Jeff Cooper facts for kids

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Quick facts for kids Jeff Cooper

Born	(1920-05-10)May 10, 1920 Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Died	September 25, 2006(2006-09-25) (aged 86) Paulden, Arizona, U.S.
Occupation	U.S. Marine, firearms instructor, writer
Spouse(s)	Janelle Cooper
Children	3

John Dean "Jeff" Cooper (May 10, 1920 – September 25, 2006) was an important figure in the world of firearms. He was a U.S. Marine and is famous for creating the "modern technique" of handgun shooting. He was also an expert on how to use and the history of small arms, which are weapons like pistols and rifles.

Early Life and Education
Career in Firearms Training
Personal Life
See also

Early Life and Education

Jeff Cooper was born in Los Angeles, California. When he was in high school, he joined the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps, which teaches students about military life. He later went to Stanford University and earned a degree in political science.

In September 1941, he officially joined the United States Marine Corps (USMC). During World War II, he served in the Pacific Ocean on a battleship called the USS Pennsylvania. By the end of the war, he had become a major. He left the Marines in 1949 but returned during the Korean War. During this time, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel. After the Korean War, he left active duty again.

In the 1960s, he earned another degree in history from the University of California, Riverside. For many years, he also taught history part-time at high schools and colleges.

Career in Firearms Training

In 1976, Jeff Cooper started a school called the American Pistol Institute (API) in Paulden, Arizona. This school later became known as the Gunsite Academy. At Gunsite, Cooper taught classes on how to use shotguns and rifles. He trained police officers, military personnel, and everyday people from all over the world.

He sold the school in 1992 but continued to live on his ranch in Paulden. Cooper was well-known for supporting the use of large-caliber handguns. He especially liked the Colt 1911 and the .45 ACP bullet.

Cooper also helped design a pistol called the Bren Ten. This pistol used a special bullet called the 10mm Auto. This bullet was bigger than the common 9×19mm Parabellum and faster than the .45 ACP rounds.

The Modern Technique of Pistol Shooting

Jeff Cooper's "modern technique" is a way of using a pistol for self-defense. This technique teaches people to shoot with two hands using a specific body position called the Weaver stance. This method became very popular and replaced older ways of shooting with one hand.

The modern technique has five main parts:

Using a large-caliber pistol, usually a semi-automatic one.
Standing in the Weaver stance for better control.
Learning how to quickly draw the pistol from its holster.
Using a "flash sight picture," which means quickly lining up the gun's sights.
Using a "compressed surprise trigger break," which means pulling the trigger smoothly without jerking.

Firearm Conditions of Readiness

Cooper also created terms to describe how ready a firearm is to be fired. These are called "conditions of readiness."

Here are some of the conditions he described:

Clear and Safe: The gun is completely empty and cannot fire.
Condition 4: The chamber is empty, there's no magazine in the gun, and the hammer is down. The safety is on.
Condition 3: The chamber is empty, but a full magazine is in the gun. The hammer is down, and the safety is on.
Condition 2: A bullet is in the chamber, a full magazine is in the gun, and the hammer is down. The safety is on.
Condition 1: A bullet is in the chamber, a full magazine is in the gun, and the hammer is cocked (ready to fire). The safety is on. This is also called "cocked and locked."
Condition 0: A bullet is in the chamber, a full magazine is in the gun, and the hammer is cocked. The safety is off. This means the gun is ready to fire instantly. Carrying a gun in Condition 0 can be risky because it might go off by accident.

Combat Mindset and the Cooper Color Code

Cooper believed that the most important thing for surviving a dangerous situation was not just the weapon or shooting skills. He thought the most important tool was a person's "combat mindset." He wrote about this in his book, Principles of Personal Defense.

To explain different states of mind, Cooper created a "color code":

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.

This color code was about a person's mental state, not about how alert they were in a tactical situation. Cooper was one of the first to use colors to describe these mental states. The U.S. Marines sometimes use "Condition Black," which Cooper originally used to mean "combat in progress." It can also mean being frozen by fear.

Rifle Concepts

Even though Cooper is known for pistol training, he actually preferred the rifle for tactical shooting. He often said that a handgun was just a convenient weapon to carry until you could get to a rifle.

He wrote:

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.

The Scout Rifle

Cooper was inspired by the life of Frederick Russell Burnham, a famous scout. In the 1980s, Cooper wrote about his idea for a perfect all-around rifle, which he called a "scout rifle."

He imagined it as a short, light, and easy-to-handle rifle. It would be a bolt-action carbine that used .308 Winchester bullets. It would be less than 1 meter long and weigh less than 3 kilograms. It would have iron sights, a special scope mounted forward on the rifle, and a useful sling. Cooper wanted this rifle to be able to hit a target weighing up to 200 kilos (about 440 pounds) at any distance the shooter could aim accurately. He felt it should be good for someone working alone or in a small team, like a scout.

In 1997, with Cooper's help, Steyr Mannlicher made a rifle that matched his "scout" design. Cooper thought the Steyr Scout was "perfect." Many rifle experts believe Cooper's work on the scout rifle is his most important contribution to rifle shooting. Other companies like Ruger ((Gunsite Scout Rifle)), Savage Arms, Springfield Armory, and Mossberg have also made their own versions of the scout rifle.

Ammunition Concepts

Cooper was not happy with the small 5.56×45mm NATO (.223 Remington) bullets used in rifles like the AR-15. He believed there was a need for a larger bullet (at least .44 caliber) for semi-automatic rifles. He wanted these larger bullets to have more "stopping power" and be able to take down large animals with one shot from 250 yards away.

This idea was called the Thumper concept. It led to the creation of several new powerful bullets, such as the .450 Bushmaster, .458 SOCOM, .458 HAM'R, .499 LWR, and the .50 Beowulf. These bullets were designed to fit into popular rifle platforms like the AR-15 and M16 rifle.

Tim LeGendre of LeMag Firearms developed the .45 Professional, which was the first version of the .450 Bushmaster. He even built an AR-15 rifle for Cooper that used this new bullet.

Writing and Publications

In 1997, Jeff Cooper wrote that he created the word hoplophobia in 1962. He felt there was a need for a word to describe an "unreasonable fear of gadgets, specifically, weapons."

Besides his books on firearms and self-defense, Cooper also wrote books about his life adventures, essays, and short stories. Some of his works include Fire Works (1980), Another Country: Personal Adventures of the Twentieth Century (1992), To Ride, Shoot Straight and Speak the Truth (1988), and C Stories (2004). His daughter, Lindy Wisdom, wrote a book about his life called Jeff Cooper: the Soul and the Spirit (1996).

Cooper also wrote a newsletter called "Gunsite Gossip." Parts of this newsletter were printed in Guns & Ammo magazine as "Cooper's Corner." These writings, which included his thoughts on firearms and many other topics, became very popular around the world. Cooper also wrote a lot about protecting the rights of people to own firearms.

You can find a full list of Jeff Cooper's writings from 1947 onwards at the Jeff Cooper Bibliography Project.

Personal Life

Jeff Cooper was married to his wife, Janelle, for 64 years. They had three daughters. He passed away at his home in Paulden, Arizona, on September 25, 2006, at the age of 86. He is buried on his ranch at Gunsite.