State-of-the-art: Geretsried sport shooters are converting the shooting range

Created: 01/28/2022, 20:00

Looking to the future with confidence: Chairman Karl Werder (left) and youth leader Dr.

Sven Brinkmann at the electronic shooting range.

© Sabine Hermsdorf-Hiss

The Geretsrieder marksmen have modernized their facility.

Everything on the shooting range is now electronic.

An opening shoot is to follow.

Geretsried – With a gun on your shoulder, it's up to you to hit the mark.

But in the club, community effort is required to achieve the goal.

Their new shooting range on Jahnstraße shows that this works extremely well for the Geretsried sport shooters, both internally and in the surrounding area.

In the past 40 years, the shooters had to pull the cardboard strip towards them after each shot, push it on and drive it back again.

After ten shots it was time to evaluate and table.

All of this now runs electronically and in a matter of seconds.

There is a touch screen at each of the ten shooting ranges, which the shooter uses to register.

If he or she has hit the black circle in the square box on the wall with the ammunition, a red dot lights up on the target.

The counter, i.e. how close the shot is to the center, is next to it.

Electronic shooting range good for youth work

"Our young people are enthusiastic," says youth leader Dr.

Sven Brinkman.

So far they had to adapt to competitions.

"The last district championships were always on electronic shooting ranges," he explains.

And the Olympic shooting range in Garching-Hochbrück, where you have to qualify for the next competition from the Upper Bavarian Championship, has also been working digitally for a long time.

"They were really good in training and bad in competition," reports Brinkmann.

This is how the idea came about to renew one or two shooting ranges in the Geretsrieder Schützenheim.

But that didn't work.

The eleven cable pull systems were installed according to the old distance rules and had grandfathering.

The sports shooters had to replace everything - according to the new regulation, only ten shooting ranges fit in the row.

The goal: The ammunition lands in the small boxes and the result is sent to the data line. The tripod on the left is for a light gun that children can try out. Air rifle shooting is only permitted by law from the age of 12. © Sabine Hermsdorf-Hiss

The club didn't have the money for the modernization, which cost around 30,000 euros.

"We had little equity," says Chairman Karl Werder.

So he wrote applications.

There wasn't much time to sort out the financing.

2020 was well advanced when the city promised a grant.

In order to receive funding from the Bavarian Sports Shooting Association (BSSB), the Geretsried team had to acquire 11,000 euros in sponsorship within six weeks.

"Our members have tried very hard," says Werder.

And everyone was overwhelmed that the money came together.

Modernization falls into the Corona lockdown

When the letter with the approval from the BSSB arrived, the sports shooters had to solve another problem.

It was March 2021 - and therefore corona lockdown.

"We still tried to start with the conversion," reports Brinkmann.

As the rules allowed, only two members took turns cleaning and whitening.

The old system could also be dismantled in this way.

In June, the 20 active members were able to get started without any restrictions.

And the vacation time in August and September “got us really moving forward”.

630 working hours have come together.

The members also took the opportunity to spruce up their lounge – in which, by the way, the results can now be followed live on a screen.

They painted the walls and rearranged the countless shooting targets and pewter plates.

"That's club history," says Brinkmann.

The members have also renovated the office where the threads of competitions come together.

Each target has its own data cable

But the heart is undoubtedly the hall, in which the digital shooting ranges are now lined up.

Each target has its own data cable leading to the office.

The boxes can be hidden behind wooden flaps.

The counter from which the shots are fired can be wheeled over there so that celebrations can also take place in the hall.

In general, the shooters have thought everything through.

Under the counter are compartments for the touch screens.

The shelf on which the shooters get their rifle out of the case has a ledge so that the case does not slide down when it is opened.

After acceptance in October, shooting and the first long-distance competitions could begin.

Chairman Werder has identified a disadvantage: "It's tempting to look at the result straight away." Brinkmann adds that it's also tempting to shoot faster even though you're not trained accordingly.

But that's exactly what shooters want to get used to in order to remain competitive.

And the Geretsrieders would also like to organize a district championship.

But first is the opening shooting, as soon as the pandemic situation allows.

The shooters want to invite the city councilors and sponsors to say thank you.

Brinkmann: "We have already prepared targets."

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