The changing gun culture in Switzerland (and some Sig 550 photos)

Steve Johnson
by Steve Johnson

There is an interesting video at WorldRadio.ch about the famous unique gun culture of Switzerland. At the start of the video a Swiss guy shows the rifle he used in military service, his fathers service rifle and says that his grandfather’s service rifle is hanging in his office. How cool is that?

This was my father’s military rifle and of course he got to keep it when he was finished. I have my grandfather’s military rifle hanging on the office wall. This was mine when I did service. It’s quite an old one it was introduced in 1957 and used until 1990. And this is my son’s. It’s the current model. That’s what’s being used today. That’s what we’ll be using the shoot the Feldschiessen today.

The Feldschessen, or Tiro Federale in Campagna as it’s known in these parts is an annual Swiss event and the largest shooting festival in the world. Roughly 200 thousand people come out to target practice all across the country. ammunition is provided by the government.

A shooting content with 200,000 people! Crazy!

And for your viewing benefit, here are some swiss made Sig 550 rifles from CS’s collection.

Many thanks to CS for the photos and the link.

Steve Johnson
Steve Johnson

I founded TFB in 2007 and over 10 years worked tirelessly, with the help of my team, to build it up into the largest gun blog online. I retired as Editor in Chief in 2017. During my decade at TFB I was fortunate to work with the most amazing talented writers and genuinely good people!

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  • Christoph Kohring Christoph Kohring on May 13, 2010

    This is not any "Swiss guy" we're talking about! This is Gunsite "Shooting Master" Marc Heim -one of only eleven- who was a personal friend of the late Jeff Cooper [1920-2006], the Gunner's Guru...

    His business: http://www.mowe.org/indexor...

    His shooting club: http://www.smtpticino.ch/

  • Subase Subase on Jul 14, 2011

    Switzerland's deterrence strategy of waging a long war of attrition through guerrilla warfare by all it's population, was the major reason behind Germany delaying their invasion in WWII. So if there is a movement to get rid of the army, then the general population should be more heavily armed and trained, not less.

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