Col. Cooper on Good Field Marksmen

Those who read his Commentaries will know that Jeff Cooper was not as much impressed by bench rest shooters as he was by field marksmen. Here is a compilation I snagged from a few of his Commentaries on the topic.

********

"What then is a good field marksman? In my opinion, a man who can hit a tea cup at 100 meters with his first shot, from a field position, in a 5 second interval is a good shot."

" . . . any man who can place ten shots into a 4 inch circle at 300 yards from a field position is an outstanding shot."

"We are constantly reminded by our African friends of the value of quick position assumption. A good rifleman should be able to assume a looped sitting position, starting from standing erect and slung, in five seconds. This may be a little too demanding for the dilettante, but it pays off in the field. Almost every report we get from Africa reinforces this idea."

"As we have often stated, marksmanship could be improved if we could simply persuade shooters to get away from the bench rest. The bench rest is a useful device for identifying and isolating mechanical shortcomings, but it helps a marksman no more than a dynamometer helps a race driver. The sooner a marksman can get away from the bench rest, the better shot he will become."

"The field rifleman should be able to hold his piece out at arm's length, one-handed, for sixty seconds, without misery, and he should be able to get off a precisely aimed shot, from a field carry, in five seconds from a supported position - two and a half seconds from offhand. These are things to work on."

"On the subject of proper bolt work, we should point up the outstanding achievements of Shooting Master Marc Heim of Comano, Switzerland. Marc, as you know, once broke four out of five flying clay birds with his Steyr Scout. What you may not know is on that occasion he recovered from a miss by working the bolt instantaneously and catching the bird before it got away. Now that is good trick!"