Jeff Cooper

Follow to get new release updates and improved recommendations

About Jeff Cooper

Jeff Cooper was born in Los Angeles, California, in 1920. He was educated at Stanford University and took his advanced degree from the University of California. He was commissioned in the Marine Corps in 1941 and served throughout World War II in the Pacific, achieving the rank of Major. Recalled to active duty for the Korean War, he moved up one rank to Lieutenant Colonel before leaving the service.

Cooper became a shottist at the age of eleven. In 1958 he originated the sport of practical pistol competition. From this activity he formulated the Modern Technique of the Pistol, now generally observed throughout the world. For the next thirty years he was active in teaching the new method throughout the Western World.

In 1976 Jeff Cooper founded the International Practical Shooting Confederation. In 1977 he founded the American Pistol Institute at Gunsite in Arizona, where he lived until his death in 2006.

He served as editor-at-large of Guns and Ammo magazine, for which he wrote a monthly column. After having served many years as a director of the National Rifle Association of America, he was elected to the Executive Council.

Jeff Cooper spent a long and active life reading, shooting, hunting, fighting and teaching. Internationally respected as the "Gunner's Guru," Jeff Cooper is a philosopher, moralist, and political commentator -- a true modern Renaissance man. It is to the benefit of his many readers that he developed the passion at an early age to write it all down.

Loren W. Christensen"

Are you an author?

Help us improve our Author Pages by updating your bibliography and submitting a new or current image and biography.

Learn more at Author Central

1 11 1

$8.49

Kindle Edition
$8.99

Kindle Edition
$2.99

Kindle Edition
$8.99

Kindle Edition
$8.99

Kindle Edition
$1.99

Kindle Edition
$50.00

Hardcover
$89.00

Paperback
$27.80

Hardcover
$42.73

Hardcover
$126.93

Hardcover
$30.00

Paperback

Author Updates

Titles By Jeff Cooper

All Formats Kindle Edition Hardcover Paperback

Principles of Personal Defense Aug 24, 2020

by Jeff Cooper , Louis Awerbuck

( 819 )

$8.49

It is a classic, timeless work, encap -
sulated in a clear, concise, and succinct
form. And like a twentieth-century Western
Civilization equivalent of Musashi's seventeenth-
century Book of Five Rings, it should
be read, studied, and then periodically
reread and restudied. No matter how many
times you read it, you will always find one
more pearl of wisdom that you missed
during the last read.
Principles of Personal Defense is the
fighting man's guide to mental conditioning
— plain and simple. And there is no
better work on the subject — period.
Maybe the Glory Days are gone, and
Baby's throaty roar no longer rings out
over the Yavapai hills, but the wisdom
and knowledge are laid out in print for
perpetuity. All you have to do is read and
learn . . .
Louis Awerbuck
January 2006
FOREWORD

Other Formats: Paperback

The Art of the Rifle Aug 30, 2020

by Jeff Cooper

( 173 )

$8.99

Boasting aside, I am quite satisfied with the systems I have developed for the teaching of general-purpose field marksmanship. These systems have not only worked supremely well for hardened male athletes, but also for women and girls, including my own children and grandchildren.

In the last couple of decades I have hunted a good deal in Africa and have made many good friends among African
professional hunters. These good men continue to horrify me with tales about sportsmen who show up in the biggame
fields without any sort of background, theoretical or practical, in the use of the rifle. The Art of the Rifle can correct
this dismal state of affairs—if you let it. You cannot learn how to shoot by reading a book, any more than you
can learn how to play tennis from a text. However, without a grasp of the text you are making life difficult for yourself
and under some circumstances making life dangerous for both yourself and those around you.

There is a terrible moment when the professional hunter first sees his client handle his rifle. He can see in a
few minutes whether the forthcoming adventure is going to be a trial or a joy. Our good friends among the professional
hunters never mention names as a matter of principle, but their campfire tales serve to balance the bloodcurdling
against the hilarious. There is not much danger in big-game hunting; with such as there is, the great predominance is
the danger of gunfire. You are not very likely to be squashed by a buffalo (though this indeed can happen), but
if you go afield with the wrong man there is a pretty good chance that you may be shot.
Not everyone, of course, is going to take to the field after big game, and very few of us experience the combination of
exhilaration and heart-stopping excitement of a firefight. (You may note that I did not use the word fear. Fear is a bad word,
and though we may know it, we do not talk about it nor let it influence our behavior.)

Other Formats: Hardcover , Paperback

Fighting Handguns Dec 1, 2018

by Jeff Cooper

( 50 )

$2.99

In Fighting Handguns, author Jeff Cooper not only takes the reader through the development of this weapon from its beginnings in mid-16th-century Europe through the various iterations of single- and double-action revolvers and semiautomatic pistols, he also discusses some important aspects of carrying and shooting a fighting handgun under combat conditions.

“For good or ill, man is a fighting animal. While most feel that this is an unmitigated evil, it may, like most aspects of nature, have its positive side. Certainly man’s combative nature is responsible for most of the massive tragedy of history, but it’s possible that history of any sort just wouldn’t have happened had it not been characteristic of the race to struggle against its environment. And man’s environment, of course, includes man. A placid, gentle, contented creature—a koala, for instance—is nice to contemplate but does not progress, and if it encounters a challenge it simply dies. Whether progress, at the price of a fighting disposition, is worth it is a question, but it’s a bit on the academic side. Man is the way he is, and gets along as he must. Being human, we are involved in strife. Much as we may deplore this, we must master the techniques of strife or perish.

“This book is devoted to one of these techniques—the one-hand firearm as used by man against man.”—Jeff Cooper

Other Formats: Hardcover , Paperback

To Ride, Shoot Straight, and Speak the Truth Jan 13, 2021

by Jeff Cooper

( 9 )

$8.99

Combat mind-set, trigger control, tactical residential architecture, nuclear war - these are just some of the provocative subjects explored by gun guru Jeff Cooper in this classic illustrated collection of essays.

Cooper squarely faces the facts of modern life and concludes that the armed citizen is the correct answer to the armed sociopath. to that end, To Ride, Shoot Straight, and Speak the Truth focuses primarily on the various aspects of shooting - technically, socially, sportively, and historically.

Knowledge of personal weapons and skill in their use are necessary attributes of any man who calls himself free. And nobody can speak so eloquently and forcefully to that fact better than Jeff Cooper - one of the greatest spokesmen, writers, philosophers, and practitioners of skill-at-arms in the twentieth century.

Other Formats: Hardcover , Paperback

This title and over 1 million more available with Kindle Unlimited.

Fireworks Jan 3, 2021

by Jeff Cooper

$8.99

Gunsite was founded in 1976 by Lt. Col. Jeff Cooper, author, columnist, professor, WW II and Korean War combat veteran.

Col. Cooper intended Gunsite to be the vehicle for spreading the Modern Technique of the Pistol, which he created during his years in Big Bear Lake, CA.Jeff Cooper built the facility which was known then as the American Pistol Institute (API), just west of Paulden, Arizona, north of Prescott AZ. Cooper began teaching pistol, shotgun and rifle classes to both law enforcement and military personnel, as well as civilians, and did on-site training for individuals and groups from around the world. He was known for his advocacy of large caliber handguns, especially the Colt 1911 and the .45 ACP cartridge. Jeff passed away September 25, 2006 at the age of 86. Janelle passed away July 28th, 2019.

Gunsite Academy is now the curator of Jeff's library and their home is a museum. Gunsite 250 graduates still visit the sconce after graduation on Friday.

Cooper's modern technique defines pragmatic use of the pistol for personal protection. The modern technique emphasizes two-handed shooting using the Weaver stance, competing with and eventually supplanting the once-prevalent one-handed shooting. The five elements of the modern technique are:

A large caliber pistol, preferably a semi-auto
The Weaver stance
The draw stroke
The flash sight picture
The compressed surprise trigger break

Cooper was the first one to define and stress the Four Basic Rules of Firearms Safety

All guns are always loaded. Even if they are not, treat them as if they are.
Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy. (For those who insist that this particular gun is unloaded, see Rule 1.)
Keep your finger off the trigger till your sights are on the target. This is the Golden Rule.
Identify your target, and what is behind it. Never shoot at anything that you have not positively identified.

Here is a link to an article written in 1993 by Finn Aagaard that appeared in the NRA Publication American Rifleman called 'Jeff Cooper: The Man Behind The Modern Technique'

Handguns Afield Dec 1, 2018

by Jeff Cooper

( 9 )

$1.99

When Handguns Afield was first published in 1961, hunting with a handgun was in its infancy. Surely settlers and cowboys of the 19th century would have used a handgun on wild game from time to time to fill the campfire stewpot, but as far as using a handgun for hunting as a pastime, this sport was not yet widely recognized.

Author Jeff Cooper expertly summarizes the various aspects of hunting with handguns in the few dozen pages of this volume. Handguns, cartridges, holsters, and shooting small and large game are all thoroughly described and explained here. If the average handgun shooter follows the advice of this book—most of which is still relevant today—he will be prepared to hunt game with a pistol.

“THE MAN who wants to take game with a pistol must realize that if he is to be successful he must be good. He must be a good woodsman, a good hunter, a good sportsman, and an extremely good shot. Because he cannot reach out as with a rifle, he must be able to get right up on his target, and this takes both knowledge of game and much stalking skill. The more open the country, the more skill is required. In thick brush the pistol is handier than the rifle, and the problem becomes one of moving-target marksmanship.

“The pistol hunter is more agile than the rifleman, since he has both hands free to use in climbing or parting brush. For the same reason he may be quieter. These things help him in very rough, heavily wooded terrain. In fact, every aspect of hunting is easier for the handgunner than for the rifleman—except hitting. Therefore marksmanship is the big problem.”—Jeff Cooper

Other Formats: Hardcover , Paperback

More Information

Are you an author? Visit Author Central to change your photo, edit your biography, and more

See Author Pages Frequently Asked Questions

Anything else? Provide feedback about this page

Similar authors to follow

About Jeff Cooper

Customers Also Bought Items By

Are you an author?

Author Updates

More Information