The Legacy of Tommy Campbell

The Guns Campbell Gave Us

Tom was a Smith & Wesson man through-and-through. He had gone to work for S&W as a young man and quickly rose through the company. He had input into design. No one at the factory had a stronger grasp of what the customers wanted — and not just the target shooters. After winning one historic match with another company’s gun, legend said the bosses at S&W were proud of his accomplishment but would rather he do it with their guns. S&W didn’t make .45 autos at the time but to the horror of some of the engineers, he tossed a chunk of steel into the milling machine that made the aluminum-frame double-stack 9mm autos and created “SuperGun.” It was an all-steel 9mm he converted to single-action with an oversize thumb safety that was no longer a decocker, and with a trigger remarkably like the Model 52 .38 Special target pistol. This would be the forerunner of the all-steel Model 5906 and double-action-only Model 5946 that would become hugely popular “wonder-nines” among police beginning in the late 1980s. Tom had a big part in the refinement and development of the Third Generation S&W double-action autos.

Recognizing the major/minor scoring in IPSC gave .45s a huge advantage, he created SuperGun II, chambered for .45 ACP and kicked butt with it. Realizing double-action .45 autos were becoming popular among police, he had a major part in S&W producing the Model 645 in that caliber, a second-gen Smith that would flourish in the many variations of the third-gen guns. Tom gets a lot of credit for S&W finally making .45 autos.

The S&W Mountain Guns were very much a Campbell thing, with lots of input from his good friend and fellow star shooter Ross Seyfried. He began with a variation of the stainless Model 629 .44 Magnum and had its barrel tapered like a .44 Special, its butt rounded, and the front edges of the cylinder chamfered to make the gun go more smoothly into a holster. The Mountain Guns would subsequently be offered in other “major calibers.”

Interestingly, Tom’s favorite carry gun was a very early production S&W Centennial Airweight with the original aluminum cylinder, which he loaded with mid-range .38 wadcutters for their low pressure. In this, he predated the many credentialed gun experts who today recommend this load for lightweight .38 Specials.