Big Bear Gunslingers and Jeff Cooper Newspaper Articles

Big Bear Gunslingers and Jeff Cooper Newspaper Articles

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The following has been gratefully contributed by Karl Rehn of KR Training.

Hugh Carpenter 4th from right. Elden talks about all the young guys who had adopted Jeff as a father figure.  Hugh Carpenter was one.  In the day where the SAA and a buscadero rig was the cool thing, Hugh shot a 1911 out of a shoulder holster because Jeff did.  Jeff was the only person using a 1911 until Hugh came along.  Eldern was third.

Another find from my historical handgun research team: a collection of newspaper articles from the newspaper “The Grizzly”, published in the Big Bear Lake area. The articles are text-only, scraped from Newspapers.com archives. They provide useful information about the early days of the Leather Slap matches, which eventually led to the development of the Modern Technique and the associated dramatic changes in every aspect of handgun shooting, training and competition that occurred 1960-2000.

KR notes: back in the 1950’s “gun ownership was normal and normal people owned guns”, to paraphrase David Yamane, and it was not controversial for a newspaper to promote or write about a competition or exhibition shooting event. Note that the 1956 event drew 500 spectators.

KR notes: There are grammar and punctuation errors in the text of the scanned OCR’ed articles. I have corrected the most noticeable but not all of them.

The Grizzly, Big Bear Lake, California, 12 Jul 1956, Thu  •  Page 1

QUICK DRAW SHOOT EVENT OF INTEREST

Great interest has been shown concerning the leather slapping contest to be held as a special feature of Old Miners Days at Snow Summit on Saturday Aug 4 beginning at 4 pm.

A long distance telephone call was received at the Grizzly office Saturday from Dee Woolen of Knotts Berry Farm who wanted more information concerning the event. Mr Woolen said that he and five friends from Knotts plan to attend and would bring with them a special timing device constructed especially for such contests.

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OUR LATEST SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS 5/2/2025

OUR LATEST SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS 5/2/2025

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Our latest scholarship recipients at the Sconce on May 2, 2025.

(L-R) Tim Gradzinski, Lindy, Matt Jamison & Marcie McClure

Comments from Matt Jamison:
Thank you so much for providing me with the opportunity to attend and complete the 250 class last week. Any expectations that I had going into the class were exceeded by the professionalism of the instructors, and the quality of the training. It truly was an honor to be able to come and be a part of the legacy that your father left behind at Gunsite.
I feel that the training I received will help me to be a better Deputy, and it is my hope that other Deputies will see the improvements that I made while training and will pursue opportunities to better themselves as well. As one of the Rangemasters for the Sheriff’s Office where I work, I intend to incorporate some of the drills that we used into some of our training, and I will encourage the Deputies to pursue additional training on their own time as well.
I don’t know that I can fully articulate the benefit of this experience to me, as I am sure that there are many things that I have not yet considered. I hope that I will never have to use these skills, but I know that if I am forced into a situation where it is necessary that I have been provided with all of the skills that are required.
-Matt Jamison
EXCERPTS FROM JEFF COOPER’S WRITINGS 4/28/2025

EXCERPTS FROM JEFF COOPER’S WRITINGS 4/28/2025

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The Countess and our daughters recently spent a delightful week in Bermuda. While there they were treated to an opinion by the Chief of Police that while violent crime is rapidly increasing, there is nothing for the citizen to worry about because there are no guns on the island. Fancy that! We might point out that there were no guns in ancient Rome either, but when I was there (I was much younger then), I always went abroad at night with an armed guard. It is all a matter of what you consider to be important.

Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries Vol.8, No.6  June 2000

I find it wearisome to hear people describe the attack on the USS Cole as one of “terrorism.” We are free to use whatever words we wish to describe whatever we wish, but the attack on the Cole was not a piece of terrorism, it was an act of war. Terrorism may be described as homicidal coercion – an attempt to change national or political behavior by threat of force. The men who attacked the Cole were not attempting to coerce the United States, they were attempting simply to kill Americans – for theological, rather than political, reasons. It may be true that no recognized nation has declared war upon the United States, but Islam has officially described us as The Great Satan, and thus made us military adversaries in a Jihad or Holy War. …

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EXCERPTS FROM JEFF COOPER’S WRITINGS 4/4/2025

EXCERPTS FROM JEFF COOPER’S WRITINGS 4/4/2025

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“The society of late twentieth century America is perhaps the first in human history where most grown men do not routinely bear arms on their persons and boys are not regularly raised from childhood to learn skill in the use of some kind of weapon, either for community or personal defense – club or spear, broadsword or long bow, rifle or Bowie knife. It also happens to be one of the rudest and crudest societies in history, having jubilantly swept most of the etiquette of speech, table, dress, hospitality, fairness, deference to authority and the relations of male and female and child and elder under the fraying and filthy carpet of politically convenient illusions. With little fear of physical reprisal Americans can be as loud, gross, disrespectful, pushy, and negligent as they please. If more people carried rapiers at their belts, or revolvers on their hips, It is a fair bet you would be able to go to a movie and enjoy he dialogue from the screen without having to endure the small talk, family gossip and assorted bodily noises that many theater audiences these days regularly emit. Today, discourtesy is commonplace precisely because there is no price to pay for it.”  

 

Samuel Francis

As Heinlein put it,

“An armed society is a polite society.”

Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries Vol.1, No.1  June 1993

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SOLDIER OF FORTUNE MAY 1981 – SHARPSHOOTING WITH CHAIRMAN JEFF column

SOLDIER OF FORTUNE MAY 1981 – SHARPSHOOTING WITH CHAIRMAN JEFF column

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Jeff Cooper is the Honorary Lifetime Chairman of the International Practical Shooting Confederation, and thus combines official authority with his vast background and experience.  In this column Jeff with alternate his own observations with those of other experts of his personal selection. 

 “Gunsite Rifle Course” 

 (November 1980) 

 The American Pistol Institute (API) at Gunsite, Ariz., is widely known (and widely misrepresented) for its courses in defensive pistolcraft.  Consequently, a new dimension has been added to the curriculum at Gunsite Ranch. 

Cooper’s infatuation with rifles preceded his military service in World War II.  He hunted North American trophy animals between terms at Stanford, and learned the ’03 Springfield in ROTC.   He still considers the Garand the finest battle rifle of all time.  (Now, however, he is inclined to favor the Italian BM-59 version in 7.62mm NATO). 

Having grown up with bolt actions, Cooper retains a fondness for the breed—and not merely from sentiment.  He maintains that, in most circumstances, a skilled person—male or female—can do as well with a boltgun as with a semiauto.  Cooper’s favorite “riflechick” is his daughter Parry, who’s won open matches with a Remington .308.  She confidently asserts, “If I can see it, I can hit it.” 

Therefore, API’s basic rifle course begins with the assumption that a prospective student will bring the weapon that best suits his needs, and that doesn’t always mean a semiauto with a 20-round magazine.  Indeed, Cooper’s hands-down favorite general-purpose rifle is the .308 Remington 600 with an extended eye relief two-power scope. 

Hefting his pet, he says, “If the bad guys were pounding on the front door, thus is what I’d grab as I ran out the back.”  He’s speaking figurately, of course as an armed opponent is unlikely to get within 300 yards of the ranch house.  But the point is well made, and is often reinforced during the six-day course. 

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