Shimp PeterFormal archery, arrow and javelin shooting was originally used as military training, but Homer’s Iliad indicates that the Greeks also held archery competitions, shooting pigeons on high poles in honor of the gods. Indians, Persians, Slavs, Celts, and Germans were engaged in similar activities.
By the tenth century, shooting had become a social and recreational sport. The Swiss hero William Tell, who is considered the ancestor of the great shooters, was honored in the 14th century after he successfully shot an apple from his son’s head. A tyrannical Austrian bailiff forced Tell to use a crossbow to accomplish the legendary feat.
The first shooting clubs
The first shooting clubs were established by German-speaking peoples in the 13th and 14th centuries. Membership was limited to men only. At first, they shot bows and muskets standing up, but by the 16th century, firearms with rifled barrels were used in public matches. The early club competitions were festive one-shot matches in which elaborately painted wooden targets were fired. Matches and shooting festivals for one or more clubs were regularly held on New Year’s Day, religious holidays, and other special occasions. Gold and cash prizes were often awarded.
Shooting traditions in America
German and Swiss gunsmiths in Pennsylvania began making flintlock rifles suitable for use on the American frontier around 1710. Since defense against Indians and hunting for food were vital concerns, frontiersmen soon began “target practice” to hone their skills. The mark was usually a knot in a tree or an “x” marked on a wooden slab.
The first forms of competition in this country were “shotgun entertainment” or “turkey shooting” where prizes were beef, turkey, or other dishes. The matches were typically fired with a single shot from a distance of 250-330 feet from a standing or resting shooting position. Between 1790 and 1800, the first match rifles were developed, which had barrels 38 to 40 inches in diameter, double triggers, and sights similar to those used on European weapons.
Shooting accuracy improved when in 1825 master marksmen began using new percussion capsules. Soon after, official match shooting began, and competitions in all parts of the country were attended by shooters and spectators. A match in Glendale Park, New York, in the 1880s attracted more than 600 shooters and 30,000 spectators in just one day. A shooting festival in 1898 at the same location offered $25,000 in cash prizes.
Trap shooting with live pigeons began in the United States around 1825, with the first recorded match in Cincinnati, Ohio, six years later. The Americans led the way in developing artificial targets for trap competitions – first glass balls with feathers, then clay targets. Among the most prominent trapshooters of the 19th century were Adam Bogardus, Ira Payne, and “Annie” Oakley. During a one-day exhibition, Bogardus once broke 5681 glass balls before missing, and Oakley once shot 4772 out of 5000 glass balls fired from 15-yard traps.
The first recorded pistol duel was a match in 1860 between two men shooting nine-inch china plates from 100 feet away. The winner won 11 out of 15. In 1865, WF “Buffalo Bill” Cody started shooting with pistols, which greatly contributed to the popularization of the sport.
Skeet originated between 1910 and 1915 as an attempt to imitate the shooting of mountain game. Initially, participants shot “around the clock” around a full circle of shooting spots. This format was later changed to the modern semicircle, with targets thrown from high and low buildings on both sides of the field.