Growing up Cooper – Part 2

Growing up Cooper – Part 2

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Growing Up Cooper – Part 2
Along with the questions I am so often asked about my father, I can share with anyone who may be interested some aspects of his character that are not part of the normal dialogue regarding Jeff Cooper.
1.  He was a good singer.
          Dad could not only carry a tune without accompaniment, he could harmonize at will.  He had a good ear for music and a very nice baritone singing voice.  As a family of five, we learned two pieces that we sang often.   One was the Orchestra Song, where Dad was the tympani.   Mom started it off as the violin.   Christy and Parry were the clarinet and the trumpet and I was the horn———–only one note since I was the youngest and that was the easiest part to handle.  Dad joined last as the tympani and we ended in a lovely five-part harmonic note.  Such fun.
          The second piece we sang as a family was Hark, How the Bells (Carol of the Bells) at Christmastime.  I remember learning this together in the upstairs office portion of the local Catholic church in Big Bear.  I do not know how that came about, but I enjoyed singing it immensely and the last sustained note was the lowest of the entire song, held by Dad.  Lovely.

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Excerpts from the Writings of Jeff Cooper – September 2025

Excerpts from the Writings of Jeff Cooper – September 2025

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Excerpts from the Writings of Jeff Cooper:

In our adolescence we discovered the telescope sight as used on hunting rifles. It was not the norm then as it is now, and we were often jeered at when we showed up for deer or elk hunting. After some experience we concluded that the optical sight, as it is now termed, has various important advantages over iron. Today glass sights are pretty standard worldwide, though they are not the best solution to all of our problems – specifically including dangerous game. I do think, even today, that the novice should be introduced to rifle shooting by way of the aperture sight, in “ghost-ring” form. In recent years I have seen many situations in which the ghost-ring was preferable to any glass sight, but the market commands. It is unsound to draw conclusions from the limited experience available to one man, but in my own case I have killed as often with iron sights as with the telescope. (And I have logged one rather extravagant experience in which the telescopic sight was a distinct disadvantage.)

Today Jim West’s example of a “Co-pilot” illustrates the virtue of the ghost-ring carbine over other systems.

Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries Vol.12 No.10  September 2004

Proper rifle handling is covered in “The Art of the Rifle,” but not everybody has a copy of that and I see violations of good technique all the time. For example, how is a rifle to be carried in a situation anticipating violence? I have taught this material consistently over the years, but I see that some like it better than others. Rifle readiness is not complicated, but it should be understood. When standing erect, anticipating immediate contact, the rifle should be carried at “ready” – magazine full, cartridge in the chamber, index finger straight along side of the trigger-guard, and safety on. If the configuration of the weapon affords it, the thumb should be placed on the safety ready to acuate it, but with the index finger still outside the trigger-guard. In this condition the shooter …

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Excerpts from the Writings of Jeff Cooper – August 2025

Excerpts from the Writings of Jeff Cooper – August 2025

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Our friend and colleague Wiley Clapp recently did a number on the Beretta pistol, now general issue in our armed services. His piece was both accurate and honest, and he told it like he saw it. The truth, however, is only coincidentally prized in the marketplace, where sales figures are equated with virtue. The Beretta people were much annoyed by Wiley’s piece and threatened commercial malice to the publication which was releasing the article. This is unfortunate, but unavoidable. Manufacturers regard periodicals as advertising vehicles, pure and simple. Most of them do not realize that the public sometimes catches on, and that there are a few journalists to whom the truth is still important. I understand that truth is “relative” in academia, and it is clear that truth is irrelevant at the marketplace – and it matters hardly at all to a politician. “To ride, shoot straight and speak the truth” were the classical personal attributes of a man. To ride is no longer a measure. To shoot straight ought to be, but seldom is. However, those who care can still make a maximum effort both to speak, and seek, the truth. Hardly anything else really matters.

Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries Vol.10 No.8  July 2002

“The main weapon that terrorists use against the West is not bombs or guns, but moral obfuscation.”

Netanyahu

Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries Vol.10, No.8  July 2002

We certainly hand out a lot of argument and confusion on the subject of “education,” but nobody seems to know just what it is. Is education the answer to 2+2=? Is it knowing the difference between a mammal and a reptile? Is it knowing how to run for office? Or is it owning some kind of certificate or diploma to tack your name onto? Certainly it seems that today a college degree is no more than a job ticket, and not a too reliable one at that. Looking back over all those years it does seem to me that a high school diploma in 1935 signified a good deal more in the way of “education” than a Ph.D. does today. Time passes, of course, and times change, but if we are called upon to spend money on education it would be nice to know what it is we mean to spend money …

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