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Just to expand on that...
Cooper wrote a chapter in "To ride..." about general purpose rifles and semiauto. He was responding to the notion that an EBR was a necessary purchase for the average joe.
Some cut-n-paste from the book:
( Which is a great read and highly recommended!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IO01ZDO/ )
Of course the question comes up: "are you really going to grab your bolt gun when you hear a noise downstairs at 3AM?"
Well, you have a 1911 close by, right?
-- Michael
Cooper wrote a chapter in "To ride..." about general purpose rifles and semiauto. He was responding to the notion that an EBR was a necessary purchase for the average joe.
Some cut-n-paste from the book:
( Which is a great read and highly recommended!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IO01ZDO/ )
We have been more than a bit perplexed in the conduct of our rifle instruction by the widespread notion that only a twenty-shot semi-automatic rifle has any general utility in today's scene. People have suggested that they would be interested in learning to shoot but they cannot afford a semi-automatic battle rifle in order to have something with which to work. There are indeed some good points about the semi-autos, but they are by no means the only answer to the rifle problem.
<snip a bunch of paragraphs>
In studying the circumstances under which an individual owner might be called upon to use a rifle in defense of his life and property, one is drawn to the conclusion that a battle scene is almost certainly not going to be involved. A solitary rifleman, or a small group operating individually from cover, can do enormously effective work - but rarely with more than two shots from the same firing position. It thus becomes a question as to whether rapid repeat shots delivered from a large capacity magazine are of any real value. More important might be a beautifully crisp trigger and very accurate shooting. Anyone familiar with irregular combat can tell you that when one is fired upon from long distance, without warning, it is extremely difficult to tell whence the shot came. The "bolt from the blue" is followed by a moment of bewildered silence, during which time the recipients adjust themselves to the fact that someone has just decked one of them. This will nearly always give the rifleman a chance for a second shot, even if his rifle is a single-loader, but the third shot is definitely going to pin him down. At that point his adversaries (who can be expected to outnumber him) will either flee or get after him. If they flee he has won his point. If they get after him he will be faced with the problem of changing his position so that they will be attacking into thin air.
What I am driving at is that in nearly all individual situations the rifleman is going to need range, power, control, and ease of movement more than volume of fire. There are exceptions of course, but before we dismiss the precision rifle in favor of the Sturmgewehr we should know why we are doing so. I certainly will not fault a man who has considered every angle and decided that he can only be happy with a SIG 510, but I am suspicious of those who reach this conclusion without having examined the matter in depth.
<snip a bunch of discussion>
The more I ponder this matter the more I am led to believe that a man alone, fighting for his survival, is probably better armed with a good, strong, modern sporter than he is with any form of battle rifle.
<snip many paragraphs, coming to conclusion>
The point is this: Do not feel that you are not with it because you do not own a Sturmgewehr. As in all forms of conflict success is much more a matter of the man than of his gear. Success in riflecraft is a matter of good shooting, and -generally speaking - good shooting is more easily conducted with a good grade sporter than it is with a military rifle. It is important to note also that good quality sporters can be bought today - complete - for something like one-third the cost of even an inferior battle rifle. Just think of all the ammunition you can buy with the money you did not spend on the semi-auto! And practice, they say, makes perfect.
<snip a bunch of paragraphs>
In studying the circumstances under which an individual owner might be called upon to use a rifle in defense of his life and property, one is drawn to the conclusion that a battle scene is almost certainly not going to be involved. A solitary rifleman, or a small group operating individually from cover, can do enormously effective work - but rarely with more than two shots from the same firing position. It thus becomes a question as to whether rapid repeat shots delivered from a large capacity magazine are of any real value. More important might be a beautifully crisp trigger and very accurate shooting. Anyone familiar with irregular combat can tell you that when one is fired upon from long distance, without warning, it is extremely difficult to tell whence the shot came. The "bolt from the blue" is followed by a moment of bewildered silence, during which time the recipients adjust themselves to the fact that someone has just decked one of them. This will nearly always give the rifleman a chance for a second shot, even if his rifle is a single-loader, but the third shot is definitely going to pin him down. At that point his adversaries (who can be expected to outnumber him) will either flee or get after him. If they flee he has won his point. If they get after him he will be faced with the problem of changing his position so that they will be attacking into thin air.
What I am driving at is that in nearly all individual situations the rifleman is going to need range, power, control, and ease of movement more than volume of fire. There are exceptions of course, but before we dismiss the precision rifle in favor of the Sturmgewehr we should know why we are doing so. I certainly will not fault a man who has considered every angle and decided that he can only be happy with a SIG 510, but I am suspicious of those who reach this conclusion without having examined the matter in depth.
<snip a bunch of discussion>
The more I ponder this matter the more I am led to believe that a man alone, fighting for his survival, is probably better armed with a good, strong, modern sporter than he is with any form of battle rifle.
<snip many paragraphs, coming to conclusion>
The point is this: Do not feel that you are not with it because you do not own a Sturmgewehr. As in all forms of conflict success is much more a matter of the man than of his gear. Success in riflecraft is a matter of good shooting, and -generally speaking - good shooting is more easily conducted with a good grade sporter than it is with a military rifle. It is important to note also that good quality sporters can be bought today - complete - for something like one-third the cost of even an inferior battle rifle. Just think of all the ammunition you can buy with the money you did not spend on the semi-auto! And practice, they say, makes perfect.
Of course the question comes up: "are you really going to grab your bolt gun when you hear a noise downstairs at 3AM?"
Well, you have a 1911 close by, right?
-- Michael
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