Eidgenössisches Schützenfest

After the end of the Old Zürich War (1450), the federal shooting festival in Sursee (1452) contributed to the renewal of cohesion between the members of the confederacy.

There were, however, concerns for public order in relation to the large gathering of armed men; the Plappartkrieg of 1458 was a minor war triggered by a riot at the Constance festival.

In 1504, Zürich organised a general "German" (deutsch) shooting festival, intended as including participants beyond the confederacy.

The federal army formed in 1817 for the Restored Confederacy included 20 companies of sharp-shooters with 100 men each, which acted as advocates for target shooting among the general population.

Further festivals were held between 1859 and 1977 at irregular intervals of 2 to 6 years, with longer gaps, between 1910–1924 and 1939–1949, due to the World Wars.

The early shooting competitions of the 19th century were with Perkussionsstutzen, custom-made smoothbore muskets made for target-shooting.

The Swiss Armed Forces introduced standardised service weapons beginning with the Infanteriegewehr Modell 1842.

During 1890–1929 and since 1949, privately produced commemorative gold and silver medals have been issued for the federal shooting festivals, sometimes also included under the term of Schützentaler.