Interview with John W. Bowman | Gunsite and Police Training Legend [2026]

I hear the shuffle of feet and clatter of falling packages echo through the telephone.

“Oh damn, it came!” my conversation partner says excitedly.

“And he’s out there right now!” A female voice adds expectantly in the background.

“Well, he will have to wait. I’m busy right now.”

After a brief moment of upheaval and confusion, I am brought fully into the loop. A Glock pattern pellet pistol has just arrived in the mail. Ready to be loaded and deployed on the particularly large iguana that haunts the backyard of my new friend’s subtropical abode. But the cold blooded creature will have to wait. We are presently addressing more pertinent concerns: old times, good guns, and fine people. John W. Bowman spent a lifetime teaching good people how to shoot bad people. And I am in no way surprised to learn that he still maintains his lethal edge at eighty years old.

The Early Years

I reached out to Bowman about his time teaching at both The University of Illinois’ Police Training Institute (PTI), and Gunsite Academy under the discerning eye of  Lt. Col. Jeff Cooper. We started by discussing Bowman’s introduction to marksmanship as a child at eleven years old. This was primarily done by his uncle, a Camp Perry style rifleman, with a 30-06 caliber 1903A3 Springfield rifle. He took Bowman hunting and shooting; teaching him the true value of a well placed shot.

Bowman did not graduate high school, but instead earned his GED in the military while serving with the 101st Airborne. During his time as a scout driver he was issued a .45 caliber 1911 pistol. His Sergeant’s training plan was to take him “out in the boonies”, load three rounds in the pistol magazine, and have him “Put three rounds into that hill over there”. The military did not see much usefulness in pistols, Bowman says.

He was also trained on the M1 garand rifle. After scoring expert in rifle marksmanship he moved onto his unit, where they used the M14. A great rifle, he notes. His unit was also one of the first to field the new M16 rifle. This was notable as Bowman believes it was the end of Army marksmanship training. Once the rifle had a full auto selector switch, aimed fire was replaced with a burst in the area of the threat. As Col. Cooper often remarked, “If someone wants to shoot at me, I sure hope he does it on full-auto.”

A Meaningful Career

After leaving the military, Bowman floated through three different factory jobs. All he learned from this experience was that he had no intention of working in a factory for the rest of his life. At twenty-two years old, he was looking for a more meaningful career path. His Father-in-Law suggested he follow his footsteps into Law Enforcement. In 1966 he joined the Richmond, IN Police Department, and started working with men who had the same life philosophy he did. It was almost like being back in the military. 

He was taken to the range for firearms familiarization. The firearms instructor observed his shooting and told Bowman that he needed to join the pistol team right away. He became part of the training cadre shortly thereafter. Police firearms training at this time was entirely based on the Practical Police Course (PPC) as advocated by the FBI. This course was shot at seven, fifteen, twenty five, and fifty yards. All shots closer than fifteen yards had to be shot “below point shoulder” without using the sights. At fifteen yards and back aimed fire could be used.

“We all got very good at that point shooting crap.” Bowman told me. “It was a simple mechanical problem. You locked your arm like a tank turret and fired one shot. Then you looked at the paper and moved so that the next five shots hit in the ten ring. This made people believe that it worked. But put clothes on that target and you wouldn’t be able to see where that first round hits. So you just shoot the other five rounds and pray to God that they make it where you wanted. It was all nonsense, but the FBI said it was the way to go, so people did it. That was the state of police firearms training back then.”

Bowman resigned from Richmond PD in 1971 and enrolled at Indiana University, where he received a Baccalaureate Degree for Forensic Studies in two years. During this time he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society and worked for the IU Police Department coordinating their police cadet program. After graduating IU he was appointed to the staff of The Police Training Institute at The University of Illinois in 1973. In 1975 he completed a Masters of Business Administration at Southern Illinois University.

The Modern Technique of the Pistol

The first glimmerings of modern tactical training came in 1980 when Calibre Press printed a book, Street Survival: Tactics for Armed Encounters.  In the following year they began putting on supplemental training seminars throughout the country. This training system became “The Bible” for Law Enforcement for many years. Bowman said this book was very useful in helping American Law Enforcement modernize their strategy and tactics.

Alongside the Calibre Press training, Bowman was able to travel down to Columbia, MO for a class with “The Maestro” Ray Chapman.  Chapman was one of the first five, “Combat Masters” that Col. Cooper developed his Modern Technique of the Pistol alongside. Chapman provided training under his own banner, called The Chapman Academy. Bowman took a “Police Survival Course” with Chapman,  Rangemaster Bruce Nelson of holster fame, and legendary California Lawman Larry Mudgett. In this class he learned the foundations of The Modern Technique. Nelson and Mudgett handled the tactical side, and Chapman covered the firearms portions. “That’s where I really learned to shoot.” Bowman said.

The American Pistol Institute

“If you want to learn the science of shooting you need to get yourself out to Gunsite, and train with Jeff Cooper.” Chapman told Bowman after class. Because Bowman was working at the Police Training Institute, and they wanted to keep their staff on the leading edge of modern police training, he applied to go to a Gunsite 250 class. This request was quickly approved, and Bowman headed west.

Most of the students at Gunsite when he arrived were private citizens. There were a few cops, and one Navy Seal who was evaluating the class. His instructors were Col. Cooper, who ran most of the square range training, and two coaches, one of which was Robbie Barrkman. Barrkman ran the simulators, including the Playhouse and Donga. The ammo requirement for the 250 class was six hundred and fifty rounds. And the class ran through Saturday. Colonel Cooper believed that for every live round fired, the students should fire at least ten dry fire repetitions. These repetitions were fired during class under the watchful eye of the instructors.

Bowman recalled his first time running through the Playhouse. Robbie Barrkman would follow students through the course with a roll of tape. And every time they walked past or missed a target he would tear off a piece of tape and stick it on their shoulder. Bowman said that his first time through he exited with at least half a roll of tape on his back!

Bowman also vividly remembered his Saturday morning shootoff. Suffering from performance anxiety, he stayed awake the whole night before awaiting the impending man v. man competition.  He entered the tournament the next day with a severe lack of confidence. His skill was not well displayed, and he quickly fell out of the bracket. After the shootoff was over and everyone was standing around taking pictures and awaiting their rankings, Cooper walked over and placed his arm on his shoulder.

“You know what Bowman, you’re one of the greatest disappointments I’ve ever had come through Gunsite.” he said matter of factly. 

And he was serious. So after class wrapped up, Bowman hurried up to The Sconce. When he entered Col. Cooper was inside washing dishes. He asked Bowman how he was doing.

He said, “I’m not doing very well!”

“What’s wrong?”, Cooper asked.

“Well I came to Gunsite thinking I was going to leave here so confident in my abilities. But I’m leaving here a mess.” Bowman complained.

Cooper replied, “Knock that off! You’re a fine pistol shot. You do just fine, unless you have time to think about it for a whole day ahead of time. When the flag flies you won’t have time to give it any thought. You will just do what you have been trained to do.”

After considering this advice Bowman went home feeling a lot better. 

The Police Training Institute

Upon returning from Gunsite he went back to teaching at the Police Training Institute. He began to record what he called “Center Mass Efficiency” of the recruits they were training. This was the percentage of hits on an 8×11 piece of paper during the fifty round qualification. The “Center Mass Efficiency” of point shooting was between thirty and forty percent, depending on the recruit class. Not being satisfied with this number, Bowman had a meeting with the Assistant Director of the academy.

In this meeting he explained that people who already knew how to focus on the front sight were doing alright, but the recruits who were learning from scratch were receiving vastly inferior training. The Assistant Director asked Bowman what he thought they should do about this malpractice. He explained that he would like to begin teaching The Modern Technique of the Pistol as taught at Gunsite. But as he was not in charge of the firearms training program at this time, he could not make the curriculum change on his own. This lack of authority was soon corrected, and the Modern Technique was implemented. The only problem was that the rest of the academy’s firearms instructors promptly resigned upon learning of the change. 

Undeterred, Bowman taught the next three recruit classes by himself. He used the “Coach & Pupil” method as he had seen during his time in the military. First he would gather everyone around and demonstrate the proper technique. Then they would split off into pairs, with one shooter and one coach. If the coach observed the shooter doing something incorrectly he would tap him on the shoulder and the shooter would immediately stop what he was doing. Then, after correcting the observed flaw, he could continue shooting.

This system worked very well, and they increased “Center Mass Efficiency” to over seventy percent. The thirty percent increase in accuracy soon justified the new curriculum for itself, and the instructors who had resigned came reluctantly back on staff. Bowman is very fond of the “Coach & Pupil” method, and said he would still use it today. “There is an old saying,” he explains, “Who teaches, learns.” One of the best ways to truly learn a skill is to teach it to someone else.

Early Adopters

Other than California academies, where Larry Mudgett, Bruce Nelson, and others had already been teaching Cooper’s curriculum, Bowman believes that PTI in Illinois was one of the first police academies in the country to fully adopt and teach The Modern Technique of the Pistol. In the mid to late eighties many agencies were switching from revolvers to semi-autos. To help facilitate this, Bowman and some other PTI Instructors created a three day transition course which they took on the road. These courses were hosted throughout the Midwest, and were often sponsored by manufacturers like Glock, who would provide pistols and weapon maintenance demonstrations. Bowman and crew would train the gunhandling and tactics. These classes would certify instructors who then went back to their agencies to instruct the rest of the department.

Gunsite Provost

Around this time Col. Cooper developed the Provost Program, because he knew students would learn The Modern Technique and then go back home and teach it. He wanted to ensure that they were teaching the way he wanted it taught, not a bastardized version of their own making. So Bowman called out to the ranch and spoke with Janelle, who handled enrollment at this time. She got his name and asked how he did when went through his 250 class.

He explained that he received an “M” ticket (Marksman). Janelle said that Jeff preferred “E” ticket (Expert) students for the instructor program, and that he would probably not even consider Bowman for a slot. Bowman then explained that he was an instructor at The Police Training Institute at the University of Illinois, and that he trained approximately one thousand students per year. He further explained that he has been teaching all of them The Modern Technique as well as he could, but he really wanted to make sure that he was teaching it the way Col. Cooper wanted. Janelle paused for a second, and then asked, “How many students did you say you teach?” Bowman explained again, and after a brief conversation with Jeff she called back and told him to enroll in the next Provost Class. 

During Provost, Greg Morrison, one of Cooper’s Master Firearms Instructors, observed that Bowman was very good at diagnosing and fixing shooter’s problems on the firing line. He asked him to get his name on the list and come on staff as a Gunsite Instructor. When it came time for Bowman to create an Instructor Certification program at PTI he borrowed from Cooper’s idea and named his successful graduates “Master Firearms Instructors” as well.

The Lightning Rod

After coming on staff Bowman was able to coach alongside Gunsite legends like Greg Morrison, Jerry McCown, Ed and Giles Stock, Mike Weidelich, Mike Harries, and Hershel Davis. During this time Bowman was also able to stay at The Sconce with the Cooper’s. Having grown up a fan of debate, Bowman said he was fond of arguing with The Colonel any chance he could get. This earned him the nickname “The Lightning Rod”. If something went wrong, it was always Bowman in the middle of it, he explained.

While everyone was sitting around the dinner table talking one evening, the topic of the M16 rifle came up. Col. Cooper began his tirade about “poodle shooters” and the inferior shootability of the toy rifle. Some of the other instructors looked down at Bowman and raised their eyebrows, knowing that he was about to stir the pot. The conversation went on for a bit, and then Bowman spoke up, asking, “Col. Cooper, are you aware who owns the record on The Scrambler Course right now?”

The Colonel was not. 

“It’s Sgt. So-and-So, from The Marine Corps.” Another instructor spoke up.

The Colonel beamed with pride at the skill of his fellow Devil Dog.

“What kind of rifle was he shooting, when he went through that course?” Bowman asked the instructor.

“The M16.” The instructor replied.

“Holy Cow! You taught someone to shoot an M16?” Bowman responded.

Silence filled The Sconce. Colonel Cooper paused, got up from the table, grabbed the bottle of wine, and began to walk away.

“Hey Colonel, could I get another glass of that before you go?” Bowman inquired innocently.

Another example Bowman gave of his “Lightning Rod” title was that when he was instructing he always used the term “The Weaver Grip”, instead of the Cooper codified “Weaver Stance”. “That pissed Cooper off to no end!”, he said laughing. He would come up behind a student and say, “Your Weaver Stance is improper!” And then I would say, “Colonel, he’s not in a stance, he’s lying on the ground.” But he obviously meant that they needed to create a proper Weaver Grip, with good isometric tension, regardless of how their feet were planted.

Conclusion on Living Legends with John Bowman

But overall, Bowman said that he had a great relationship with Mr. Cooper. Until he didn’t. Their correspondence ended, as did so many others, during the dark times we now call Grey Gunsite. The name which cannot be spoken still draws harsh language and muttered threats around Orange Gunsite Family. Bowman resigned from Gunsite during this period and continued his work at PTI. Eventually he became the associate director and then retired as acting director in 2003.

New ownership brought an end to the dark times, which are now long since forgotten, and only positive memories remain. Bowman is glad to hear that The Modern Technique is still being taught in it’s current iteration at The Police Training Institute. And he is hopeful that he can return to Paulden for Gunsite’s 50th Anniversary Celebration in October.  “Keep spreading The Gospel, and stay in Yellow.” he tells me as we sign off. A well earned retirement of Florida sun and afternoon iguana hunts lay ahead for the former Lightning Rod Rangemaster.