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Lion’s
Lair
Jeremy D. Clough
Inside Col. Jeff
Cooper’s Sconce
I
t’s difficult to overstate the significance
of Col. Jeff Cooper’s contribution to the
handgun field. From creating the Leatherslap,
the first practical shooting match, to the
development of the Modern Technique of
the Pistol, and later the founding of Gunsite Academy,
up until his death in 2006, Col. Cooper was one of
the paladins of the field, and his shadow stretches far
across the landscape of the pistolero. A man of eclectic
tastes, who prided himself as a great appreciator of
things, there is one place where Cooper’s disparate
interests can best be seen — in his home, the Sconce.
Defined as — among other things — a “fortified
defense,” or a defensive work built to defend a particular
point, the house Cooper designed and built
stands at Gunsite, where it commands the entrance
into the shooting school. Maintained as something of
a museum, the Sconce is still inhabited by his wife, the
Jeff and Janelle cooper on the terrace of the elegant Janelle Cooper, who, along with their youngest
Sconce. Designed by the late col. Jeff cooper, daughter, Lindy Wisdom, was kind enough to take me
his home stands near the entrance to Gunsite on a tour during a recent trip.
Academy, where it remains as a memorial to the
The Sconce
founder of the Modern technique of the pistol.
Photo courtesy Mrs. Janelle Cooper. Designed to be imminently defensible (Cooper’s
The
56 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM • MARCH/APRIL 2013