The Legacy of Tommy Campbell

I was heartbroken when I learned Tom Campbell passed away in August of 2024. Most famous as a top competitor on the “pro tour” of competitive handgun shooting, he was unerringly accurate and so fast his peers nicknamed him “Tommygun” Campbell. He was a European champion and always one of the men to beat. Fewer people knew Tom had also been an innovative leader in gun, ammunition and holster development.

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.

The Ammo Campbell Gave Us

Working with his close friend and fellow S&W employee Paul Lieberman among others, they amplified Paul’s wildcat Centimeter cartridge into the .40 Smith & Wesson. It debuted in 1990 in the S&W 4006 pistol and quickly became the most popular police duty cartridge for the next 20 or 25 years until the sea change to the 9mm. He also had a lot to do with the development of the .356 TSW, a cartridge duplicating .357 SIG ballistics in a 9×21.5mm casing which allowed a couple more rounds in a same-size gun. It would have been more successful if S&W had marketed it as a fighting cartridge instead of something for match shooters. I always thought S&W made a mistake in not making Campbell their CEO. When Safariland made him an offer he couldn’t refuse, he went with that company and did much to make them the nation’s dominant supplier of police duty gear.

A super shooter, an articulate instructor, and a brilliant innovator, Tom Campbell was also a genuinely nice guy. He will be greatly missed by all who knew him. “We are diminished” is a phrase you always hear when a good person dies, and in Tommy Campbell’s case, this is absolutely true. RIP, brother.

Subscribe To GUNS Magazine

Purchase A PDF Download Of The GUNS Magazine December 2024 Issue Now!