EXCERPTS FROM JEFF COOPER’S WRITINGS – April 2026
This is the centennial of the great Model 94 Winchester, one of the outstanding artifacts of modern times. It is unsound to make the claim that any one instrument “won the West,” but the 94 was the mainstay of the wilderness during the early years of the twentieth century, and in the days of my youth it was a rare household that did not contain one. This excellent weapon is still with us today, and rendering good service wherever it is found. It you do not own one, you should get one, and not only for the sake of sentiment. If the public scene turns nasty, as some say it may, you will be far better off with an M94 in 30-30 than you will be with an SKS, AK47, or an M16.
Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries Vol.2 No.4 April 1994
I recently had the pleasure of accompanying shooting master John Gannaway on a delightful morning’s walk at the Arizona Hunt Club, which is handily located exactly between Gunsite and Phoenix. We were harassing pheasants and chukars, with the aid of a pair of perfectly splendid dogs whose work was a marvel to behold. They were German Shorthairs, and the only flaw I can find in their behavior was that they had not been trained to bite people who miss. Dog trainers should give that matter some thought.
Ibid
At a recent National Press Club dinner Prince Phillip was asked to reconcile his dedication to conservation with his love of hunting. The questioner asked if the Prince really enjoyed killing animals. The Prince responded that the beef that the group had enjoyed for dinner was presumably slaughtered by someone who was paid to do that job. Since the butcher was paid, one may further presume that he did not particularly enjoy his work or he would have done it for free. The Prince then asked if any members of the audience felt that the butcher was immoral or inconsistent. If not, he remarked, then presumably adultery would be moral as long as one did not enjoy it.
Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries Vol.3 No.4 April 1995
We have recently received several queries about instruction in “police rifle” and “defensive rifle.” I am not sure of the role of the rifle in police work, but I do believe that there is no such thing as a “defensive” rifle. The pistol is the defensive arm. You wear it with no specific action in mind, but when you pick up a rifle you intend to go after something – or someone. Thus the difference in purpose of the two arms is one of concept, and training with either must be carried out with that in mind. The purpose of the pistol is to stop a fight that somebody else started. The purpose of the rifle is to “reach out and touch someone.” Thus the objective of the rifleman is to achieve a first-round hit, on an appropriate target, at unspecific range, from improvised positions, against the clock. This is what I endeavor to teach in riflecraft, and it is equally valuable to the hunter, the soldier, or, in some cases, the policeman.
Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries Vol.4 No.4 April 1996
We were recently treated to a bizarre exchange between a hapless Englishman and some BATchick in some front office in Washington. Our English friend was inquiring about bringing his arms into the United States, and was told that he could not import a Peacemaker (Colt Single-action Army) because it had no “legitimate sporting purpose!” Now, apart from the fact that “legitimate sporting purpose” is a blatantly unconstitutional interpretation of the Second Amendment, it is apparent that these poor souls who are confined to the District of Columbia cannot keep up with the times. Clearly the girl involved had not heard of the proliferation of “Cowboy Action Shooting.” I stuck my oar in to tell her that this sort of bureaucratic behavior gives ignorance a bad name. I guess I can expect the black helicopters any night now.
Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries Vol.5 No.5 April 1997
Charlton Heston, in his recent outstanding address to the Conservative Political Action Conference, pointed out dramatically that “Now we are engaged in a great civil war” – the line from The Gettysburg Address. Quite so. Only a little blood has been shed, yet, but this war is definitely underway “testing whether this nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated may long endure.” That question is open. There are plenty of people in the United States who are strongly and positively opposed to the idea of political liberty, and – as with the shenanigans in the White House – they are not ashamed of this. We must all continue to preach if only to the choir. Our liberty is at stake, and it will remain so indefinitely. If you have not taken some sort of action this month in defense of the Bill of Rights, make sure you do not let another month get by without your help.
Now that the Brits have succeeded in disarming themselves (so that only the bad guys may have guns), they have additionally gone a step further in their continuous attack against fox hunting. The argument rages on in the public press, and appears to have nothing to do with either humanitarianism or conservation, but rather with the “class war” which continues unabated as we head into the 21st century. A reasonably large and quite noisy segment of the British populace makes a business of hating anything that reminds them of their aristocratic past. They feel that anybody who rides to hounds after the fox is either a “toff” or a descendant of one, and they seem to hate toffs as much as they esteem vulgarity. Perhaps the next piece of foolishness we may see from that side of the water is a ban on fox hounds. I am not aware of a proper Greek-derived term for the “Tyranny of the Busybody,” but this seems to be a definitive characteristic of the urban socialist.
Which puts me in mind of the old aphorism to the effect that “If you’re not a socialist at 20, you have no heart. If you’re still a socialist at 30, you have no head.” To that I would like to add the following: “If you do not reach the age of 60 without becoming a card carrying curmudgeon, you have just not been paying attention.”
Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries Vol.6 No.4 April 1998
On the recent anniversary of the epic battle of Midway, the television people gave the memorial a certain amount of attention. These people seem to be more occupied with tragedy than with heroism, evidently not realizing that the two usually go hand-in-hand. The legendary attack of Torpedo Squadron 8 against the Japanese carrier force sacrificed the entire squadron, but it was not futile. When the Nip combat air patrol came down from aloft to destroy the torpedo planes, Wade McClusky’s dive bombers acquired a free hand and hit the carrier force while the latter was recovering and rearming aircraft. In a space of about five minutes the Japanese lost the war in the Pacific – or the US Navy won it, depending on your viewpoint. When we memorialize Midway, we should honor Torpedo 8 as more gallant perhaps than the Light Brigade at Balaclava, and certainly more effective than the 300 Spartans at Thermopylae. In the words of George Patton, “We should not be sad that such men died. We should be glad that such men lived.”
Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries Vol.7 No 5 April 1999
If you don’t understand weapons you don’t understand fighting. If you don’t understand fighting you don’t understand war. If you don’t understand war you don’t understand history. And if you don’t understand history you might as well live with your head in a sack.
Ibid