Jeff Cooper's Commentaries Previously Gunsite Gossip Volume Eleven, 2003 • Vol. 11, No. 1 0 Three ............................................................................................................................1 • Vol. 11, No. 2 Mid−Winter ............................................................................................................................6 • Vol. 11, No. 3 The Ides Of March ...........................................................................................................................11 • Vol. 11, No. 4 Springtime In The Boonies ...........................................................................................................................16 • Vol. 11, No. 5 April Showers ...........................................................................................................................21 • Vol. 11, No. 6 Sumer Is Icumen In ...........................................................................................................................26 • Vol. 11, No. 7 Summer Time ...........................................................................................................................31 • Vol. 11, No. 8 Independence 2003 ...........................................................................................................................35 • Vol. 11, No. 9 High Summer ...........................................................................................................................40 • Vol. 11, No. 10 Hot Spell ...........................................................................................................................45 • Vol. 11, No. 11 Summer's End ...........................................................................................................................50 • Vol. 11, No. 12 Hunting Season ...........................................................................................................................55 • Vol. 11, No. 13 Thanksgiving ...........................................................................................................................60 • Vol. 11, No. 14 Algid November ...........................................................................................................................66 • Vol. 11, No. 15 Winter ...........................................................................................................................71 Please Note. These "Commentaries" are for personal use only. Not for publication. Jeff Cooper's Commentaries Volume Eleven Jeff Cooper's Commentaries Previously Gunsite Gossip Vol. 11, No. 1 February 2003 0 Three Certainly we enter upon a banner year, from any aspect. One hundred years ago the Wright Brothers got us off the ground (with no help from the Prophet, may peace be upon him). And now we have walked upon the moon. Among that year's special notabilities, we have the great Springfield 03 rifle, which served as the pattern model for all such weapons to come. The "Springfield Sporter" was the proud possession of the senior big game hunter for many decades, and it was usually backed up by the innovative Mannlicher carbine, also of the year 1903. One wonders what sort of weaponry, if any, shall distinguish the year 2003. Our personal weapons have reached a state in which any conceptual improvement is hard to imagine. We have produced gadgets which will do almost anything for us that we may desire − with a couple of obvious exceptions. So we may well ask, where do we go from here? If we can hardly improve upon our gadgetry, there are certainly many ways in which we can improve upon our performance, but improving one's performance is difficult, and the temper of the age appears to emphasize ease rather than excellence in operation. Perhaps an automatic football is the next thing we may expect, with which one may just punch in a touchdown and await results. Without speculation we face a challenging year in 2003. May God grant that we measure up! We were honored to attend the Scottsdale memorial services for Joe Foss, the last great man of the twentieth century. It was an inspiring occasion, and emphasized yet again that happiness is the by−product of accomplishment. Joe Foss was the definitive high achiever of his time. Everything he did, he did better than other people. All his life he was an enthusiastic marksman, and a marvelously good shot. I knew him only slightly, but I was able to verify this. I was able to furnish him with a superb sporting rifle, to his own specifications, and it was delightful to know that he used it delightfully well. He was a great man, an obvious refutation of the proposal that all men are created equal, and all who knew him were enriched by the experience. May he rest in peace. "There is no safety for honest men, except by believing all possible evil of evil men." Edwin Burke, via Thomas Sowell We have been running down this great 45 action story from Vietnam, and we discover the matter to be complicated. It seems that citation writers do not have to be especially competent in the details of the subject examined. The hero on the downed helicopter accordingly decks between one and 37 gooks, depending upon whose story you take. We will keep after this. We were amused to see a news caption from the San Francisco Chronicle referring to the Steyr Scout as "a rare and expensive rifle made in Austria." I suppose these people refer to a Porsche as a "rare and expensive automobile made in Germany." Vol. 11, No. 1 1/75 Jeff Cooper's Commentaries Volume Eleven We all agree that every proper household must contain a 22. A rural household should properly have two such. What sort of 22 is a good subject for discussion. I tend to think first about a light, short, handy rifle, featuring a clean, light trigger pull and a good set of ghost−ring sights. If it is to be used principally as a trainer for the young, it should probably be a single−shot, though this is not a requirement. If a repeater is selected, my first choice would be for the classic Marlin 39 levergun, in a short−barrel version. Prewar production is preferable, both for quality of workmanship and absence of the questionable cross−bolt "safety". Any of the good bolt−action repeaters should do fully as well, but the levergun is a touch neater. A combination over/under 410/22 has much to recommend it, if you can find a good example. Any of the good 22 handguns will give good service, but high quality is important. There are plenty of junk 22s around, but they do not suffice. Most of the self−loading 22s of good quality are too large and heavy for best service, but they will do well for range practice. The classic house−22 was the Colt Woodsman. In my youth everybody had one, though there were more six−inch models in evidence than four−inch. The Woodsman was superceded by Bill Ruger's excellent version of the same weapon. It was every bit as good as the Woodsman, and it cost less. Ruger's aluminum Single−Six, in Peacemaker configuration, is an especially fine house gun, if you can find one with a good trigger, but maybe the best of the lot in theory is the Walther PPK and its clones. This is a self−loader, of course, and thus regarded askance by various sorts of regulators. It does not usually feature good sights, but that can be corrected. The new model Walther, called simply PP, is improved in many ways. We must bear in mind that the 22 rimfire weapon must not be dry fired, lest its firing pin burr the mouth of the chamber. (A piece so abused may be easily de−burred, however, with a good quality penknife.) I wish to point out firmly that I do not recommend the 22, either rifle or pistol, as a primary house defense gun. As a couple of readers have suggested, it will do for lack of anything better, in cool hands, but its primary purpose is not combat shooting. It is a recreational and utilitarian device to be used for the training of the young and the leaning down of the varmint population. Also it is a very satisfactory pot shooter in jurisdictions where small game may be legally taken for the table. For whatever purpose, you must have one. There over the kitchen door it is the evidence of a well run household. The surest evidence of celebrity is being misquoted in the public press. We must bear that in mind. According to George Mason, all mature American citizens are members of the militia. A well regulated militia should be composed of people qualified with the current individual arm of the United States services. This is the M16. Accordingly, everybody should be checked out with this weapon. The fact that it is capable of fully automatic fire may be a horrible idea to the hoplophobes, but I guess they will just have to face up to that. "Political correctness is the oppression of the majority by the minority." Who said that? Question: How many true believers does it take to change a light bulb? Answer: None. Allah will take care of the matter. It has long been clear that when most shooters use the word "accuracy," they are more likely to mean "shootability," which is not the same thing. Absolute accuracy can only be determined by means beyond the reach of most casual gun owners, but some pieces are indeed easier to hit with than others. Most factory arms are more accurate, in the technical sense, than all but a few shooters can appreciate, but various good examples are indeed more shootable. I have had occasion to present rifles to two different celebrities, who upon practice reported back that their weapons were strikingly accurate. The feature I think