For those who might be interested: I was just rereading a book titled “Handguns Afield,” by Jeff Cooper published in 1961. It is about “outdoors-mans handguns, a subject that most of us are at least somewhat familiar. Handguns for hunting, predator defense, etc.In the forward I read that Jeff considered 40 to be the ideal handgun caliber. Jeff noted that John Wesley Harden, probably the deadliest gun fighter of the late 1800s preferred a .40 revolver. The forward was written by Thell Reed. I met and shot with Thell Reed while training with Ray Chapman in the early 70’s. I knew that Thell had a long friendship with Jeff and did not doubt his comment.
Yet, I was surprised for a moment as Jeff was a devoted .45 ACP shooter most of his life. After brief reflection my surprise faded. Jeff was one of the people who conceived the .40 G&A which eventually became the .40 S&W. He did this years before the .40 S&W came to be and I remember reading about this wildcat caliber in Guns and Ammo magazine back in the Dinosaur days. Later I had the opportunity to shoot a prototype .40 G&A with Jeff. On this occasion I was visiting the Coopers at their home in Big Bear before they moved to AZ. I was too young and uneducated to have any idea how significant these guns were and this information was.
Jeff was also one of the designers of the 10 mm along with Dixon and Dornas, the creators of the Bren Ten which was the first modern 10 mm pistol. Jeff also got Colt to bring out the 1911 in 10 mm when the Bren Ten Company went defunct. Thus the 10 mm was saved from extinction.
When the FBI decided that the 10 mm had too much recoil and the guns were too big and heavy for agents, Smith and Wesson dusted off Jeff’s (and Whit Collins).40 G&A project and created the .40 S&W. Jeff liked the .40 S&W but preferred to see it loaded with a 200 grain bullet at 1,000 FPS rather than the common 180 grain bullet at 975. Note that the Double Tap, and Underwood 200 grain .40 S&W loads clock at just over 1,000 FPS approximating Jeff’s preference.
What Jeff liked about the .40 cartridge, was the fact that a standard size pistol could accommodate a double column magazine with .40 caliber cartridges. However, when chambered in .45 ACP one had to go with a single column magazine or a very wide grip frame to accommodate the wider double column magazine. Jeff explained this too me in the 70’s when I asked him why all the interest in .40 caliber. Contrary to popular opinion Jeff did prefer more cartridges in a pistol and he liked the Browning P- 35 except for the caliber (9 mm). Note: Prior to modern hollow point ammunition the 9 mm had a poor record of performance in fights.
In or about 1976 as I recall, John Helms and I were conversing after dinner with Jeff Cooper and Chuck Taylor in Chucks mobile home on the Gunsite Ranch when Jeff showed us a CZ pistol. Jeff indicated that the Bren Ten, 10 mm would be based somewhat on this design. Jeff liked the ergonomics of the CZ.
When Elmer Keith invented the .41 Magnum revolver caliber in 1964 one wonders if this further influenced Jeff to favor .40 caliber. One agency in Texas was achieving good results in field shootings with the .41 Magnum Police Load. Jeff had a S&W Model 58 4 inch .41 Magnum which he showed to me at a match one afternoon. He said that he liked the .41 Magnum very much and told me he considered the 210 grain .41 bullet at about 1,000 FPS (Police Load) to be an ideal LE handgun caliber. Or perhaps Keith saw the work Jeff was doing on .40 caliber pistols which influenced him to create the .41 Magnum which in my opinion is a better cartridge in the N Frame S&W revolver than the .44 Magnum. If the .41 Magnum had been invited before the .44 Magnum it would be much more popular today. It is a great caliber.
Very few people know all of this history and most of those that might know have passed on. I just felt a need to share this with you. Jeff was not just a .45 ACP devotee. He was not just the father of modern weapon craft. He was not just the strongest proponent of the Weaver Stance. He did more than start the movement to change the side arm into a martial art. Jeff was a pioneer and largely responsible for the .40 S&W and the 10 mm calibers. The .40 S&W provides those who want a more powerful cartridge than the 9 mm, in a medium size pistol, a great option. The .40 was, of course, the cartridge on which the .357 Sig is based. The 10 mm is rapidly becoming one of the most popular outdoors-mans handguns and is in fact, now the most popular woods gun in Alaska outselling all others by a wide margin. Most shooters and Instructors today could not tell you much if anything about Jeff Cooper. They use his inventions and teach techniques that he pioneered as if they own them. Many of these instructors were not yet born when Jeff was changing the firearms industry and advancing firearms training in ways that have helped us and those who follow us more than we might ever know.
Jeff and his contributions deserve to be remembered.
Larry Mudgett
As usual another great article by you. Keep the good info coming always interesting.
Its always an excellent idea to further knowledge that only a few have. Keep up the good work and when you think of more offhand conversations of 45 years ago, write them down. I appreciate it. Good article. WS Millward
Thanks for this reminder not to forget. Cooper deserves a legitimate book length biography written about him!
Sooner the better!
This is a great article, love my G23 and G22s.
Thanks Larry for your insights and friendship.
Larry Mudgetts excellent article brings light and truth back into an era of obfuscation , illiteracy and bizarre ahistorical revisionist false narratives–with no disrespect to 9 mm -…fact is–.-40- and 10 –308–and 44 mag-now -460 Rowland too- are calibers millions of americans love and swear by–thank you Larry–this article expose–commentary was an unexpected pure delight–the diametric opposite of in the Dr.Strangelove mindset of the White House.
Great information Larry, Thank you. David check out ‘The Soul and the Spirit’ by Jeff’s daughter Lindy. I believe it’s available on the Gunsite Proshop website
When I met Cooper we had an interesting conversation about plastic pistols and he basically said something to the effect of “all I ever said was you need sights you can see and a trigger you can press.”
That cleared up a lot of confusion for me.
Thanks for sharing this!
I was fortunate enough to have spent some time with Jeff in his armory a couple of times, heard hours of stories from him, and I had no idea about any of this.
I was also fortunate enough to have had my first handgun exposure from no one other than yourself, when I moved from New York to California, and spent a couple of hours at Pony Express with you sometime around late 1991. I’m sure you don’t remember that, but I sure do.
10 years later, I again had the privilege of your instruction in my Gunsite 350 class. I’ve done the Gunsite 250, 350, and won the 499 class shootoff, became a certified NRA personal protection and pistol instructor, but I’ve been nothing but a student ever since.
I am planning to take your basic course, because everyone needs to revisit the basics from time to time, and I want to take this opportunity to thank you for all your service to our community of shooters.
Good article, I’ll have to dust off my copy of Handguns Afield. I believe I have every book LTC. Cooper published to include Yukon Journal published by his daughter posthumously sourced from her dad’s unpublished manuscript. It was reading LTC. Cooper’s hunting adventures in Gunsite Gossip, C Stories Shotluck etc. that was my inspiration for pursuing Syncerus caffer on my first African sojourn. Having failed on my first attempt it became a very expensive obsession until I succeeded on my second trip.
I agree someone should write an exhaustive bio of LTC. Cooper, there does exist a very good biography written by his daughter Lindy Cooper Wisdom titled, Jeff Cooper, The Soul and The Spirit, My Father’s Story, a very good read. Whenever I see anything written with Jeff Coopers name in the title it will surely draw my attention. Keep up the good work.
Agreed!
People NEED to know who Jeff Cooper was.
And Larry Mudgett too for that matter.
I bring up both names in virtually every class I teach. Standing on the shoulders of giants….
Hi Larry, You forgot to mention the .40 action express, Which was also before the .40 S&W. And you could get conversions for 9mm. handguns, The CZ 75 was one of the first to be converted. And the F.B.I. did not adopt the 10mm
because of the influx of women into the ranks who could not handle the recoil. (not the guys).
Thanks.
Great article, thank you for passing on this knowledge.
I love the .40 and prefer it often over either 9mm or .45. I do not find the recoil of even robust .40 loads bothersome at all. It just “feels” right.
Thank you for this historical lesson. As the years pass we need to document the history of these pioneers in the industry. Enjoy the stories. Speaking of history, i remember you from many many years ago when i was a young recruit at elysian park.
So glad you wrote this! My Dad put me on to Jeff Cooper was back in the 70’s and I got a good primer on the Old Masters of gunfighting by way of his writings. Bill Jordan, Elmer Keith, Jack Weaver, Thell Reed…names that oughta be carved in stone for those who seriously want to understand how we got here and on whose shoulders we stand.
I feel a bit of connection to your story when you said “One agency in Texas was achieving good results in field shootings with the .41 Magnum Police Load”, as my father worked for the Amarillo Police Dept. for about five years before spending the next 33 with the Texas Highway Patrol. In his time with Amarillo PD, he carried a S&W m58, but it wasn’t in the aforementioned police load. They got stuck with the moose killing 210 gr. load that ran (I think) about 1500 fps. If I remember correctly, San Antonio PD and San Francisco were two of the only other few notable agencies that issued it.
I love these historical piece, would love to read more!