Knabenschiessen: Children's Rifle Festival

The second weekend of September marks the weekend in Canton Zeurich for the annual Knabenschiessen festival. The two day event is based on a long standing tradition to hold a rifle shooting contest for children and crown a King Marksman at the end of the festival.

Shooting is part of Swiss life. As every man has to participate in military service. An with that service every man is issued a rifle which he keeps at home. During his tenure in the military he must also qualify on his rifle every few years. The military he is not a standing army but rather a reserve force where every member is required to train a few weeks a year. This constant reminder of military also means that every town seems to have a practice range where soldiers can go to practice their marksmanship before they have to pass their tests.

I share that side note just so you understand the role rifles, and shooting play in Swiss life. As it is such a part of the culture seeing hundreds of teens lining up to take their turn with a rifle at the range doesn't seem as unfamiliar or strange as it would in the U.S.

Each child is escorted, one-by-one to a shooting stall. Each stall has a club member that gives instruction and coaching while the child takes their turn firing a few rounds.

The range has about 40 bays for shooting so you can imagine what it sounds like with all those guns going off. As you enter you are given obligatory ear protection for your own saftey.

Scoring is down with an electronic system. As each shot is fired, targets that are projected overhead on the wall are updated in real time with the location of the last shot as well as previous shots and the contestants total score.

As best I could tell any child could register to try. I looked like it would have been fun just to try it once, but I think they wouldn't have let me. First, because I am a grown man, and secondly, it would have been tough to take instructions in German. My rifle vocabulary is obvously something I have not developed yet.