Gun shooting
Böllerschießen , also known as pillory shooting in Bavaria and Austria , is a tradition in which at least one bang is generated at special festivals and events with special guns and gunpowder .
The shooters are called gunner guns or pillory shooters . They are often organized as their own clubs , or integrated as a department in a shooting club or traditional society. The shooters usually appear in traditional costume or historical uniforms .
Occasions for gun shooting
The gun shooting takes place on special festive days, for example weddings , church consecrations , in the Rauhnächten , especially on Christmas Eve or New Year's , on solstice . This is done to drive away evil spirits and to start the upcoming time with good omens (see also Easter shooting ).
On the other hand, shooting is also used at shooting festivals and at funerals of war veterans and long-term club members in shooting and veteran clubs, as well as salute for high guests at events. On the German day of national mourning , the custom of firing guns is mostly cultivated in southern German villages in order to honor the victims and fallen soldiers of the two world wars.
Firecrackers are also common for sacramental blessings on the outer altars during processions on Corpus Christi or a hail procession .
In many regions there are also annual gun rifle meetings.
history
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The history of gunfire can be traced back to the 14th and 15th centuries. It can be traced back to the 20th century, although documented chronicles are rare (first record in 1377). This is also due to the fact that gun shooting cannot be viewed as an independent custom, but has developed along with many other traditions. The idea of making noise with gunpowder is probably as old as the discovery of gunpowder itself.
Two older references to early gun shooting:
- According to a legend, the Hornbergers (Black Forest) rehearsed their gunshots for the arrival of the prince (probably Eberhard Ludwig 1677–1733) until they ran out of powder even before the high-ranking visitor, which also led to the saying “That ended like the Hornberger Shooting ... “could have derived.
- In a decree of July 16, 1696, gunfire is forbidden in the Margraviate of Ansbach when there is threat of punishment because of its dangerousness .
Furthermore, there are some traditions, especially from the 18th century, where shooting societies had firecrackers made or that shooting took place at various festivities.
Types of firecrackers
The firecrackers devices distinguishes between hand firecrackers , state firecrackers and firecracker cannon .
Handguns are usually very elaborately decorated and are further subdivided into pistol-like or rifle-like, which are then called butcher guns , gun rifles , gun sockets or pillory socket .
- Handguns, guns
Simple hand gun with 15 mm cork and primer
massive gun rifle
Firecracker cannon, muzzle loader
Firecracker cannon with bell
Stalls are often restored originals or faithful replicas of historical models. Special designs for stand bollards are z. B. Mortar-like or gun salute devices with three tubes, where a shooter can fire several shots without reloading.
- Stand-up
Three firecrackers with accessories. The capacity of the large one is 400 grams of black powder.
Glance into the big stand-up fire, below the powder channel to the primer.
Firing mechanism of the stand gun
Gun salute
charge
The firecrackers are usually muzzle-loading and are filled with firecrackers powder . The firecracker powder consists of black powder with a certain grain size and has a burning speed of approx. 400 m / s. The ignition temperature is around 300 ° C, the combustion temperature around 2500 ° C.
While calibers of 10 to 25 mm are common for hand guns , it is often enormous calibres for standing guns and guns. With stand guns of up to 100 mm and with guns up to Ø 120 mm. Larger calibers are no longer allowed to be fired again. With such a caliber, the amount of powder per shot is up to 600 g for cannons and 400 g for standing guns, in contrast to a 15 mm hand gun, which only requires 13 g of powder.
The firecrackers powder is often dammed up in the firecrackers with the help of a cork , but the legislator says: Only materials may be used as a template in a firecracker that do not lead to the permitted mass of the template being exceeded according to the loading tables. In addition, the introduction of the template must not increase the load on the firecracker. Cork and very light, soft and non-flammable materials are permitted. In Austria it is still allowed to use paper or wooden stubble for damming. The latter are mostly made of spruce wood and are used in firecrackers . The damming is driven into the pipe using a hammer and ramrod.
The charge is ignited by a primer cap, which in turn is ignited by a firing pin (usually with cannons and firecrackers) or by a percussion lock (with hand guns). It is also possible to use an electrical bridge igniter , which is increasingly used especially with large-caliber stand-up fires and is also the safest ignition method.
In breech-loading cannons, the powder is not introduced into the barrel from the front, but is loaded from the rear in the form of a finished cartridge .
After firing, the powder residues are removed.
Types of gunfire
When shooting, a distinction can be made between the occasions in which, on the one hand, only a few individual shooters and, on the other hand, several hundred so-called gunnery meetings can occur.
Firing sequences
It is shot according to certain sequences that the rifle master specifies.
The following basic forms of volleys are common:
- The wildfire is shot in the same rhythm (you wait until you hear the sound of the previous one again). This goes through several rounds, so the individual shooter has to be quick when reloading so that there are no delays.
- Like wildfire, rapid fire is carried out at a steady rate, but the shots are made with the shortest possible distance one after the other.
- The gun salute is made simultaneously by all shooters.
- The wheel is shot at increasing speed until the last 2 to 3 pull the trigger almost simultaneously.
- The double strike is also popular, in which two shooters fire one after the other and then one waits a little until the next two fire
The quality of a rifle formation shows in the precision or the speed of these volleys and their combinations.
In group shooting, the individual steps on the firing range, including loading operations, are carried out on the command of the master rifleman.
Legal bases
Firecracker powder is subject to the Explosives Act in Germany and the Pyrotechnics Act in Austria.
In Germany, the shooter must therefore be the holder of a permit according to § 27 SprengG and a proof of fire must be available for each individual firecracker . The firecrackers must be presented to the fire department every five years for re-examination ( § 6 BeschussV), or in the case of stand-up firecrackers and firecrackers, for re-firing. Firecrackers do not count as a weapon within the meaning of the Weapons Act .
In the past, a permit from the municipality was required for every gun shooting, and you had to register the shooting with the local police. It was not allowed, not even on New Year's Eve, to roar without permission. Today it is sufficient to inform the police or the community.
- For more information, see legal information in the article Black Powder .
Accidents when shooting gunfire
Accidents occurred again and again when shooting with gunfire. In Hamm - Westtünnen , a man's right hand was torn off in June 2012 when gunpowder caught fire while reloading. In June 2012 in Leverkusen - Schlebusch, a man was hit in the face by a gunpowder charge while igniting a cannon and was seriously injured. In July 2015, the rifle king of the St. Magnus Brotherhood in Niedermarsberg was fatally hit by debris during the traditional rifle festival there. Parts of the locks of two small firecrackers from 1998 were torn off.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b History of the gun shooting. Gotteszeller Böllerschützen, December 21, 2008, archived from the original on June 5, 2011 ; Retrieved January 5, 2009 .
- ↑ Karl Heinz Kaiser: Notes on the customs of gun shooting . Ed .: Böllerschützen "Burg Brattenstein", SG Fortuna Röttingen. ( Web document [accessed January 5, 2009]).
- ↑ Niedermarsberg's shooters mourn their king derwesten.de from July 12, 2015, accessed on July 19, 2015.
- ^ Rita Maurer: Authorities are investigating the cause of the accident . Westlenfalenpost of July 13, 2015