MLAGB SCHUTZENFEST

Created on 16th June 2009

The MLAGB held its annual Schutzenfest event at Wedgnock, writes James Walton. A total of 27 events were offered, covering both longarms and handguns.

Schutzenfests are a European tradition, dating back to around 1413 - not long after the first personal firearms appeared on the continent. These early events used elaborately painted targets made from old barrels. Each competitor got just one shot at each target and the shooter closest to the designated 'bull' won the target as a trophy.

In his excellent book Powder & Ball Small Arms, historian Martin Pegler describes an unusual variation to this type of match, a competition hosted by Archduke Ferdinand of Tyrol in the late 1560s.

In this match, a life-sized model of a horseman was towed around a range by servants who had presumably been selected for their steadiness under fire. Any hit on the target was rewarded with the item struck, with Emperor Rudolph winning a sword and so on.

Today, the MLAGB keeps the Schutzenfest tradition alive with volunteers creating beautiful and unique targetry. Targets this year were donated by Tony Asker (longarms) and Shonagh Clark (handguns).

The theme for this year's set was English multi-shot pistols: flintlock revolvers by Annely and Collier and a Lorenzoni-type flintlock repeater by Mortimer were shown. Each target represents hours of painstaking work, with each gun painted to the same scale in detail - almost too fine to shoot.

Shooting at such a target is harder than it appears. Most competitors set their weapons to allow for a 6 o'clock hold on a PL7 target, meaning they are not suited to striking a different mark. Most were forced to aim at a point well below the bull - cunningly left blank to deny shooters a clear aiming mark.

Unsuprisingly, the Schutzenfest targets were hotly-contested. In longarms Tony Asker won back the target he'd made, and the handgun winners were Frank Thibault, Jim Greathead and David Erskine.

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