The Oldest USA Gun Club? – Schuetzen Verein Boerne TX 1864 till Now

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I am now a member of the Boerne Shooting Club which is located, of course, on Gun Club Road at the Northwest Edge of Boerne Texas where it has been for over 100 years of its 152 years in continued competition shooting. The Shooting Club started as a Schuetzen Verein which translates from German as Shooting Society and from 1864 until 1934 all of the competition records were recorded in German and sometime around 1949 women were allowed to participate in competition.
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Two of the founding members were Toepperwein’s and Ad Toepperwein born in 1869 went on to become one of the best marksmen in the world noted in Ripley’s Believe it or not and the Guinness Book of World Records. Along with his wife ‘Pinky’ who held national records Ad spent over 50 years exhibition shooting for both Marlin and then Winchester. It is kind of nice to shoot at our Boerne Shooting Club with its rich history.
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Today all shooting is done with with .22 and airguns due to the location at the edge of town. Check out the various shooting events that take place at our club http://www.boerneshootingclub.com/. I have competed in ABRA which is semi-auto .22 mostly based on the Ruger 10/22 and in ARA shooting which can be single shot bolt action or semi-auto and some of the best shots in the nation show up at these events.

Of course when I want to shoot shotguns or center fire pistols and rifles I can run over the the Bandera Shooting Range where I am a life member and on weekday mornings have the range mostly to myself. I guess with all of this shooting history close by it is fitting that two of the national NRA directors live in our town’s zip code and with gunsmiths, engravers and some nice stores we have more FFL’s than the city of Denver.

About the Author

Joe McElyea
I am an original member and founder of the esteemed High Plains Shooting and Dining Society which is dedicated to fellowship of bird hunters and shooters who also enjoy finding great local places to eat large, unhealthy portions of breaded and fried meats and gravies washed down with the appropriate libations. I am also a retired old man who enjoys fishing, shooting and my wonderful family.

2 Enlightened Replies

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  1. Avatar Carol says:

    Do you know if Teddy Roosevelt ever hunted with any residents of the hill country?

  2. Avatar Chris Pederson says:

    Hi, there are a number of older schuetzenvereins. New Braunfels, Black Wolf, Davenport…

    Great article though. Thanks for sharring.

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