FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2019   ■   PASSINGS

Dwayne W. Charron, Former Director of Research and Development, S&W

Dwayne W. Charron, Former Smith & Wesson Director of Research and Development Dies.

Dwayne Charron, former Director of Research and Development at Smith and Wesson passed away on January 16th four months short of his 94thbirthday.

Dwayne’s entire career was dedicated to S&W and the good of our industry. March 1942, three months after the attack on Pearl Harbor and at the age of 16 and to young to join the military Dwayne chose to leave school and take a job in a defense-related industry. As it turned out Smith & Wesson was Dwayne’s first and only stop on his journey to find such a job. Except for a stint in the U.S. Army during the Korean war period Dwayne never looked any further than Smith & Wesson for employment. Too young to work on the production machinery, Smith and Wesson required machine operators to be at least 17 years old, Dwayne’s first assignment was to push food cart throughout the plant handing out coffee and sandwiches to the company’s employees.

Dwayne progressed from food cart to small tool making, to production machinery design, to Experimental Department model maker, to Experimental Department supervisor, and ultimately Director of Research and Development.

Dwayne was instrumental in the design of many of Smith & Wesson’s most notable firearms of the era such as the Model 41 rimfire target pistol, the Model 76 submachine gun, the Model 59, the Model 469 compact and his crowning achievement, the Model 52 Master 38 Special Wad-Cutter pistol arguably the most accurate factory-built centerfire NRA Precision-Class Pistol ever made.

Dwayne was dedicated to the firearms industry with his involvement in the American Ordinance Association, the American Society of Tool Engineers, a life membership in the National Rifle Association, and as Smith & Wesson’s voting representative to the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers’ Association (SAAMI) Firearms Technical Committee.

Dwayne officially retired from Smith & Wesson, for the last time, July 1st, 2010, at the age of 85.

January 16th, 2019 our industry lost a rare and talented individual.

In Dwayne’s own words “My journey is over…”. And what a journey it was.