50 years of Buchenlaub book: The first shooting range was in the private basement

Created: 05/13/2022, 11:00 am

By: Markus Ostermaier

The Buchenlaub founding members in June 1972 (front row, from left): rifle champion Bartholomäus Heiner and sports director Georg Bondl with (seated, from left) Alfons Heiner, Franz Steutzger, Josef Bauer, Heinrich Bauer, Ludwig Obermaier, Anton Schrimpf, Martin Obermaier and Franz Kunzlmann as well as (middle row, from left) Georg Eglseder, Siegfried Unterreitmeier, Franz Bauer, Martin Blasi, Marianne Blasi, Klaus Scheuplein, Franz Wurmsam, Eduard Hamburger, Georg Luberstetter, Franz Ostermeier and Helmut Renauer as well as (back row, from left) Martin Kunstwadl, Peter Rappold, Georg Stiller, Konrad Rappold, Hans Bauer, Josef Grasser, Anton Hietl, Herbert Metzger, Hans Haberl, Josef Stiller and Franz Kirchmaier.

© Archive Buchenlaub Buch

The rifle club Buchenlaub Buch looks back on 50 years of club history.

This is also celebrated – but only in a small circle.

Buch am Buchrain

– on June 16, 1972, 53 sports enthusiasts founded the Buchenlaub Buch shooting club.

In the meantime, he has settled down with his own building on the sports grounds.

The milestone birthday will only be celebrated on a small scale in the coming week.

A look back at the 50-year history of the beech leaf shooters.

Various sources indicate that shooting has probably been going on in Buch for much longer than it has since 1972. The chronicle of another club suggests that there was a rifle club here as early as 1880, according to the Buchenlaub website.

In 1939 there was another district shooting documented, after which the sport of shooting came to a halt.

Today's association was officially established half a century ago - so relatively late, as the current chairman Anton Feichtlbauer says.

In the surrounding towns, shooting clubs “had come into being much earlier”.

Of the 53 founding members, 28 are still with us.

With Marianne Blasi, only one woman is represented in the official founding photo from June 16th.

The very first rifle champion was no stranger to the village: Bartholomäus Heiner, who also played a key role in founding the sports club six years later.

A milestone in the club's history was the construction of its own shooting club in 2008. Regular competitions and events now take place there, such as Easter egg shooting with long-time shooting champion Marianne Köck (left) in the picture on the left.

© Markus Ostermaier

The search for a suitable training area was not easy at first.

Since the Waldcafé Hufschmid was rejected for structural reasons, the Heiner siblings set up a shooting range in the basement of their house on Schmiedberg, which went into operation in December 1973.

Two years later, the 100th member was accepted and the location changed.

A shooting range was built in the attic of the Brenninger inn, which was expanded to twelve shooting ranges in 1981.

Feichtlbauer also got to know the sport there as a teenager.

“It was great back then, right above the economy.

But it was also quite dark and freezing cold in winter because the roof wasn't insulated at the time," recalls the 60-year-old.

According to the chronicle, the Buchenlaubschützen in Schützengau Erding were always the front runners: in 1982 with the highest number of members in the Gau (176 people), in 1992 as the "sportingly most successful club in Gau Erding" or with the first air rifle team that took first place in the district league round competition.

In 2000, the Buchenlaubschützen moved to a new training room in the basement of the kindergarten, today's crèche.

Anton Feichtlbauer has been the rifle champion since July 2021.

© Gabriele Gams

In the years that followed, preparations were made to build their own shooting club.

The groundbreaking ceremony was in March 2008. For the current chairman, the modern building on the sports grounds was a milestone in the club's history.

"What we created there 14 years ago is unique," says Feichtlbauer with regard to the high level of personal contribution by the shooters during the construction work.

Today the association has 243 members.

Since 2013 there have also been archers in Buch.

Feichtlbauer counts the promotion of the air rifle team to the second Bundesliga (2017) as one of the greatest sporting successes.

"That was really outstanding," remembers the marksman.

There is currently only one air rifle team that shoots in the district league.

The air pistol team is represented in the district league.

The current Upper Bavarian Light Rifle Champion from the Buchenlaub series is Joachim Kirchmann.

The member Anton Eisner has been Bavarian and German champion several times in the past decades.

The festival program

On the occasion of Buchenlaub Buch's 50th birthday, there were definitely ideas for events such as a cabaret on the board.

Due to the longer lead time and the uncertain pandemic situation, the association decided months ago to hold a reduced celebration.

At 10.30 a.m. on Sunday, May 22, a service will be held in the parish church of St. Martin.

Afterwards, a procession leads to the Schützenheim, where food is provided.

In addition to the social exchange, honors are on the agenda.