A “Typical” German Shooting Club by Gary Anderson, DCM
A “Typical” German Shooting Club by Gary Anderson, DCM When my wife and I visited the Munich area of Germany last March, an important point on our agenda was to visit friends in the Shooting Society of Aubing (Schützengesellschaft Aubing). We first come to know the “Aubing shooters” when we lived in that west Munich suburb over 30 years ago. The times when we can get back there now are far too seldom, but the reunions we are privileged to enjoy always remind us of the best in shooting club life. If I tell you a little about this “typical” German shooting club, maybe it will inspire an idea or two for your shooting club. Germany is a paradise of shooting clubs. Shooting clubs are as common there as Lions or Rotary Clubs in the United States. Every village has its own club. Large cities often have many shooting clubs that often become serious rivals with each other. The oldest shooting club in Germany was founded in 1139. Many clubs were founded in the 13th and 14th centuries when the citizens of cities established ranges to foster marksmanship practice with crossbows in preparation for defending their cities. Those purposeful gatherings soon led to the formation of shooting clubs. Club life became central to the city’s social and cultural life and was the impetus for festivals and special competitions.		A highpoint of the shooting year in any German shooting club is the “proclamation” of the Shooting King. Most clubs have special commemorative wooden targets like this one belonging to the Shooting Society of Aubing or chains of medallions that record the names of each year’s King and become especially valuable records of the club’s history.

The Shooting Society of Aubing was not founded until 1873, however, at a time that is much more typical for the founding of a majority of German shooting clubs. The last half of the 19th century was a time of great development for shooting organizations in many countries. The Aubing club’s relatively late founding and smaller size actually makes it more typical of the ubiquitous shooting clubs that are an integral part of the fabric of German culture.

The Shooting Society of Aubing meets one evening a week throughout the year. Meetings feature air rifle shooting and lots of socializing, eating and beer drinking. The young woman on the left is the club president (Schützenmeisterin).

The first members of the Shooting Society of Aubing in 1873 were all male and all local farmers and businessmen. Because so many were farmers, their shooting season only lasted from November to March. The big, traditional shooting clubs shot large caliber rifles at 200 to 450 meter targets, but these smaller, more typical clubs looked for a form of shooting they could do without needing so much valuable real estate for a range. The meetings of the Aubing shooters centered on shooting Zimmerstutzen rifles at 15 meters with the aid of kerosene lamps or candles. Zimmerstutzen used primed rimfire cases to fire 4.5 mm round lead balls. The club’s first targets had four scoring rings. A shot that hit the target center was called a “Blattl” and counted six points.

The Shooting Society of Aubing now uses a beautiful 10-point 10-meter range provided by a nearby city for use by several shooting and other sports clubs in that area. The painted wooden targets on the range walls commemorate special events in the life of the clubs and their members. Almost all of these targets were created in the last 50 years. The target carrier stands are moveable so that the hall also can be reconfigured for dances or other special events.

The club has a strong patriotic orientation and a tradition that harkens back to the civil defense origins of far older shooting clubs. However, even when they were founded in 1873, they described themselves as a “club for the practice of sport shooting” (quoted from the club’s official history). The shooting year for the club, then and now, includes events that are central to German social and cultural life. Club meetings occurred every week without fail. Ever since its refounding after World War II, the Aubing shooters have gathered every Wednesday evening.

There is an annual Königsschiessen when the club’s Shooting King is crowned on the basis of a one-shot competition. Today that competition has been expanded to also include the crowning of a Shooting Queen and a Junior King. There have been festival shoots in the fall and spring, at Christmas, New Year’s and to mark the end of Fasching (Carnival). When the town had major celebrations and parades, the Shooting Society of Aubing was represented since its members include many of the town’s leading citizens. When a shooting club member dies the club president (Schützenmeister) is often one of the eulogists at the burial.

The Shooting Society of Aubing has had several homes. It was reestablished after World War II as an air rifle club and for many years had a contract with a local restaurateur who provided a private meeting room, an air rifle range and lots of food and beer for the members.

Today, the Aubing shooters have moved to a new sports center provided by the government of Pasing, a larger, nearby city. The large multi-sports complex includes a charming 10-point air gun range and club room for several shooting clubs in that area. The facility also has a full-service restaurant that continues to provide lots of food and beer for the members.

The members of the Shooting Society of Aubing still meet every Wednesday evening. From a current membership of 100 plus, about 30 attend on an average club evening. Of those who attend, about half shoot a 30-shot air rifle or air pistol event where their scores are recorded and small prizes for the best center shots are distributed at the end of the evening.

Painted targets that are the property of the club are commissioned to celebrate important events in the life of the club and its members adorn the range and club room walls. They have become an especially memorable means of preserving club history

Typically, about half of the members who come each Wednesday attend mostly because it is a community social gathering. Several ordered dinners and virtually everyone had a beer or two. Mostly they just visited, told stories and enjoyed each other’s company. The club normally has only one formal meeting a year, an annual “general assembly.” Their weekly meetings are devoted to shooting, visiting, eating and drinking.

The evening we visited, a group of men occupied one table while playing a card game called Schachkopf. They played that game 33 years ago when we lived in Aubing and they probably played it 100 or more years ago in the early days of the club. A fascinating feature of shooting club life in Germany is the meticulous records each club keeps. Throughout this club’s 129 years of history, records of each weekly meeting were kept, along with the names of attendees, the shooting scores and documentation of any noteworthy event.

Juniors were not very important in German shooting clubs for many years. Once a club’s juniors were mostly just the children of established members. Today it is different and the Aubing club is typical of that change. They have a strong junior program with an appointed junior leader and a recruiting effort to attract local youth. Juniors do all their shooting in the standing position, but the younger, new shooters start by shooting air rifles from standing height platforms that help them support the rifles. Junior and senior members of the club form teams that represent the club in the German county, district, state and national championship cycle as well as in the federal shooting league (Bundesliga).

For a shooting club that began as an all male organization that resisted female membership for most of its history, the Shooting Society of Aubing has come a long ways. When we lived in Aubing over 30 years ago, a young junior whom I coached became only the second female member of the club. Today, she is the “Schützenmeisterin” or club president and is just one of a large number of female junior and senior members.

Our visit with the Aubing shooters was a typical occasion where we came together with the club members as good friends whose common bond lies in the fact that were all shooters. I think it is this strong social component of German shooting club life that gave their clubs the strength and traditions that made it possible to withstand the devastations of two World Wars and the colossal tests of time and social change.

It was a brief, wonderful evening for my wife and I and we look forward to the time when we can return for another reunion with our shooting friends in Aubing.