Schuetzen shooting staged a remarkable comeback in 1982 when the Adolph Coors Brewing Company, under the leadership of executive vice president Max Goodwin and board chairman Bill Coors, founded and for a decade was the primary sponsor of the premier schutzen match in the United States. The annual Coors Schuetzenfest at the range in Golden, Colorado became the gathering place of many of the top schuetzen shooters in the U.S. as well as Canada, Australia and Germany. The fine prizes awarded at the match, along with the accompanying publicity generated, helped put the schuetzen game back in view of the shooting public.
In 1993, with a local law suit threatening to close the Golden range and a change in Coors management policy ending schuetzenfest sponsorship, that year’s Schuetzenfest was held at a private range in South Dakota. That same year the ISSA was founded to assume leadership and continue sponsorship of the International Schuetzenfest. The ISSA also serves as the governing body for rules plus continues sponsoring the various regional schuetzenfests which have been established across the mid and western U.S. and Canada.
With a financial contribution from the Coors Company, as well as generous individual ISSA member support, the "Coors Range" was built at the NRA Whittington Center near Raton, New Mexico. This coordinated effort between the NRA and the ISSA started construction in 1994 and the ISSA International Schuetzenfest has been held at that range since its completion in 1995. |
"From about 1888 to the late 1920’s, Harry Pope and Dr. W. G. Hudson were two of the most skillful, most expert offhand riflemen in the United States, and it’s extremely doubtful if there were any riflemen in Germany, Switzerland or any other country who could make higher offhand scores..."
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