Author: Grumpy
Learn how to spot trouble long before it happens.
If you walk into any defensive-oriented training class, there will be a good chance you will hear the “Cooper Color Code” being mentioned. Created in the 1970’s by legendary firearms trainer Col. Jeff Cooper, it’s a way of describing your ability to react to what’s going on at any given moment.
The original version has four levels, each represented by a different color.
- White: Your mind is on vacation. You’re in your easy chair at home, reading a book and sipping a drink.
- Yellow: You are aware of your environment and that something might happen to you.
- Orange: There is something going on that requires your increased attention.
- Red: You’ve determined what the problem is, and it needs to be dealt with.
When I teach a class, I relate the Color Code to driving on a road. Condition White is clueless to your environment, like texting and driving. Don’t do that. Condition Yellow means you are occasionally checking your mirrors and keeping an eye on your speed. Orange means you are approaching something that might be a problem, like a tricky intersection or a tight corner. Red means some yahoo has blown through a stop sign and you’ve got to deal with it right now. Yikes.
The Color Code works well to describe our mindset as we go about our daily routine. It’s easy to relate to just about anybody, and describes how we need to change our response as things escalate.
However, one of the disadvantages of the Color Code is that it is an intuitive process. What triggers each step in the mindset is not specified; that is left up to the individual. Humans are pretty good at spotting trouble — that’s one of the reasons why we are at the top of the food chain. We know when things just “don’t feel right” and we prepare ourselves to deal with it.
This becomes a problem when we are forced to explain our actions to other people, such as an investigating officer or a district attorney. “I drew my pistol because the dude was acting weird” may have seemed perfectly reasonable at the time, but try explaining that to a jury and see what they think.
What we need is an iterative, process-based approach to spotting trouble and reacting to it when it happens. Enter the Marine Corps’ Combat Hunter program.
The Right Response
The Combat Hunter program was created in 2007 as a way to teach Marines how to spot an ambush before it happens.
Casualties were mounting from surprise attacks, and Gen. James Mattis (and others) directed the Corps to create a program to spot and possibly nullify an ambush before it happened. They wanted to win the “left of bang.”
“Bang” refers to the event that starts the ambush, be it an improvised explosive device going off or surprise assault by a group of irregular soldiers. Everything on the timeline to the left of that event is planning and preparation. Everything to the right is execution of those plans. We were winning the battle to the right of bang, what we needed was a way to win left of bang.
The Combat Hunter program was created to help solve this problem. It is, in essence, a two-step process:
- Establish a baseline of normal for your environment
- Look for changes from normal
Establishing a baseline of “normal” takes some time, but not as much as you might think. For example, I lived in Costa Rica for an extended amount of time, and it took me about three weeks to get the rhythm of the culture there, and that was before I could say more than a dozen words in Spanish.
After those three weeks went by, I had a good idea of what “normal” meant on the streets of San José, and could tell when something was not supposed to happen.
Just knowing that “something ain’t right” isn’t enough, though. We need to look for specific changes in our surroundings that signal that something is about to happen. The Combat Hunter program, as outlined in the book Left of Bang, demonstrates six things which can change and indicate that something bad is about to happen.
They are as follows:
- Proxemics: Where everybody is in relationship to everyone else. A young man breaking off from a group of other young men congregating on the other side of the street and walking towards you is a prime example of this, but so is someone who is standing unusually close or unusually away from you
- Iconography: Graffiti is a classic example of this, but it can also mean what clothes a person is wearing or similar ways we signal group affiliation to other people.
- Geographics: Where are you? My time in college taught me that hanging around outside of a seedy bar at night dramatically increases the chances of something bad happening to you versus, say, studying in the library.
- Kinesics: How are people moving? Touching your face, nervous glances or a “mad dog” fighting stare are usually indicators that something bad is about to happen.
- Biometrics: Nervous tics. Unusual sweating. You know it when you see it.
- Atmospherics: As they say in the movies, “I got a bad feeling about this.”
These are the six things that establish what “normal” behavior is like in any given environment. When three or more of those behaviors change, our behavior needs to change, or else we will suffer the consequences.
If three of these things are out of the ordinary, you need to act. What that action is will vary depending on the circumstances, but an action is required if you wish to avoid a negative outcome.
Near and Far
Up until now, I’ve been talking about how the Marines use these methods to spot trouble in far-off countries.
However, they are 100 percent applicable to our lives here in the U.S. The criminal we are most likely to face is a resource predator: We have something they want, and they are willing to use the threat of violence (or actual violence) in order to get it.
They will probably attack from ambush in order to get said resource, no matter if it is our wallet or our car or our very lives, so having a system that lets us look for specific things around us.
Better still, this process allows us to relate our thinking to others rather than just saying, “He was just acting strangely, so I drew my pistol.” Let’s walk through an example of what this might look like in real life.
It’s 10pm on a Saturday night and you have been tasked by your significant other to run to the local supermarket in order to buy a vital component for tomorrow’s meal.
Now before you say, “I would never do that sort of thing,” realize that if you haven’t done this already, you probably will do this or something similar at some point in your life. We can minimize the risks we take, but we can’t eliminate them altogether.
You pull up in your car in a reasonably safe parking spot, take a quick glance around the parking lot to make sure there is no violence currently in progress, then go into the store, make your purchases and walk out to your car.
As you exit the building, a young man breaks off from a group of other young men, ages 20-30 or so, who are hanging around a car about 15 yards off to your right. He walks purposefully towards you and is dressed primarily in green colors, along with his friends.
As he walks towards you, he points to you and says “Hey, buddy!”
Game on. Let’s establish what is going on here, and see if there is reason to act.
- Proxemics: The man in question left his group of friends and is on a mission to approach you. That’s weird.
- Iconography: There is a common color (green) among the people involved. Now it could be they are all on the same softball team and have stopped at this supermarket for a post-game libation, but that’s not how I would see things in this situation.
- Kinesics: Walking with purpose, pointing at you. Yep, check that box.
- Biometrics: Too far away to tell. Let’s give this one a pass.
- Geographics: You’re in a supermarket parking lot, late at night, on a weekend. Yeah, geographics are definitely in play here.
- Atmospherics: See above.
We’ve now established that there are five out of six things happening here which might indicate an ambush is about to happen. Welcome to Worst Case Scenario Town, Population: You.
What should you do in this situation? That is where your previous training and experience should kick in. If it were me, I would default to the “Ask, Tell, Make” method I learned in a Shivworks “Managing Unknown Contacts” class and ask the gentleman to hold up about 15 or so feet away from me.
If he persisted on approaching, I’d ask him again to stop there. If he kept coming, I’d scream “STOP!” and go to another option such as retreating back into the store, shining a bright flashlight at him (it is night after all) or possibly deploying pepper spray or another solution. Your response may vary.
Conclusion
As we can see, the beauty of Left Of Bang and the Combat Hunter program is that they allow us to see why we did something in a logical, process-driven manner rather than just rely on intuition.
It also allows us to hone those processes and live safer lives and improves our ability to relate our actions to others if there are any possible interactions with the American legal system. Left of Bang is available in electronic, paper and audio versions from all major booksellers.
Tiffany grips are very scarce, but the Eagle and the Mexican seal pattern are seen more.
Here is a Richards-Mason conversion of a Navy .38 Cal. Pocket Pistol.
** Originally published in the August 1972 issue of GUNS Magazine. **
MOST collectors will agree that the “Tiffany Colt” models are the most beautiful of all American guns, and in most cases, even European arms. Once a handgun possesses profuse foliate engraving, clone by a precision craftsman such as Nimsche, then provided with ornate pictorial cast grips, very little remains to enhance such beauty.
Because of the rarity, very little has ever been written or published concerning the “Tiffany Colts.” This is probably due to the fact that they are scarce and very costly. Most original and authenticated model carry insurance riders and consequently cannot be studied.
Also, few are available for comparison and seldom is more than one found in a collection: therefore, experience and knowledge is very limited among even long-time dealers. For example, one of the foremost antique arms dealers reported that they have handled only five since 1951 and only two previously over a period of some 31 years of business.
Colt Richards conversion of the 1860 Army model with Tiffany North-South battle scene on grips. Colt Tiffany models are seldom seen in .44 cal. Army conversions.
The engraved Colts with their ornate cast grips, candidly termed, “Tiffany Colts,” derived this terminology from the fact that they were customized by Tiffany and Company, noted silversmith and jewelers of New York City.
The firm was organized in 1837 by Charles Lewis Tiffany and his brother-in-law, John B. Young, commencing business at 259 Broadway, and known as Tiffany and Young, expanding in 1811 to include a third partner, Lewis Ellis, changing the name of the firm to Tiffany, Young and Ellis.
In 1853, Ellis and Young retired and the name was changed to Tiffany and Company. The firm relocated to 550 Broadway, then in 1870 to union Square. In 1905 to 5th Avenue and 37th Street, then in 1940 to 5th Avenue and 57th Street, all in New York City, (the later being the current address).
From 1860 to 1870 Tiffany and Company offered many services, from arms, accouterments, to general outfitter, not to mention their unique special services such as providing ornate presentation pieces.
Early catalogs typify their work by utilizing such word media as: propriety, excellence, balance, magnificence, gorgeousness, precious, artistic, unexcelled, richness, important personages, etc. — all typifying the uniqueness of their classic creations.
The first “Tiffany Colt” accountable was ordered by President Lincoln as a present to the Governor of Adrianople, Turkey, in recognition for his capturing and bringing to justice the bandits who killed Reverend Phillip Merriman and abandoned his family in the desert to starve to death.
The State Department commissioned John Quincy Adams Ward, a famed American sculptor, to design a cast metal grip. Ward designed the ornate grips with the assistance of John William Orr, a noted wood-cut illustrator, who did most of the border design in the grips.
Rear view of the scarce North-South battle scene and the more common, although very rare scene of the Eagle and the Snake
The basic relief on the cast grips typified the “Missionary” pattern. Only about five specimens are known of this design.
The pair of 1861 Police Model Colts presented to the Adrianople Governor were returned to President Roosevelt in 1945 and later interned in the Hyde Park Library.
John Orr is credited with continuing the basic designs for the Tiffany cast grips, along with the aid and technology of Edward C. Moore. Orr’s death in 1887 may indicate the absence of production after this date.
Although the firm, Schuyler, Hartely, and Graham advertised the “Colt Tiffany Models,” such as the following taken from their 1864 catalog, “Style 422, Colt’s New Model, 5 1/2″ engraved bronzed handle, plated and gilt,” there is no evidence that they were engaged in production of such models but merely the agents for the Tiffany creations. Early Tiffany catalogs show prices up to $300.
There were three basic cast grip designs, namely, the Missionary, considered the rarest; the highly detailed battle scene commemorating the War between the States, second rarest; and the Eagle and Snake and seal of Mexico, slightly more in number than the other two.
This is probably due to the fact that this grip was used to promote early sale of conversions in Mexico after the introduction of the Colt Single Action Army Models, and thus market remaining surplus conversion parts. Perhaps a few points of caution are in order, inasmuch as spurious models are beginning to appear at an alarming rate.
Inasmuch as the value of such authentic pieces vary from $3,000 to $8,500 this is indeed attractive to the sophisticated craftsman.
Engraving can be duplicated to undetectable degrees. Bronze silver plated castings can also be made using wax castings. Most seasoned arms experts are reluctant to examine a “Colt Tiffany” because of lack of exposure or arms for comparison, this is why little or nothing has been written as an aid for prospective “Tiffany” owners.
The number of spurious models and some in the hands of reputable dealers have more than doubled. A few salient conclusions have been derived from an exhaustive study.
Inasmuch as most “Colt Tiffany” Models were never extensively used, an almost fine to mint arm should be represented. Cylinder scenes can either be scroll, rolled, or hand engraved, hammers plain or engraved s·o this is non-indicative.
On larger frame models, such as Navy and Army, the grip butt retaining screw is of a smaller diameter than the customary butt screw, thus on a spurious model this would require brazing, drilling, and tapping to a smaller diameter-readily distinguishable on a Beta Gram X-ray.
On the large frame Army and Navy, usually a grip number under the cap will conform in number, type and style to all other matching numbers on frame, barrel, cylinder, etc., readily comparative on a micro-projector. Grips were installed on the 1853 and 1862 frames by milling a square to accommodate the trigger-guard strap end. It is well to examine this cut-out as an odd milling cut was required and only the corners will be filed out, the loading edges will show mill marks.
Metallurgically, and in simplifying the definition of bronze, it is an alloy of copper-zinc-and tin. Specifically, drillings from two “Colt Tiffany” grips were examined on the X-ray spectrometer and Emission Spectrometer and found as follows: Cu (copper) 80%, Zn (zinc) 4%, Sn (tin) 14%, and surprisingly 2% A8 (silver).
Thus in referring to all universal bronze specifications currently in use and previously used over the past 50 years, none conform to those utilized in the “Colt Tiffany” grips, this is due to the fact that silver was added to raise the recrystallization temperature and tend toward finer grain castings.
Thus, such a casting would be expensive to produce today and conform with this analysis. Spurious models are probably produced from common brass (alpha-beta) of ASTM B22 Type D Bronze, all without silver. Quality of silver plate used on “Tiffany” grips was 925-1000.
Analysis can be a serious consideration in today’s technological world. Papers can be forged, finishes aged to cover various base materials, engravings duplicated, but seldom does the “fake’s” renumeration justify even the cost of 65% exactness, so this is in favor of a well-informed collector.
Always bear in mind-as the “Tiffany Colt” is the epitome of all collectors, approach bargains with caution.