I can remember buying soldier of fortune magazine as young teenager and reading Colonel Coopers articles on handgun techniques and being wide eyed looking at his holstered cocked and locked 1911 . It was like the coolest thing I ever seen growing up in a gunless environment.
A lot of people who never lived in those days prior and during cooper's development of his pistol craft concept make the mistake of too frivolously dismiss his techniques and concepts because they fail to comprehend that pistol "fighting" concepts and techniques were going through a major evolution back then thanks to the pioneering progress being pushed by none other than Jeff Cooper. Before Cooper all there was available was one handed static bullseye target shooting and heavily investment of time and ammo to develop and maintain single hand point shooting with out using sights to refer for "fighting" with a pistol. It's only natural and healthy that the pistol craft he was the original catalyst for continued unabated as he faded out of the scene with age and eventual death. His well thought out fundamental concepts never really needed change over the decades so much as subtle tweeks and refinements in techniques that have proven themselves in competition and real world experience in the field. Bottom line is that before Jeff Cooper no one was doing anything to seriously drag pistol (more like the lack there of) craft kicking and screaming out of the eighteenth century and into the real world conditions of seriously using the pistol as a gun fighting tool into the twentieth century. Up until Jeff the pistol was never seriously regarded as a fighting weapon in it's own right. That is a relatively new concept that only in recent decades seems commonly understood thanks to Jeff Cooper.
My 1974 gunfight took place after 6 PM in late November on a dark outdoor parking lot. I could not see the sights on my issued Colt DS but I could see the suspect, and managed to get four center mass hits inside 5 yards. I fired 12 shots, reloading under fire, but am not sure which of the 12 hit their mark. I did have a flashlight but did not have time to grab it before the suspect’s rounds came my way.
As a young Marine back in 1995 I took leave and headed to Gunsite to get some training that simply was not available in the Corps. Colonel Cooper likely didn't spend much time teaching by that point. But he saw me and my buddy and came up to say hi. He knew a Marine when he saw one. Ended up spending a couple of hours talking to a couple of dumb Lance Corporals and passing on some knowledge that was invaluable. As time has progressed the "modern technique" isn't all that modern. The weaver stance is a part of history, stand and deliver tactics are thankfully no longer considered to be adequate. If he were still here the Colonel would love what pistol.shootimg has become. I doubt he'd approve of the new service pistol, doubtful be would become a fan of plastic guns. But he would evolve. If he was wandering the range today he'd probably have a 2011 in 9mm on his hip. And he would still ensure that anyone that wanted it could bet the best training out there. And I'm sure he would still be telling everyone how great the scout rifle is.
All of that, plus he might get excited over some of these lighter AR-10s that exist now. He'd also be glad to hear that the U.S. infantry are finally replacing the 5.56 with a serious rifle round.
No, we've had a high-capacity single-action since 1935, Browning P35, so a high capacity in 9mm would not be new to him. All things being equal the 9 will always be a smaller caliber. During the time I instructed with him we had access to high-cap .45s and never saw the need. Don't misunderstand, he wouldn't have been hyper-critical of someone carrying a 2011 but he would question the need for the higher capacity when that was never an issue in the past and many/all of the current shootings captured on video seem to suggest that a well-trained man/woman (LAPD Toni McBride, etc.) solves the problem with about the same number of rounds as those in the past.
That flashlight business, he just up-ended 40 years of me doing it wrong. And I need a new light. Oh well. Wish I could've studied with him, these vids are the next best thing, so thanks, poster, we love these!
@@rifleshooterchannel208 but that's today, with the technology of the day it was very difficult to get usable light into a small enough package to fix to a handgun. Relatively new concept as we went into Iraq with duct-taped maglites on M16s.
When I went to Jeff's classroom I had a Smith and Wesson 19 but I wanted a 1911 and I remember I asked him for advice on what gun is best and he advised me to buy a Colt 1911 gold cup and after I got home I got me one, Jeff had a 1911 Colt he called it - pinto - the top was blue and the frame was stainless and he had it put on adjustable sights
CCW and 3 gun are great, but this was a different time. Most places did not allow handguns to be carried, so most of the training was around service sized weapons, not mouse guns. Today we have small guns that shoot 9mm, and a lot of decently trimmed 9s, to support the CCW world. 3 gun seems to teach people to shoot as though they were running a machine gun. Back then it was a one shot world, or you might have to shoot till things quieted down, but they were shooting guns that we supposed to get it done in one shot, even in winter. Cooper also had military training. He realized that if you run people who have never "seen the elephant" through Delta level training, they may goof it up when the training is called for. But a properly trained person with highly simplified rules will quite likely get through their first encounter. It isn't about outfighting Delta (at least not yet), it is about being cool and decisive when the crack head shows up. You don't need thousand round training sessions to get that done. But Cooper set the standard along with a few other schools. That left the field open in a way where the new schools often added ever more complicated concepts to prove their worth.
To much bs these days with gun tubers. Love this. Just down to the point with no crap about this is why tier one units do it this way. Cause it’s tactical and tactical is the best way isn’t it. Lol.
Col. Cooper is wearing a gun without a tactical gun belt and a non retention holster? How dare he? On a serious note, Cooper was a man's man and I am sure that he was perfectly confident in his carry style and gear.
When you're dealing with responsible people, it can work. In our current, "This product is known to cause Cancer in the state of California" society, we've allowed folks to be irresponsible and stupid for too long to make it work.
Guy taking notes: 'yellow cannot be seen against a lion, ok for bears though'.......WTF, this is just a way for middle aged guys to do something on a weekend besides the yardwork. I know....
They found out pretty quickly that blued finishes do a poor job of resisting rust. However, the stainless steel of the time was known to gall or grind against itself when used in handguns. So the compromise was a stainless steel frame for rust resistance with a blued carbon steel slide to prevent galling.
@@patrickclark4607 this was also long before the days of cerakote, DLC, nitride, etc. Nickel plating and hard chrome existed, but were expensive and time-consuming.
And another way of looking at it is the stainless did not rust, while the blued slide was less conspicuous and supported a better sight picture. I see more pistols these days that are the reverse pattern with silver over black, and that I do not get.
Do 1911's have weak recoil springs? My Glock has a 17# and my Springfield XDM an 18#. There's no way I can press the slides back from the front far enough to stick my index finger in the chambers, without risking getting my fingertip cut off. I have to grasp the slide to chamber check. Forget that "press" check business.
1911s obviously don't have weak springs...perhaps light springs is a better term. A light spring is ok for standard ammo, the frame of the gun absorbs more of the shock so for guns that can shoot P+ ammo you end up with stronger springs, just another reason P+ isn't that practical and it makes the gun less usable. Smaller calibers also have lighter springs, 9mm and you might only have a 10-12lb spring while a .45 might have a 20lb spring. 10lb isn't much more than a stiff trigger. If 20-30ms slower cycle time is ok by you....swapping springs may be something to try.
@@Wingnut353 - So far, so good with the stock springs as far as recoil management goes. I hear that I will probably need to increase the # with hotter loads, but I will wait till I can feel it in the guns before I do. I think a hiviz follower is better for chamber checks than sticking fingers in there. It's faster and safer, and works in all but deep darkness.
The hammer spring, which is fully cocked on a single action only pistol, provides a lot of resistance to the slide being pulled back when it is *not* cocked. So if the hammer is back, virtually all tension is taken off that spring and the slide won’t have to fight it when it’s being pulled back.
With the 1911s in this video, they are government profile and do not have a guide rod like other conventional handguns like glocks. You can’t do the “finger press check” on this video with handguns with guide rods. Now a days you can do press checks much safer with the front of the slide without risking your fingers in front of the muzzle
I've heard a lot about Jeff Cooper and how he's basically a firearm god, let's see what he says... Ah yes, the 24 Lbs double action trigger pull of a pistol approved after a grueling selection process.... NO! The average double action trigger pull of the m9 was indeed damn heavy at 11Lbs, but come on... It also has somewhere between 5 and 6 Lbs trigger pull in single action. I get why he's respected but making up ridiculous numbers to shit on whatever guns he doesn't like is just shameful. It might not have been easy to verify those claims immediately back when he filmed this (still easy enough to do it) but NOBODY with two brain cells to rub together would ever believe a 24 pound trigger pull in an extraordinarily successful pistol.
in his classroom presentations he is loading and unloading his pistol, and going thru unnecessary procedures with live ammo. Just an opportunity for a mishap even thought he is an expert, there is a better way to demo'.
