ayoob files: dueling rifles - Jeffersonian's Home Page

Left: Written in Old english, this quote, which dates from AD 991, translates as: “Will shall be the sterner, heart the bolder, spirit the greater, as our
strength lessens.” Or, in cooper’s apt paraphrase, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” Right: cooper was nothing if not well read.
A student of history — he held a Master’s in history — his library is well-stocked with volumes on military history.
“Notes on Tactical Residential Architecture,” contained in
To Ride, Shoot Straight, and Speak the Truth, are revealing),
one of the most distinctive architectural elements of the
Sconce is its use of bastions. These are fortified corners of
the house, with the sides of the house slightly set in, similar
to a tray ceiling, so that almost the entire outside of the
house is visible through the narrow, arrow-loop-like windows
in the bastions. Defensible, indeed: when you knock
at the front door, you’re being covered from the rear by a
window in the kitchen.
The main floor contains sleeping quarters, as Cooper suggested,
separated from the rest of the house by a lockable
iron grate — as well as the open living room, dining room
and kitchen. A massive central fireplace dominates the main
wall and the stern visage of a mounted kudu looks down over
the broad mantel. The mantal is carved with the Old English
words “Hige sceal pe heardre, hoerte pe cenre, mod sceal pe
mare, pe ure maegen lytlab,” which Cooper so aptly translated
as “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.”
A Roman gladius hangs on one side of the stone fireplace; a
fencing saber on the other.
A spiral staircase in the living room leads up to the
crow’s nest Cooper used as an office, and down to the
library and gun room below. The floor-to-ceiling shelves
are packed with neat rows of books — all sorts of
books, from military history to leather-bound copies of
Hemingway that gleam in the afternoon light coming in
through the grated windows.
Entering the gun room is almost solemn; through the
massive bank vault door, into the room, stepping carefully
around the lion skin on the floor, to the bench running around
two sides of the room. The walls contain the guns we’ve all
seen in his writing: his Bren Ten and Scout Rifle, along with
“Baby,” the .460 with which he doubled on Cape Buffalo
on his 67th birthday. Several sabers lean in a corner near his
1911s, along with that rarest of the matador’s trophies, the
tail of a fighting bull. The walls are covered with photos and
posters, some foreign — such as the period map of the Soviet
Union — and other mementos gathered during a life devoted
to guncraft.
I can never say I knew Cooper — a fleeting handshake
at the SHOT Show barely counts as having met him — but
wandering through his house, surrounded by those things that
shaped the man who shaped our field, one begins to
understand him better. Understand — and appreciate.
*
Special thanks to Janelle Cooper, Buz Mills, Jane Anne
Shimizu and Lindy Cooper Wisdom. For those interested
in learning more about Cooper, his books, and his biography,
written by daughter Lindy Wisdom, are available
from Wisdom Publishing, as well as the biographical DVD
entitled Jeff Cooper: A Man in Full which serves as a good
introduction to this most fascinating man. For more info:
www.americanhandgunner.com/product-index
Left: cooper’s interest in firearms was wide and varied, but he is best remembered for his passionate advocacy for the colt 1911 .45: “if you
want to win — in a hard fought match or on the street — this is the gun you will carry.” Right: the crow’s nest, reached by a spiral staircase
in the living room, served as cooper’s office. With windows on all four sides, it has a commanding view of the area.
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