by: Jeff Cooper
Topics include: field marksman, military loop, shooting sling, compressed surprise break, military prone, offhand position, military trigger, aperture sight, horizontal rest, vital zone, ghost ring, sling strap, good trigger, telescope sight, rear aperture, rifle marksmanship, good marksmanship, gun handling, sighting system, stage trigger, field shooting, bolt work, bench rest, forward grip, front sight
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Book Description:
Book Description -- "Riflecraft has been completely ignored since World War II," says Jeff Cooper, America's foremost rifle instructor. To remedy this situation, he took it upon himself to set down the fine art of the rifle before it was lost forever. In his no-holds-barred style, Cooper instructs you in everything you need to know about shooting the rifle, while entertaining you with tales of marksmanship, combat and big-game hunting. About the Author -- Jeff Cooper's accomplishments in the field of firearms are almost too numerous to list. They include founder of Gunsite Ranch, editor-at-large of Guns & Ammo magazine, rangemaster emeritus of the U.S. Practical Shooting Association, and Outstanding American Handgunner
Revealing old know-how not commonly documented -- 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...
One quote is worth the price -- "As we enter the 21st century we find that rifle marksmanship has been largely lost in the military establishments of the world. The notion that technology can supplant incompetence is upon us in all sorts of endeavors, including that of shooting." A gun nerd friend of mine told me I had to read the book. I don't have any guns and I don't shoot so I frankly didn't find the information very useful. On the other hand, you have to admire this guy's fanaticism taking his granddaughters to Africa to blast away at Zebras. If he were a programmer, he'd be using Common Lisp. Anyway, I found the book valuable because of the above quote. People who run Web projects and think they can make up for their unwillingness to hire competent programmers by buying junkware/middleware need to read this.
Reviews:
Put the simplicity in perspective -- 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 very short book for beginners -- I think this book is not really worth the money. However, if you are only interested in the basics and don't plan on buying any other books on this subject, it's worth it. The information in this book is something most people know already and I think I was mislead. This book seems to be too general about the art of shooting. But I still think that this book has a lot of value to beginners.
Look For A Better Book -- I am writing as an experienced SWAT operator, firearms instructor, and competitive 3-Gun Match shooter. This book is great for beginning rifle shooters or members of the Jeff Cooper Fan Club. However, there is nothing explained or taught in this book that I did not also receive in my very first basic rifle school. As with most of Mr. Cooper's writing, the text tends to become "preachy" and critical of modern society and technology. While I usually agree with most of what Mr. Cooper has to say and write, I am not one of his many acolytes. More to the point, I sincerely wish he would stop writing as if he assumes that the reader is a member of his fan club. The book was a disappointment. I felt that it was mostly a collection of large photos, stories, Mr. Cooper's opinions on a lot of non-shooting subjects, and a few shooting tips. Each of the sections could have been expanded a great deal. At least he didn't push the Scout Rifle concept too hard in this book. I respect Mr. Cooper and his accomplishments but his claim that "riflecraft is an art that has been completely ignored since WWII" is simply untrue. There are better books available on this subject.
A distilation from "Jeff Coopers Commentaries" -- If you've read all of "Jeff Coopers Commentaries" (formerly Gunsight Gossip), you've read everything in this book already. Col. Cooper distills his years of writings about rifles and shooting and places it into 21 easy, distinct chapters that encapsulate the ideas. This includes the ever popular question of "Why?" Col. Cooper leaves politics out of it, which is refreshing. Rifles are amoral, inanimate objects entirely dependent on the purposes of the shooter. The prohibitionist will rave against such a book, for "teaching snipers" or some such. Ignore them. Mastering shooting requires mastering ones self, and self control is beyond the awareness of prohibitionists.
An important work -- " Pick up a rifle- a really good rifle- and if you know how to use it well, you change instantly from a mouse to a man.." writes the good Colonel. Its disappointing how few books there are on the most basic principles of marksmanship, and how to use a rifle efficently. There is lots of pelf written for people who fancy themselves as Green Beret Snipers, but very little indeed on the most basic principles of marksmenship. And there is this book. Anyone who uses a rifle will benefit from this book. A begineer could not get a better teacher. A person familier with rifles will get enough information to progress to expert. And an expert will still learn enough to make the book worthwhile, or at the very least be able to enjoy Col. Coopers unique writing style. A Parent wishing to teach their daughter or son how to shoot would be well served with this as a gift for them. There are 20 chapters covering safety (nice to see), firing positions, breathing, rests and so on. The Colonel does not usually go into much depth in the WHY of things- keep your barrel off the rest as it affects trajectery , without launching into a long discourse on barrel harmonics. Despite being reasonably brief there is a lot to comprehend and practice, so you will be dealving into it for some time. The only gripes I have is some- but not all- of the ample illustrations are a tad over and under exposed so they are not as clear as one would like. This is common, alas, with Paladin books. Generally the photos are good and the dust cover is handsome. Most highly recommended.