[Mad Magyar]

It’s been a decade since the death of Col. Rex Applegate. I think many are not aware of his immense contribution to the firearms industry and to shooters…There is no doubt that a young Marine named Jeff Cooper was taught by the manual of combat training by Applegate. For decades, “Kill or Get Killed” was used by many combat forces throughout the world, including the U.S.
He was a strong and outspoken proponent of shoulder-point handgun shooting, which he felt was the quickest and best way to train inexperienced personnel self-defense shooting.
When I think of CQC, Rex Applegate comes to my mind. He was a Giant and may his memory live on….

[DWARREN123]

Not just firearms but also for the knife and police work in many different areas, especially Hong Kong I believe. He also taught much about hand to hand and armed (non-firearm) fighting techniqes.
From what I have found out about him, he put forward many types of self defense training.

[Old Fuff]

Once upon a time.... very long ago.... :)

A young Army Lt. named Applegate bought a book written by a man named McGivern. Applegate had gone through a ROTC program at (I believe) Washington State, and done so well that he'd been commissioned, along with a relatively few others, into the Regular Army, and not the Reserves.

McGivern on the other hand was an exhibition shooter who could shoot 5 shots out of a .38 revolver in a fraction of one second, and cover the group with an outline of his hand, or toss a coin-sized target up into the air and hit it, doing all of this in the double-action mode.

Applegate was still enough of a student to make marginal notes (in red ink yet) expressing his thoughts about McGivern’s text. It makes interesting reading.

I was lucky enough to meet Applegate, and still remember the conversations we had. He had no use for Jeff Cooper’s “New Technique” methods, preferring those he had learned from William Fairbairn. Cooper however (who I also knew) was no wimp at defending his ground.

The point of all of this is that all of these man, and others, have made substantial contributions to the greater body of knowledge – even when they disagreed. Much of this has been left to us in writing, and it is incumbent on those who are wise to seek it out with an open mind.

[Mongrel]

Great men of the faith-both of them, no matter how much they may have disagreed!

I am always saddened at the loss of such men and what they represent to us. Not so much for what they taught or endorsed, but for their integrity and the guts to LIVE as men in an increasingly emasculated society and culture.

I'm no John Wayne\Rambo wannabe but I fear that we are having true and honorable manhood bred right out of our genes in America and it's only a matter of time before all the Great Men are dead and their books turned into newsprint...

Thanks for the reminder...

[theotherwaldo]

Two men that I wanted to meet but never had the chance.

Oddly enough, Jeff Cooper was almost a neighbor. Dad was half-way through negotiations to buy a couple of defunct businesses in Big Bear, California, back in the mid-1950s, but backed out (as usual).
One of them was reportedly adjacent to Mr. Cooper's property.

Ah, well.

[daveit]

I carry one of these often. A tribute to the man!

http://images.gerbertools.com/Lg/2146_1/22-01608_Gerber_Applegate-Fairbairn_Combat_Folder_Double_Bevel_Green.jpg

[Maia007]

Here here.

Col. Applegate's book (as do Col. Cooper's and Maj. Fairbairn's) resides in an honored place in my library. I too was privileged to meet him briefly in Seattle about twenty years back. Very much the gentleman.

While perhaps some of his methods seem antiquated by today's standards.....but that is what science is all about......continually surpassing itself while honoring and standing upon the shoulders of the pioneers.

[Dienekes]

Spent an afternoon at his house years back. I was doing firearms training at the time, and not being too far from him I asked if could come visit him. He said yes, and I did. Quite the gentleman.

I got my first copy of "Kill" while still in college. I was majoring in law enforcement and expected to get drafted right after graduation anyway (I was). Some years later when I was doing raids I reread that chapter in the book. He knew his stuff. Opinions can differ, but there is no doubt he was a major player in some circles.

Ran into him off and on at gun shows for a while. At one of those, my wife found a knife she liked, and casually asked him if it was a good knife. He looked at her and innocently asked her what she planned to do with it...After we walked away I told her that he was probably the premier authority in the country, if not the world, on killing people with knives. :rolleyes:

Quite the guy.