Shooting Clubs.There are dozens of shooting ranges and clubs in Western Washington and all over the United States. As early as 1466, firearms culture and shooting clubs developed in Switzerland and, by the 15th Century, Schutzenfahnlein companies in Germany and the Swiss cantons boasted flags depicting crossbows and target rifles. Before long, many armies were combining pikemen with units of smoothbore musketeers. The muskets could be almost accurate at 200 hundred yards.
The combined units could break up squares of massed troops.
Advent of the Rifle. By the 1600s, weapons with grooved rifling began to show up on European battlefields. (more…)