udderlyoffroad Posted January 20, 2021 Report Share Posted January 20, 2021 Video below is in German*, there's a French version as well. Either way, stick with it if you have the patience, you don't need to understand the language to get the point. For those who don't know, the Swiss army is a standing militia (like Israel), so all young men aged 20 or older have to do military service, and crucially, are expected to return for 3-week long refresher courses every year. The Swiss conscript soldier is sent home with all his personal kit, including his Stgw90 service rifle. In addition to the yearly refresher course, there is a compulsory yearly marksmanship test/practice at your local municipal rifle range. This video walks you through the procedure for that shooting practice+test, just in case you've forgotten your range drills! Note how your rifle may be kept in a cupboard, but the bolt has to be stored separately. And you can purchase subsidised ammo to practice with before the actual test, but you have to return any unused rounds. And finally, our Fritzy Everymann in the film then goes for a 'drink' with his mate whom he meets at the range, but not before he's locked his assault rifle in the boot of his car (on display, with the magazine and the bolt installed)... But at least he cleaned it before heading home. *The dialogue is in Swiss German dialect (Bernese), but the voice-over is in normal High-German. French version... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVB Posted January 20, 2021 Report Share Posted January 20, 2021 Interestingly the most common method of suicide for Swiss men is shooting (c.30%). For women poison is the most popular (c.38%) with shooting accounting for 3% Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoBodyImportant Posted January 21, 2021 Report Share Posted January 21, 2021 Those Sigs are Amazing rifles. I have the 556and the 556r Russian( takes Ak47 mags and fires 762x39). I wish these videos where in English. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agriv8 Posted January 21, 2021 Report Share Posted January 21, 2021 Seen first hand on holiday by a lake in Switzerland. Young 18-20 lads root marching fully laden packs and rifles I would guess 20 to 30 of them. It was a very warm day. Not sure if they were ordered ( suspect not) but they all stacked rifles and bags and uniforms around trees at one area of the lake and went for a swim in there underwear! On asking about rhe local shooting range was the other side of the lake as you could hear small and large firearms being discharged Regards Agriv8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old man Posted January 21, 2021 Report Share Posted January 21, 2021 Sauer are very fine engineers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob85 Posted January 21, 2021 Report Share Posted January 21, 2021 1 hour ago, Agriv8 said: Seen first hand on holiday by a lake in Switzerland. Young 18-20 lads root marching fully laden packs and rifles I would guess 20 to 30 of them. It was a very warm day. Not sure if they were ordered ( suspect not) but they all stacked rifles and bags and uniforms around trees at one area of the lake and went for a swim in there underwear! On asking about rhe local shooting range was the other side of the lake as you could hear small and large firearms being discharged Regards Agriv8 Speaking of local ranges, did you ever come across the Bloke on the range video on YouTube about the Swiss shooting range that has a main road running across it? The civil service and health and safety would wet themselves if they tried to have one like that in the UK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
udderlyoffroad Posted January 21, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 21, 2021 4 hours ago, NoBodyImportant said: Those Sigs are Amazing rifles. I have the 556and the 556r Wish I still had mine - they asked for it back when I left Switzerland, and foolishly I gave it back... 2 hours ago, Agriv8 said: On asking about rhe local shooting range was the other side of the lake as you could hear small and large firearms being discharged All but the smallest villages have a municipal range. There's usually an associated shooting club if you're so inclined to participate in competitions outside of the compulsory military practice. Due to the somewhat mountainous terrain, most of the ranges run 'uphill' to take advantage of the terrain as a backstop. 46 minutes ago, Rob85 said: Speaking of local ranges, did you ever come across the Bloke on the range video on YouTube about the Swiss shooting range that has a main road running across it? The civil service and health and safety would wet themselves if they tried to have one like that in the UK This un Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fatcatsplat Posted January 21, 2021 Report Share Posted January 21, 2021 12 hours ago, udderlyoffroad said: And finally, our Fritzy Everymann in the film then goes for a 'drink' with his mate whom he meets at the range, but not before he's locked his assault rifle in the boot of his car (on display, with the magazine and the bolt installed)... But at least he cleaned it before heading home. I guess if everyone has got one, there's no point in nicking one!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scully Posted January 21, 2021 Report Share Posted January 21, 2021 Great stuff! 🙂 I’m assuming bedwetters are a minority over there. How nice must that be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demonic69 Posted January 21, 2021 Report Share Posted January 21, 2021 23 minutes ago, udderlyoffroad said: All but the smallest villages have a municipal range. There's usually an associated shooting club if you're so inclined to participate in competitions outside of the compulsory military practice. Can they shoot comps with their service rifle, or is there another cert/process to allow civilian ownership do you know? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
udderlyoffroad Posted January 21, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 21, 2021 Just now, Demonic69 said: Can they shoot comps with their service rifle, or is there another cert/process to allow civilian ownership do you know? Yes you can shoot comps with your service rifle and yes you can always buy one after your service. 9 minutes ago, Scully said: Great stuff! 🙂 I’m assuming bedwetters are a minority over there. How nice must that be. There's a quite a sizable minority of the 'woke' brigade over there too, however any changes to the system would require a national referendum to change the constitution, so for the forseeable, the electoral maths makes changes unlikely. 28 minutes ago, Fatcatsplat said: I guess if everyone has got one, there's no point in nicking one!! A little bit...burglary used to be unheard of too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoBodyImportant Posted January 22, 2021 Report Share Posted January 22, 2021 14 hours ago, udderlyoffroad said: Wish I still had mine - they asked for it back when I left Switzerland, and foolishly I gave it back... All but the smallest villages have a municipal range. There's usually an associated shooting club if you're so inclined to participate in competitions outside of the compulsory military practice. Due to the somewhat mountainous terrain, most of the ranges run 'uphill' to take advantage of the terrain as a backstop. This un That’s some Florida stuff right there. I guessing it’s hard to get 300 yards in the Alps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old man Posted January 22, 2021 Report Share Posted January 22, 2021 On 21/01/2021 at 11:06, Scully said: Great stuff! 🙂 I’m assuming bedwetters are a minority over there. How nice must that be. Bed wetters? Now that might be the real cause of all of the flooding here? And before the storm, I am not belittling the flood victim situation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cranfield Posted January 22, 2021 Report Share Posted January 22, 2021 The opening scene looks like something out of a 60's porn film.🙂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerry78 Posted January 27, 2021 Report Share Posted January 27, 2021 You see why Switzerland 🇨🇭 never been invaded Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moondoggy Posted January 27, 2021 Report Share Posted January 27, 2021 On 22/01/2021 at 15:33, Cranfield said: The opening scene looks like something out of a 60's porn film.🙂 You sound very experienced! 😂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vince Green Posted March 14, 2021 Report Share Posted March 14, 2021 On 22/01/2021 at 01:43, NoBodyImportant said: That’s some Florida stuff right there. I guessing it’s hard to get 300 yards in the Alps. Actually there is a lot of potential for some superb very long ranges but the Swiss Army only trains to 300m The Swiss have a 300m range at Bisley, not a well known fact Also in Switzerland, when you reach the end of your military service it used to be the case that they let you keep the rifle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BinaryB Posted June 13, 2021 Report Share Posted June 13, 2021 Thank you for posting. Very interesting to see the cultural differences between countries. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saddler Posted June 13, 2021 Report Share Posted June 13, 2021 On 14/03/2021 at 10:26, Vince Green said: Actually there is a lot of potential for some superb very long ranges but the Swiss Army only trains to 300m The Swiss have a 300m range at Bisley, not a well known fact Also in Switzerland, when you reach the end of your military service it used to be the case that they let you keep the rifle. It used to be a thing, that Swiss citizens living abroad could take their issued rifles with them in order to continue marksmanship practice while out of the country. The Swiss .gov had negotiated for this to be allowed irrespective of local laws elsewhere... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Centrepin Posted June 13, 2021 Report Share Posted June 13, 2021 It's always interesting to note that the Swiss as a neutral country have national service and teach skill at arms to all. What would happen in this backward country if we started teaching just gun safety as an option at school. For goodness sake, we can't even teach first aid as mandatory, imagine even offering skill at arms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yellow Bear Posted June 13, 2021 Report Share Posted June 13, 2021 2 minutes ago, Centrepin said: It's always interesting to note that the Swiss as a neutral country have national service and teach skill at arms to all. What would happen in this backward country if we started teaching just gun safety as an option at school. For goodness sake, we can't even teach first aid as mandatory, imagine even offering skill at arms. There would be a lot of soggy beds and melt puddles if these were even suggested Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saddler Posted June 13, 2021 Report Share Posted June 13, 2021 7 minutes ago, Centrepin said: It's always interesting to note that the Swiss as a neutral country have national service and teach skill at arms to all. What would happen in this backward country if we started teaching just gun safety as an option at school. For goodness sake, we can't even teach first aid as mandatory, imagine even offering skill at arms. It's been a part of the Soviet/Russian school system for decades Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisO Posted August 8, 2021 Report Share Posted August 8, 2021 My cousin lives in Switzerland and told me about the need to maintain shooting practice. He took me to see the local range, which for some bizarre reason, has a busy road running through it. Bullets literally wiz overhead lol. Very similar to this…… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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