American Handgunner May/June 1977

Stand with toe touching the 2x4. . . Run forward, pick up can . . .tition tied in with the combining of certainmovements so that the course of fire isbeing handled with complete confidenceon the part of the student without his realizinghow far he has come in such a shorttime.Obviously, some people take longer tograsp specific details than others. Cooperworks constantly with individuals whoneed help. When the student needs help,he gets it, so that he can continue advancingthrough the courses of fire.Every now and then Cooper will call aCome around a corner and "oops". . . this gentleman can appear ordisappear, and there is anothertarget immedia' y behind him.break and lay down certain instructions,one of which is that a bolstered handgun isSAFE! No one walks around anywherecarrying a handgun in his hand. The handgunis in the holster. Further, every handgunis loaded, and the spare clips are keptloaded. Anyone caught with a slide backand empty magazine buys the beer. Twiceand it's a bottle of whiskey. Men are repeatedlyreloading, checking magazinesand learn that it is better to fire two orthree shots and dump the magazine andreload than to be caught with an emptyhandgun.As fast as the students grasp the newproblem they go on to more difficult problems.Cooper believes in problems as wellas demonstrations and repetition. Finallyalong around the afternoon of the secondday we had moving targets.Jeff set up the moving targets on smalltrolleys that move left to right, right to leftfrom any point on the firing line. Power isgenerated by a portable gasoline generatorand the target movement is controlledby a highly sophisticated control panelthat can make the targets start, stop,change direction or move slow or fast. Tofurther complicate the situation for students,there are two of these small trolleysthat can move in opposite directions atthe same time. One course of fire requiresthe student to face the targets. As soon ashe sees, out of the corner of his eye, thatthe target has started, he draws and turns,fires one shot on each of the steel discs onthe north side of the Square, dumps hismagazine, slams in a new one and thenplaces a single shot in the middle of themoving target that is usually nearly out ofsight by this time. There are unlimitedvariations on this theme.Breaks are frequent so that the pressuredoes not build up too rapidly or for toolong. On the east end of the south wall,Jeff built a covered room that permits thestudents to leave jackets, extra ammunition,cleaning gear and similar items onshelves that run around the entire areaand also down the middle. This brings themen in out of the sun and is ideal for ashort talk or discussion of some importantdetail.The change of pace is excellent psychologyon Jeffs part. After a particular gruelingsession of reloading, moving targets,turns, etc., Jeff will lecture about firingwith one hand, especially the weak hand,and how to reload and how to fire fromthe kneeling or prone position. Most ofthe firing is done from less than 15 yards.Up to this point we may consider the firingas a preliminary exercise-a trainingprogram so to speak-to prepare the studentfor the practical application of allthat he has learned so far. Obviously, it isimpossible in such a short evaluation ofthe school to dwell on all of the detailsthat go into preparing the student for whatis yet to come. Bear in mind that not allthe students will pass through all the variousfiring courses discussed or shown.Some may merely wish a very basiccourse. In any event, those who do continueon through the whole series ofcourses of fire are then theoretically preparedfor the Fun House. They will haveproven that they could master the fundamentalsof true defensive shooting. Noneof the preceding courses of fire are "seekout and destroy." They are strictly defensiveto teach the student how best to protecthimself from attack by others.The Fun House lies in a shallow excavationabout 100 feet square with the eastand south walls butting one another on thesoutheast corner. The north side of theconcrete wall extends a short distance butAMERICAN HANDGUNNER MAY/JUNE 1977