the passing of a legend in the gun world

Jeff Cooper, or the "Colonel" as he was known throughout the gun world, passed away on monday. when i get my Guns and Ammo magazine, the first thing i do is flip to the back and read "Cooper's Corner", a mainstay of that magazine. his devotion to the 1911 pistol is what convinced me to buy one, and now i'm hooked.

his obit in guns and ammo magazine is here.

a more detailed one is available at Fr. Frog. you might want to go to his main page at this link and wander around a bit. good gun writing, good commentary, and not a little dose of humor

and if you have never read him, or even heard of him, one of my revered gun links to the right is Jeff Cooper's Commentaries a collection of his columns and writings that i have visited at least once a week since i started blogging.

Colonel, thank you for your service and devotion to your country. Rest in peace.

a taste of Cooper's commentary from the first volume linked above

I suppose nothing can be done about the erroneous assumption that hand held fully automatic fire is somehow more efficient than aimed fire. As I used to demonstrate, when I had a teaching job, quick semi-automatic fire is far more likely to produce results than bursts. Thus the preoccupation of the Feds with the idea that is it somehow an offense against God and man to convert a semi-automatic weapon to a fully automatic capacity is simply a manifestation of ignorance. If a man is shooting at me, I would much prefer that he were on full auto than carefully holding and squeezing. The automatic option is the greatest encourager of the spray-and-pray technique, which I have long done my best to discourage.

and another from further into his catalog of writings"

"I have over the past thirty years been one hundred percent in favor of Gun Control - achieved through proper stance, controlled breathing, and smooth trigger squeeze; applied repeatedly until the threat is neutralized."