Which Cooper?

[TinMan]

I believe there was a thread on here almost a year ago that had info on the prefixes for the Cooper S/Ns. The letter after V denotes the caliber, not that is a Varmint Extreme. For example, VE=221 FB, VA=223, and VR=22 Hornet. I remember those three because I have those 3. My M21 Varminters are VE and VA, and my M38 Classic is a VR. Hope this helps, and maybe anyone wants to do a search to find the other calibers. It would be helpful if the original poster would indicate the SN and caliber, to help settle the confusion.

[xring]

TinMan , I have a Cooper that has a Serial Number with only Numbers and another with Letters and Numbers where the Numbers are nothing like the Caliber . If there is any Logic to Coopers Serial Numbers , I sure don't see what it is . Think I will call them as their Tech Rep . has always been very helpful in the past .

[mav007]

It has been confirmed to be a Montana Varminter.

Thanks for all the help from the members here.
Greatly appreciated

[xring]

Ok , so I called Cooper about Serial Numbers . The bottom line is that there is no definitive way to tell exactly what you have by looking at the Serial Number . Some Varmint Extremes were marked VE XXX , some were not . Some Serial Numbers had the Caliber in it , some did not . A lot of PVE XXXX were in 308 Caliber . All the 223 AIs I've seen had a Serial No. that started with AI , but who knows if all were ? A lot of Custom Classics had CL as part of the Serial Number . Lately Cooper has been using CF XXXX with the CF standing for Cooper Firearms . Oh , Ford Davis the Tech. Rep. is no longer with Cooper .

[TinMan]

Thanks for the response. Sounds like it is not an easy answer to try to trace a SN. As I understand it, the very early Coopers may have been different, but in the mid 90's Cooper went to the two letter and numbers for the SN. The two letter prefix, VA, VB, VE, etc. denoted the caliber of the original chambering and then the numeric/chronological order of the rifle of that caliber made. Somewhere around 2005, Cooper changed from the two letter prefix SN to some other protocol, like you stated.

I think it may have been one of the posters in the earlier thread Cooper SNs might have been Rick in Oregon. May be can shed some other info also.

[Rick in Oregon]

Originally Posted by TinMan

I think it may have been one of the posters in the earlier thread Cooper SNs might have been Rick in Oregon. May be can shed some other info also.

Nope, not me. I've been reading this thread and learning as much as I can.....

[TinMan]

Well, I have been searching through the posts and threads. We may never be able to decode some of it, what with special runs or specials or one-offs customs. A couple have some interesting info, some of it will help. I think the comments from xring's call to Cooper most of which is in valid, but some old posts might add some additional info. Posts from Kiwishooter on 3/12/11, from Alex on 6/25/09 and montdoug on 6/24/09 are helpful. Early SNs were erratic or not interpretable, mostly some numerics. The middle range from roughly 1998 to 2005 use a SN with 2 or 3 alphabetic characters followed by the the numeric order of manufacture. The most consistent format appears to be a V followed by a letter denoting the caliber then a numeric. In this time period, I believe any Cooper in any model could use this format, whether a M21, M22 or M38, and whether it was a Classic or Varminter or maybe even a Varmint Extreme. Like I said earlier, a VAnnn was a rifle chambered in 223, with numeric of nnn. I have a VA388, M21 Varminter in 223 in that format. A three alpha rather than two alpha SN denotes the caliber in left hand action, such as a left hand 221FB VELnnn. A rifle in 223 Ackley Improved looks to be a VAInnn or AInnn followed by the numeric.

So far, I have learned the calibers of:
VA = 223
VE = 221FB
VF = 17 Rem
VG = 17M4
VR = 22 Hornet

I think I am about burned out on all this and will let others pick up the thread if they want to add any new calibers. I am sure there are some oddball SNs and customs that don't fit that format, which is no longer used. Hope this helps in some way.

[Lunde Sr]

TimMan,
I got a couple exceptions to what you've learned, BUT, we're both wiped out on this.
Don't know if you touch the stuff or not, but I'm ready for either a bone-dry Martini or some good Bourbon (neat, no rocks)

[Kerry]

anything new to add

kerry

[17VLD]

Old thread but nice info to have.
One thing mentioned by Lundy Sr on the first page was that MTV’s had aluminum trigger guards and grip caps while VE’s were steel.Someone should make a book about Cooper rifles......Alex???
I’m down to only seven Coopers,one even has TK13 for a serial number any guesses on chambering?
I bet Saubiers has the most Cooper owners per membership.
Matt