Excellent thread!
I would like to add a couple of thoughts.
South Africa.
To understand Cooper's thinking, one should understand the South Africans and their shooting ability which he so admired. Having read everything he ever wrote (maybe, who knows?) and also, reading everything that he said a young man should read. I cannot separate the man from his time and from his influences. Back in the 1900's, he was the authority, or so I thought. Today, men we look to as the authority, were his disciples. There are so many things he said that are now obsolete, but the underlying principles will NEVER go obsolete! He spent time in the RSA and the men he admired had themselves, or their fathers had, served as light calvary/mounted infantry, and they won battles against the most powerful army on earth with aimed riflery.
Skill
I can shoot very fast with a bolt action, but it took forever to learn how to do it. There is a trick to it. I can also shoot a scope with both eyes open, and that took a long time to learn. There is a trick to that too. I never bothered to get a rifle with stripper clips, but I still think about it. That too is a skill which requires a lot of practice to do quickly. A top fed, bolt action rifle is all about shooting a high-power cartridge from the prone position, or from a trench. A scout rifle is supposed to do that AND everything else you can do with a rifle.
A box fed magazine cannot be inserted into a rifle when lying prone on the ground, unless you roll on your side, which takes practice to do quickly. Remember you must keep the mud out of the action, which with practice you can learn to do. From prone your lever action will be as fast or faster than me, again if you are lying on your side, which you can do with practice. Your scope should still be on target after you have dropped your rifle on the rocks, or after you have fallen down on the rocks holding it. Those Boers could lay down a volume of accurate fire and then mount up with the rifle slung on their backs, gallop for ten miles, dismount and do it all again.
Cooper never thought that the scope was the important thing. He thought that knowing how the round drops and drifts was what mattered, and especially the target animal's anatomy.
You have the physical fitness to do the job.
You know your enemy/animal and your target on it.
You know the terrain and movements, yours and your enemies'.
You have weapons skill as stated above.
You have a weapon that works within that skills set, even when things go terribly wrong.
What part of this ever goes obsolete?
Cooper said, "If you can't hold it for 60 seconds, (at arms length,) your rifle is too heavy." Or you are too weak! Cooper was very opinionated true, but he never ever once said that some fat, slow, weakling with no skill, needed a forward mounted scope on his rifle!
Please correct me, anyone, with my thanks. I say things in hope of correction and education.
Best regards!
BrianD
