Jeff Cooper

"I used to assume that most practical rifle shooting was done from the sitting position, properly looped up. I am not sure of that now. I do agree that sitting is very useful, but over the last couple of decades I have discovered personally that I have shot more from a rest and from off-hand than from sitting. This, of course, depends upon the terrain in which hunting is conducted. If you are hunting in open mountains or prairie, you will probably use the same position more frequently than in the low veldt or in deer forest. In both the low veldt and most deer shooting you will use off-hand a great deal more and, of course, off-hand is the most challenging firing position. It takes more study and calls for more skill to bring off correctly. It should be noted that the shooting sling is of no use in unsupported positions. It only helps you when you have something to rest your elbow on. So the shooting sling is particularly useful in braced sitting and, if you must use it, in the kneeling position."

Time was when Jeff Cooper would excoriate rest-shooters on a daily basis, but a tight loop sling is a genuine pain to use and it's not a wonder that he's finally given in to the rest. The bottom line remains the fact that learning to sling-shoot means you'll never really NEED a rest of any kind, but slings are just so very un-tactical, and without anything resembling a coolness-factor.

"It is curious to observe the clumsy nomenclature used by the press at this time. The terms 9mm, self-loading, semi-automatic and so on seem to confuse them. I have not seen "revolver" used now for many years in the public press, though it is often more descriptive than '9mm.'"

You need to get out more, Colonel. Just the other day I was reading a newspaper account of a shooting wherein a Glock 17 was described as a service-revolver because the MSM still thinks that service-revolver is just another way of saying handgun. And, the proliferation of the term "9 mm" comes from theatrical presentations of both big screen and small, where heroes and villains don't refer to the make or model of a weapon, but employ the universally-evil 9 mm as a catch-all.

There's more from the Colonel at his website.