Cooper 21 .223

[Augie]

Really hate the new private sale background check law, met a buyer at Atlantic Guns yesterday to do the sale of one of my shotguns and the new law caused me to walk out of the store with a lot less of the money I got for the shotgun.
As I was waiting for the buyer to do the background check I was looking over the used guns and spied a Cooper in the used racks.Looked it over and it is a pretty nice early Cooper, 2000 is the date on the test target, has been hunted and has some dings and scratches, nice Leupold VX-III 4.5x14 Gold ring scope, wood is optional AAA+, early Coopers seem to have better wood. Barrel is a medium weight barrel, rifle feels quite substantial and I would guess 8 lbs.
Picked it up for a fair price, looking forward to shooting as most Coopers are very accurate rifles. Cooper was sold in January to Nighthawk Custom and is not currently making any rifles as they move production to Arkansas.

 

[AlBeight]

Gorgeous woodwork on that rifle.

 

[Augie]

Gorgeous woodwork on that rifle.

Thank you, if my memory is correct I think that wood was about 1000.00 option at the time. There was a husband and wife team working there at the time, he made the stocks and she did the checkering, they eventually started their own stock business with Coopers backing.

 

[Sampson]

Congrats!! Coopers are excellent shooters with some impressive stock options.
Guy I hunt with has a bunch of them and loves them.

 

[Uncle Duke]

Sooo nice to see something other than injection molded plastic!

Beautiful rifle! And lookie there....a long lost gloss scope to go with it!

Hope it shoots as good as it looks!

 

[joppaj]

I've never heard of Cooper rifles. I hope it serves you well, certainly a beautiful rifle.

 

[54rndball]

Apparently Nighthawk bought the Cooper brand and is going to make rifles with all new machinery and personnel. A dealer told me Cooper was going bankrupt and had really cut back on production the last few years. All the existing machinery and equipment was left in Montana and are starting anew in Arkansas with the designs and plans for the old rifles. So we will have to see what they come up with.

 

[Augie]

Apparently Nighthawk bought the Cooper brand and is going to make rifles with all new machinery and personnel. A dealer told me Cooper was going bankrupt and had really cut back on production the last few years. All the existing machinery and equipment was left in Montana and are starting anew in Arkansas with the designs and plans for the old rifles. So we will have to see what they come up with.

Yup, thats what I found out also. Apparently Nighthawk is bringing a few key employees to Arkansas but other than those will be all new. Nighthawk has experience building high end handguns will have to see how they do with high end rifles.

 

[dontpanic]

That is such beautiful wood!

 

[ToBeFree]

My $ says it's a tack driver.

a true work of craftsmanship.

 

[Augie]

My $ says it's a tack driver.

a true work of craftsmanship.

I'm hoping, if I'm remembering right years ago they left the factory with a half MOA guarantee, the factory test target for this rifle is a 3 shot single hole target but that was 47 yards or so indoors, hope to wring it out later this week.
I have a 22 RF Cooper that I bought several years ago and managed a one hole 5 shot 50 yard group with it second trip to the range, hoping for the same level of accuracy from the new to me one.

 

[calicojack]

Very nice. What caliber?

 

[teratos]

Wow. Gorgeous wood. As others, I’ve never heard of Cooper. Thank you for sharing.

 

[Jimgoespewpew]

I checked a bunch out last time I was in Hancock. Gorgeous guns, and yours is no exception. Congratulations.

Cooper Archives - Hendershot’s Sporting Goods, Inc.

hendershots.net

 

[AlBeight]

Didn’t the guys at “Best of the West” long range hunting (now Gunwerks I think) partner with Cooper at one point years ago?

 

[Augie]

Didn’t the guys at “Best of the West” long range hunting (now Gunwerks I think) partner with Cooper at one point years ago?

Yes, years ago Cooper made rifle packages for them geared to long range hunting.

Cooper also sponsored an annual one shot challenge where you had one shot at a 150 yards to hit a pencil eraser sized target, no sighters.

Cooper One-Shot Competition

I competed in the 19th annual Cooper Firearms One-Shot competition last month and I wanted to put in...

www.opticstalk.com

 

[Augie]

Very nice. What caliber?

Thanks, it's .223 so easy to load for, Cooper did chamber their rifles in a lot of wildcats.

 

[Brent]

I’ve always loved Cooper Rifles. That looks like a sweet example. Enjoy that! Curious to see what Nighthawk does with the brand. They have a level of excellence they expect. Good things could (should!) happen.


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[Augie]

Finally got the Cooper out to the range today and it did not disappoint, all 5 shot groups were under an inch with the best being under 1/2". Should do real good with some load development.

Best 5 shot 100 yard group of the morning.

 

[calicojack]

Nice!