Cooper of Arkansas

[KGLee357]

Has anyone had any interaction or experience with Cooper since they have transitioned to Nighthawk ownership? I know they were assembling rifles from new old stock parts, and recently released the Montana Heritage rifle. I love the old Montana Coopers and am hoping that they will continue to produce high quality classic sporting rifles, but don’t have any firsthand knowledge of how things are going since they sold. Does anyone have any insight?

 

[BlackGreyhounds]

I'm curious, too. I have a couple of Cooper of Montana hunting rifles that I absolutely love. It looks like they are now focusing on "fancy" rifles with gorgeous walnut stocks and fancy metal works so far. Perhaps this is their chosen niche. However, I'm glad I got a few more practical, hunting rifles before the sell out.

 

[KGLee357]

That’s a nice pair of rifles! I consider myself fortunate to have a few of the originals as well.

 

[Unclecroc]

I consider myself fortunate to own an original montana cooper. Unfortunately I think nighthawk has priced themselves out if the market. I checked their sight this morning and just a regular Excalibur or Jackson hunter in a synthetic stock is demanding 5k. That is full custom pricing for a semi custom rifle. I’m sure they’re a fine rifle still, but for the money I feel a lot more can be had elsewhere.

 

[KGLee357]

I consider myself fortunate to own an original montana cooper. Unfortunately I think nighthawk has priced themselves out if the market. I checked their sight this morning and just a regular Excalibur or Jackson hunter in a synthetic stock is demanding 5k. That is full custom pricing for a semi custom rifle. I’m sure they’re a fine rifle still, but for the money I feel a lot more can be had elsewhere.
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I saw that and without further information I agree with your assessment. Sad to see….

 

[Hnthrdr]

5k is insane for a cooper…

 

[pacoalcracker]

That is Mark Bansner money and he is one of the best custom builders in the country. I remember not that long ago a Cooper was $1500 brand new from First Stop Guns.

 

[ElGuapo]

That is Mark Bansner money and he is one of the best custom builders in the country. I remember not that long ago a Cooper was $1500 brand new from First Stop Guns.

That’s probably why they went Bankrupt. I have a couple and they are my favorite hunting rifles. I think the new costs are just the reality of Inflation, and selling them at the Volume they can produce them. I will likely end up with another at some point.

 

[Unclecroc]

That is Mark Bansner money and he is one of the best custom builders in the country. I remember not that long ago a Cooper was $1500 brand new from First Stop Guns.

I paid $2300 for mine in 2015 new.

 

[Unclecroc]

That’s probably why they went Bankrupt. I have a couple and they are my favorite hunting rifles. I think the new costs are just the reality of Inflation, and selling them at the Volume they can produce them. I will likely end up with another at some point.

You’re not wrong on inflation but it’s one heck of a sticker shock from what it was before. I guess at the end of the day if you’re totally happy with what you have that’s something money can’t buy. I’d like to hear about the quality of the new ones.

 

[KGLee357]

That’s what I’m curious about as well. The argument could also be made that $2300 today gets you a generic production rifle. Everything has certainly gone up.

 

[Hnthrdr]

1800 gets you a seekins ph3…

 

[Scottyboy]

1800 gets you a seekins ph3…

I wonder why this is not a more common answer, besides being a R700 footprint, which isn’t a deal breaker for me.

 

[Hnthrdr]

I wonder why this is not a more common answer, besides being a R700 footprint, which isn’t a deal breaker for me.

Agree, I owned a cooper from 2012 ish time frame and it was a fine rifle but it was picky with factory ammo and never shot any better than a stock tikka

 

[KenLee]

That’s what I’m curious about as well. The argument could also be made that $2300 today gets you a generic production rifle. Everything has certainly gone up.

Or that you can buy a surprisingly good 500 yard hunting rifle for $550 today.

 

[Happy Antelope]

I own 6 all from Montana, new price seems kinda of nuts to me. Paid anywhere from 1500 to 3K mine.

 

[Go West Old Man]

Resurrecting this after many months. I have a Montana built Cooper and it’s amazingly accurate with the right hand load, but I’ll skip the back story. I don’t think that the acquisition and move to Arkansas did anything positive to carry on a Cooper legacy. That legacy died in Montana. R.I.P. If you got a legacy Montana built Cooper that shoots great and makes you appreciate that you have it, then you have a piece of the Montana legacy.

Unfortunately, I don’t think you can ever expect the new Arkansas company to provide any level of customer service care, communication, or concern for your Montana built rifle. My assessment is based on personal experience. I’ll leave it at that, but I’ll also say that I guess that I can understand this as a business decision. Really, I wish they would have just wiped the slate clean, never even carried on/forward the Cooper name, and started over with a new name and branding.

Lastly, the Arkansas company’s price point on their AR rifles is a flat out no-go. Too much good quality custom and semi custom out there in the market for less money that’s backed up by proven, excellent customer service.

 

[KGLee357]

Resurrecting this after many months. I have a Montana built Cooper and it’s amazingly accurate with the right hand load, but I’ll skip the back story. I don’t think that the acquisition and move to Arkansas did anything positive to carry on a Cooper legacy. That legacy died in Montana. R.I.P. If you got a legacy Montana built Cooper that shoots great and makes you appreciate that you have it, then you have a piece of the Montana legacy.

Unfortunately, I don’t think you can ever expect the new Arkansas company to provide any level of customer service care, communication, or concern for your Montana built rifle. My assessment is based on personal experience. I’ll leave it at that, but I’ll also say that I guess that I can understand this as a business decision. Really, I wish they would have just wiped the slate clean, never even carried on/forward the Cooper name, and started over with a new name and branding.

Lastly, the Arkansas company’s price point on their AR rifles is a flat out no-go. Too much good quality custom and semi custom out there in the market for less money that’s backed up by proven, excellent customer service.

I think your assessment is spot on unfortunately. I held out hope that with some time they would get their operation dialed in, and even wondered if it could be a similar outcome to Wilson Combat with NULA. Sadly this does not appear to be the case. RIP.

 

[Go West Old Man]

I also think that the legacy Cooper left the door wide open for the new company to possibly make at least one big and fast improvement. Synthetic stock redesign. I think legacy Cooper synthetic sporting stocks like the Backcountry and Timberline are average run of the mill design and quality at best. Plus, the aesthetics of their stock paint schemes left LOTS to be desired. The base color ones with sprayed blobs (like mine) looks like it was done by little kids or a DIY project gone bad. Put the legacy Cooper side by side with a quality top tier, well designed , eye pleasing stock like a McMillan, and the design, feel, and appearance don’t measure up even close. I wish McMillan made a stock to fit a legacy Cooper. I think I’d take the “spend twice” money hit and get one.