Art of the Rifle

I think the part that people don't get about Cooper is that he is basicaly a military style training guy. His perspective is to give you the essence of what you need to know, drill you on that, and proclaim you more than fit to undertake the challenges of the world. The fact is that you may be a more sophisticated shooter than what Cooper describes, but his measure is combat, dangerous game and hunting, all places where sophisticated techniques often fail, unless your life is boring enough to entail stuning levels of practice. Your race gun perspective may win out, or loose you the day, you won't know till it's too late whether it was really better. Cooper's stuff is solid and will give you a better chance of coming through alive or well fed. It's like Cooper's views on fear, he recomends anger as an antidote. Now a sophisticated guy might recomend Zen Budhism in it's marchalist guise, but most people are extremely unlikley to get to a level where they can use that, and know it is tested for the situation they will enter. Anyway this book is about rifle shooting, and it's all you need to know for hitting big targets fast. There are technical issues where Cooper is wrong, but if you keep the real world objective in mind, he is usualy right. For instance if you want to hit a 1 minute target at 100 yards, the accuracy of your rifle is a big deal, want to hit a 10 minute target at 100 yards, and realisticaly you won't find a rifle bad enough to mater, as long as it has a good trigers and sights. This stuff drives people crazy, because they spend thousands to build a race gun to win at play scenarios that just don't exist in the real world. Take those LA bank robers. The problem wasn't that nobody could engage multiple targets against the clock: hundreds of courageous officers couldn't engage two guys from point blank range, with ample time.

The Art of the Rifle is an outstanding collection of the various facets of riflery, presented by one of the most accomplished and articulate authors in the shooting business. Jeff Cooper presents a number of tips and techniques, not the least of which is the proper use of the shooting sling, for the readers benefit. If the book has a drawback it is this: some of the photographs did not print well and are a little difficult to decipher, particularly if the reader is unfamiliar with the concepts being illustrated. Just the same, this is the only manual I know of that contains this important information. Good Shooting...

If you are new to the rifle, here is an excellent introduction. If you are not, you will find nothing you can not find in other books on riflery. There is of course an important exception. NO one can top Mr. Cooper on showing WHY we love rifles, and how rifles have helped humanity "out of the mud." This is what makes it required reading.

I have read Colonel Jeff Cooper's book "Art of the Rifle" and just completed his General Rifle course. Anyone who desires to master the "queen of personal weapons" will be well on the way by studying this book. The entire spectrum of practical use of the rifle is covered in Colonel Cooper's usual style. After reading the book, you'll want to take the class. Buy one for your library, and extras for friends, children, and family. Future generations will thank you for it.

While I admit that I am an unabashed fan of Colonel Cooper, I without reservation regard this book to be one of the essential elements to the aspiring rifleman. This book however is useful to one person, the rifleman. If your into Benchrest, 1000 yard competion, and nameless other disciplines of specialized rifle usage, spend your money elsewhere. This book deals purely with the employment of the "queen of personal weapons", the rifle. The only thing that I did not like about the book was it's size. The information is so useful that I found myself in want for a compact "field edition" that could acompany myself and my rifle into the field. In short this book encompasses the most usable 97 pages of rifle related instruction that I have ever read.