Modern Technique of The Pistol - Components - Semi-automatic Pistol in A Large Caliber

Semi-automatic Pistol in A Large Caliber

The Modern Technique may be used with any handgun, but the .45 ACP caliber Colt M1911 semi-automatic pistol is universally associated with Jeff Cooper and the Modern Technique.

Jeff Cooper specified the use of a large caliber semi-automatic pistol as a component of the Modern Technique. He chose a large caliber because experience demonstrated that the largest quantity of force, and therefore damage, should be inflicted to maximize the chances of stopping even the most motivated and physically tough assailant.

The choice of magazine-fed semi-automatic handgun was because this firearm enabled continuous fire by allowing fresh magazines to be inserted quickly by the shooter. Most revolvers require the shooter to reload it by placing individual cartridges into the chambers of the cylinder, which is a slower process than the replacement of a magazine in a semi-automatic pistol. Furthermore, reloading a revolver in the dark is very difficult, while reloading a semi-automatic pistol is relatively easy. During World War II (prior to developing the Modern Technique), after taking advice from a distinguished authority on gun fighting, Charles Askins, Jeff Cooper took a Colt Single Action Army revolver into combat in the Pacific theater and subsequently remarked that this advice nearly got him killed.

Bullet wounds vary in how much they incapacitate an assailant. The greater the injury inflicted, the greater the chance of killing one's assailant or wounding him so badly he is no longer able to fight. According to Cooper, larger caliber bullets, being bullets of greater diameter, are more likely to inflict wounds that bleed severely and incapacitate the assailant in a shorter period of time. Jeff Cooper's studies of reports from gun fights pointed to the greater effectiveness of larger diameter bullets in killing or incapacitating an assailant.

The pistol is a small firearm and because of this it is impractical to launch a large bullet because the recoil generated would make it difficult for the shooter to control the pistol's violent kick on firing. It is not practical to launch a bullet with a diameter greater than .45 or .50 of an inch from a pistol because of the weight of the bullet and the subsequent recoil of the pistol. Hence Jeff Cooper's preference for a pistol launching a bullet of .45 diameter, or in the case of a shooter of such slight stature that they are unable to use a .45 caliber pistol, the use of a pistol firing a bullet of as large a diameter as is practical for the shooter to control.

The ability of different types and sizes of bullet to damage and incapacitate human beings and other creatures is called stopping power. Stopping power is a controversial subject because of the absence of data from controlled experiments and therefore a lack of scientific data that would demonstrate the superiority of one particular type of cartridge over another.