Well it looks as if Dan Coopers views just cost him a job.

The employees,shareholders and board of directors of Cooper Firearms of Montana do not share the personal political views of Dan Cooper.

Although we all believe everyone has a right to vote and donate as they see fit, it has become apparent that the fallout may affect more than just Mr. Cooper.  It may also affect the employees and the shareholders of Cooper Firearms.

The board of directors has asked Mr. Cooper to resign as President of Cooper Firearms of Montana, Inc.

Daily operations will continue with the competent staff currently in place in Stevensville, MT producing the finest, most accurate rifles money can buy.

Dan Cooper has spentall of his working life producing the highest quality rifles built here in the USA.  He started with nothing but the American Dream and built that into firearms company anyone would be proud of.  We firmly believe Dan stands by the2^nd amendment.

We wish him all of the best in his future pursuits.

In response to the recent article highlighting Dan Cooper’s personal political donations, the board of directors,shareholders and employees of Cooper Firearms of Montana, Inc would like to issue the following statement.

Cooper said he voted for George W. Bush in 2000, having voted in past elections for every Republican presidential nominee back to Richard Nixon. In October 1992, he presented a specially made rifle to the first President. Bush during a Billings campaign event.

This year, Cooper has given $3,300 to the campaign of Democrat Barack Obama. That’s on top of the $1,000 check he wrote to Obama’s U.S. Senate campaign in 2004, after he was dazzled by Obama’s speech at that year’s Democratic National Convention.

Cooper is a player in one of the little-told dramas of the 2008 presidential campaign: how Obama has been able to out-raise Republican John McCain among swaths of the business community, outperforming previous Democratic presidential nominees in drawing business support.

Cooper changed sides, he said, “probably because of the war. And also because the Republican Party has moved so far right in recent years.”

He also likes Obama’s message about “the retooling of America, which involves the building of middle-class jobs and helping American small business be competitive with those overseas.”

Here is the rest of the story!

I recently received a TC 15 from, Tactics LLC. Tactics is a new company that specializes in custom AR 15′s. The TC 15 is a idea that I have had rolling in the back of my mind for a long time. It stands for Tacticle Coyote. It is a accurized AR 15 set up with the predator hunter in mind. The one I received is a prototype that I am going to go through at the range and during filming this season.

First impressions,
It felt pretty light weight for what you get. The finish is second to none, The one i have is done up in a Coyote brown coating. It has a stainless 18″ mid length barrel that has been bead blasted, target crowned, in a H-bar profile and flutted. The upper and lower receivers are a tight fit and of top quality. The lower receiver has a Timney trigger nestled in side, and set in the neighbor hood of 3 pounds. On the rear it sports a collapsible Mag pul CTR stock also in Coyote brown, A great light weight stock that to me just seems to fit as good as anything out there.

After a quick cleaning i needed to adorn her with some glass. I chose to put a US Optics SN-3 for load development, which is a 1.8 – 10 power scope. Then after finding the right load I would install something a little lighter and with less power. This rifle is to be this seasons calling rig, so it needs to be accurate with my coyote loads, light and nimble.

So I loaded up the truck and went to Usery, Usery range that is. I had loaded 2 different loads and brought some of my hunting loads also. I was going to be trying a new powder that i have had no experience with. After a quick sight in, I was ready to get started. I new it wasn’t going to be the best day for groups, as the wind was gusting pretty good. I settled in for the first group and was pleasantly surprised at the initial accuracy of the rifle and the new powder, especially considering the wind.  I fired a few more groups one with the other load from the new powder and a few from my standard hunting ammo. None of the groups really blew me away, but i consider the wind to be a big part of that. Over all i was very happy with the results from the first trip out, and new it was just going to get better from there. With a start like that i feel very confident that this is going to be a great shooter. Stay tuned for another range report, I am going to try a few other loads and hit the range on a more shooter friendly day. Remember this was the first time this rifle has been shot, once it gets broke in and i find the right load, it will tighten up even more.

Me and a friend of mine got out for a few hours Saturday, to a area i hadn’t been to since last season. On the second stand about 5 minutes we had one sneak in behind us, but Rod put the hammer down on him before he could escape. In order to try and get him on screen I has to twist around and kinda aim the camera. Not sure if i had got anything on film I decided to stop the stand soon after the shot so i could check. As i was rewinding the film to check, I looked up to see another coyote 10 feet from the caller trying to figure what was making that sound. I quickly got the camera back to record and did manage to get the shot on that one on film. We were trying a new sound i have recorded called cottontail Ala cart. It turns out to be a decent producer already. A few stands later found us set up near a hill i had called a fox in last season, but it had checked up out of shotgun range. The caller was only running for minute or two before i caught movement on the hill we were facing, right away i new it was a fox. It ended up checking up around 300 yard, So i decided to give the new sound another try. As soon as i flicked the switch It hit mach 5 on a beeline to the caller, It had covered 300 yards in just a few seconds, Stopping three feet from the caller. I got the camera zoomed and gave the shooter the green light. I didn’t remember to get and pictures of the fox, and it got a little warm soon after so we made our way back to town. If you want to give that sound a try on your caller, I have it loaded up in the audio section for download. Just let me know how it works for you.

Well i guess customer service isn’t totally lost. I new RCBS was a good company with great products, but with the way many other company’s are treating there customers it was a refreshing change of pace the way they took care of me. The other night i was trimming some brass with my trimpro trimmer and foolishly stripped the allen head that locks the length guide. Normally i would just try and find a replacement part somewhere online, but for some reason i thought send RCBS a email and see what they have to say. I shot one over to them and had a response the next morning, I didn’t ask them anything about a warranty, i just stated that i had striped the Allen head and that i needed another. Well there reply back to me was, they had already had one on its way. It is nice to know there are still companies willing to stand behind there products and not have to make $ on every little problem that comes up.

Well the annual Huntmastes camp out has just wrapped up and like in years past i had a great time. I belive there was a great time had by all, even know the weather and coyotes didnt fully coaperate. There were two days the wind never really let up making for a hard time calling and a dusty time BSing. My camp out started on Tuesday afternoon as I picked up Kelly Jackson from the airport and we headed out for a little calling in the southern part of AZ. After getting Kelly a lic. and getting a few nessesities we headed out for some calling. Fist evening found us in a new area that looked promissing on paper but didnt produce as expected “Still a little warm down in the valley”. Next day had us setting up in a spot that i had called a pair of virgin eared coyotes the season  before. After 4-5 minutes of calling I spotted a coyote looking over the situation, I let kelly know we had one and then hit a coaxer sound which brought her in hard and fast. Kelly put this one down with his shotgun shooting dead coyote loads within spitting distance of the caller.

On our way to another stand i spotted a coyote 50 yards off the road. So we pulled over and made out way out to try and call that coyote in. t looked like tight cover from where we parked so i opted to carry a shotgun instaed of the camera ” mistake”. Kelly was mouth calling and before he could finish his first set i heard him stop and start lip squeeking, so i looked over to see a nice looking bobcat coming on a string straight to Kelly. He tipped the cat over @ 20 steps with his shotgun still shooting dead coyote.

After a few dry stands it started getting hot so we headed to a area in a little higher elevation that i had some sucsess in last season. We set up in the same slope i had called in a cat last year and called for a good 10 minutes before i switched to some grey fox distress, I spoted a fox coming hard after another minute or two of calling. I let Kelly know we had one comming and he got set, we let the fox get right up to the caller before droping the hammer on him agian shot with dead coyote loads. I was having a hard time keeping the fox in frame as i was filming but still manages to get some decent footage.

We made a few more stands and decided to head up to the camp out and get out of the heat. Next morning had us set up looking over a nice looking valley. We had been calling for a few minutes when i heard some coyotes barking at us across the valley, so i did a few pup howls and that got them fired up enoght to comit to the call. We had called in 4 coyotes but only one was serious, I managed to get him called to around 175 yards and Kelly let him have it with his .223 shooting some 60 grain V-maxes i had loaded up. He droped like a rock and had no damage.

We called one other coyote that morning but it got lucky and escaped unscathed. By then the wind had started picking up so we headed back to the camp out. After some BSing we headed back out for a evening hunt. I decided to carry my new rifle for a few stands and get it broke in. Well I did call a coyote up but put a hasty shot on it and Kelly had to give  me a little back up on the kill, but we got it done. I didnt get and pictures of that one. We called a few more coyote up in the following days but never got to seal the deal on any of them. The wind was blowing pretty good most of the time and it seemed like the coyotes had played that game a few times in the past. We still had a great time seeing old friends and making a few new ones.
Cant wait until next year!

I called and filmed this coyote on a hunt with a good friend Paul Melching. I should have a lot more coming when next season starts. 
Let me know what you think.

Well Paul and I snuck out for a few stands yesterday with the new Benelli. the morning started off a little slow but it still turned out to be a good day.
We set up in the beginning of a nice looking canyon that screamed kitty, not more then 2 mins in she came charging down a game trail, the benelli barked and that was the end of that stand.

The next stand we set up a 3/4 of a mile down the same canyon. This fox came in so hard he ran right buy the caller but the benelli rolled him right back to about 1′ from it.
We only called in one coyote and he hung up around 250 yards. he got a pass for Christmas

got out till 11:00 today, to a spot i haven’t been to since last year. called in 7 coyotes and a fox. on my second stand i had the caller set up to my left and i was watching a opening in front off me, sure enough a coyote comes on a run about 1min into it and checks up at about 100 yards, i couldn’t figure out why until i looked over @ my caller and had another trying to steal it, well i let both of them get away but kept calling, then i hear some thing running to my left it was another coyote trying to steal the caller, i busted him.
on my third stand i called 4 coyotes but 2 of them were in a hurry to get dead, the lead coyote runs to about 10 yards of the caller and doesn’t know what to think, he stops but the other one wanted it, so the he got his hackles up and started posturing @ the other, i shot him and the other one thought it was his until i shot him. they were 5′ from each other.
wish i had more time

I went out to check my trail camera today, archery deer is coming quick. Had time for one quick stand, he came in to my secret weapon sound and some howls, not the brightest star in the sky. this season i picked up a bunch of new sounds and there are a few that have really been bringing them in.
here he is.