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Jeff Cooper Biography & Facts

John Dean "Jeff" Cooper (May 10, 1920 – September 25, 2006) was a United States Marine, the creator of the "modern technique" of handgun shooting, and an expert on the use and history of small arms. Early life and education Cooper was born in Los Angeles where he enrolled in the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps at Los Angeles High School. He graduated from Stanford University with a bachelor's degree in political science. He received a regular commission in the United States Marine Corps (USMC) in September 1941. During World War II he served in the Pacific theatre with the Marine Detachment aboard USS Pennsylvania. By the end of the war, he had been promoted to major. He resigned his commission in 1949 but returned to active duty during the Korean War, where he claimed to be involved in irregular warfare in Southeast Asia, and was promoted to lieutenant colonel. After the Korean War, he left active duty. In the mid-1960s, he received a master's degree in history from the University of California, Riverside. From the late 1950s through the early 1970s, he was a part-time high school and community college history teacher. Career In 1976, Cooper founded the American Pistol Institute (API) in Paulden, Arizona (later the Gunsite Academy). Cooper began teaching shotgun and rifle classes to both law enforcement and military personnel, as well as civilians, and conducted on-site training for individuals and groups from around the world. He sold the firm in 1992 but continued living on the Paulden ranch. He was known for his advocacy of large-caliber handguns, especially the Colt 1911 and the .45 ACP cartridge. Cooper, along with Michael Dixon and Thomas Dornaus, worked on the design of the Bren Ten pistol around the 10mm Auto, based on the Czech CZ 75 design. The cartridge was larger than 9×19mm Parabellum and faster than .45 ACP rounds. The modern technique of the pistol Cooper's modern technique defines pragmatic use of the pistol for personal protection. The modern technique emphasizes two-handed shooting using the Weaver stance, competing with and eventually supplanting the once-prevalent one-handed shooting style. The five elements of the modern technique are: A large caliber pistol, preferably a semi-automatic The Weaver stance The draw stroke The flash sight picture The compressed surprise trigger break Firearm conditions of readiness There are several conditions of readiness in which such a weapon can be carried. Cooper promulgated most of the following terms: Clear and Safe: Slide locked to the rear, chamber empty, no magazine in the gun, hammer down, safety on (if applicable). Condition 4: Chamber empty, no magazine in the gun, hammer down, safety on. Condition 3: Chamber empty, full magazine in place, hammer down, safety on. Condition 2: A round chambered, full magazine in place, hammer down, safety on. Condition 1: A round chambered, full magazine in place, hammer cocked, safety on. Also referred to as "cocked and locked." Condition 0: A round chambered, full magazine in place, hammer cocked, safety off. Condition 0 is considered "ready to fire"; as a result, there is a risk of accidental or negligent discharge carrying in Condition 0. Combat mindset and the Cooper color code The most important means of surviving a lethal confrontation, according to Cooper, is neither the weapon nor the martial skills. The primary tool is the combat mindset, set forth in his book, Principles of Personal Defense. Cooper came up with a color code, consisting of four colors including white, yellow, orange, and red: In White you are unprepared and unready to take lethal action. If you are attacked in White you will probably die unless your adversary is totally inept. In Yellow you bring yourself to the understanding that your life may be in danger and that you may have to do something about it. In Orange you have determined upon a specific adversary and are prepared to take action which may result in his death, but you are not in a lethal mode. In Red you are in a lethal mode and will shoot if circumstances warrant. The color code, as originally introduced by Cooper, had nothing to do with tactical situations or alertness levels, but rather with one's state of mind. Cooper did not claim to have invented anything in particular with the color code, but he was apparently the first to use it as an indication of mental state. The USMC uses "Condition Black," although it was not originally part of Cooper's color code. According to Massad Ayoob, "Condition Black," in Cooper's youth, meant "combat in progress." "Condition Black" is also used to mean "immobilized by panic" or "overwhelmed by fear". Rifle concepts Cooper is best known for his work in pistol training, but he favored the rifle for tactical shooting. He often described the handgun as a convenient-to-carry stopgap weapon, allowing someone the opportunity to get to a rifle: Personal weapons are what raised mankind out of the mud, and the rifle is the queen of personal weapons. The rifle is a weapon. Let there be no mistake about that. It is a tool of power, and thus dependent completely upon the moral stature of its user. It is equally useful in securing meat for the table, destroying group enemies on the battlefield, and resisting tyranny. In fact, it is the only means of resisting tyranny, since a citizenry armed with rifles simply cannot be tyrannized. The rifle itself has no moral stature, since it has no will of its own. Naturally, it may be used by evil men for evil purposes, but there are more good men than evil, and while the latter cannot be persuaded to the path of righteousness by propaganda, they can certainly be corrected by good men with rifles. Scout rifle Greatly influenced by the life and writings of Frederick Russell Burnham, Cooper published an article in the 1980s describing his ideal of a general-purpose rifle: "a short, light, handy, versatile, utility rifle", which he dubbed a scout rifle. This was a bolt-action carbine chambered in .308 Winchester, less than 1 meter in length, less than 3 kilograms in weight, with iron sights, a forward-mounted optical sight (long eye relief scope), and fitted with a practical sling. Cooper defined his goal: a general-purpose rifle is a conveniently portable, individually operated firearm, capable of striking a single decisive blow on a live target of up to 200 kilos in weight at any distance at which the operator can shoot with the precision necessary to place a shot in a vital area of the target. Cooper felt the scout rifle should be suited to a man operating like the scout Burnham, either alone or in a two- or three-man team. In late 1997, with Cooper's oversight, Steyr Mannlicher produced a rifle to his "scout" specifications. Cooper considered the Steyr Scout "perfect." Riflemen regard Cooper's development of the scout rifle concept and his subsequent work on the evolution of the Steyr-Mannlicher Scout rifle as his most significant and enduring .... Discover the Jeff Cooper popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Jeff Cooper books.