from S&W). The S&W 916 was basically the Noble 66 with some parts improved by S&W engineers. Not all parts are interchangeable between the two. Trying to make the 916T removable barrel version was a source of a lot of the complaints.

The 916 stock was walnut but the pistol grip was oddly shaped. The gun was heavy (actually a good thing if you shoot 3in mag shells a lot) but it did what I needed a shotgun to do, and digested hundreds of skeet and gameloads, buckshot, and lots of slugs, over the years.

I also bought a Noble Model 40 at a gun show in 1997 for $8 (eight dollars) missing buttstock and cartridge lifter. Relatives have tried to get me to rebuild that gun. I detail stripped it - the design is simple, crude and frankly not worth the expense of locating a buttstock and cartridge lifter. As J.B. Wood pointed out in his book on troubleshooting your rifle or shotgun, Noble guns were cheaply made and shortcuts to reduce cost were made in the designs (like having one part do the functions of two). The cost of simple repairs can easily exceed the used value of the gun.

 

[If1HitU]

I have a lots to learn about shotguns,this is the first time i've heard of a Nobles shotgun.

 

[PabloJ]

Quick question: there's an older brand of shotguns made by (or at least marketed as) "Noble".

From what I can gather than were low to mid quality and made in the 50's and 60's, but I've been on a bit of an "old pump gun" collecting kick lately and was trying to find out some more info on them. Google doesn't turn up a whole lot of data.

Basically, is there any history available about these? Are they their own unique design or are they a clone of another action type? (Specifically the model 60 which seems to be by far the most common model that crops up)

Any info is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

It is inferior to Mossberg 500 because while Mossberg is inexpensive shotgun the action is based on Remington 31. The gold standard for highest quality to cost ratio for pump action shotgun is old Ithaca 37. Last one I have seen was from ca. 1978 28 plain barrel Mod choke w/o any marks on it with price tag of $329. The only plastic parts are follower, butt plate, grip cap and Raybar sight.

 

[mgmorden]

It is inferior to Mossberg 500 because while Mossberg is inexpensive shotgun the action is based on Remington 31. The gold standard for highest quality to cost ratio for pump action shotgun is old Ithaca 37. Last one I have seen was from ca. 1978 28 plain barrel Mod choke w/o any marks on it with price tag of $329. The only plastic parts are follower, butt plate, grip cap and Raybar sight.

Yeah an Ithaca 37 is actually the last shotgun I added to the stable. When I grew up the primary method of deer hunting was using dogs and shotguns loaded with buckshot. While the Remington Wingmaster was what most people used because it was good for the price, everyone always talked about an Ithaca like it was the shotgun everyone really wanted but no one could afford.

These days most of my deer hunting is with a rifle and even for ducks and turkey I use a newer semi-auto, but I've really just been bit by a pump-gun bug lately. In the last 3 months I've grabbed the Ithaca 37, a Stevens 520 (which surprisingly ALL of them are take-down models - it's just part of the design), and a Ted Williams Model 20 (Hi Standard Flite King).

For whatever reason a lot of the older guns just aren't "cool" and so don't command much. A lot of them are $100 or under.

The Noble just caught my eye as it seems like an unpopular yet still separate design. I may get one just to look at it and familiarize myself with it. I'd prefer one that's completely functional even though I doubt I'd ever put more than 100 rounds through it.

Thanks guys!

 

[Scooter22]

Too many other old pump guns to find than mess with a Noble. I've handled some of their .22s and never bought one.