and patricians. If a prize-shooting
with crossbow and fire-arms was announced, the competition between the
cross-bow and the arbalat was at the beginning, the fire-arms at the
conclusion with inferior prizes; much of the fun of the festival was
attached to the cross-bow shooting. But at the beginning of the
sixteenth century, at all the prize shootings, the use of fire-arms had
increased at least twofold.

About the year 1400, fire-arms began to be heard at the prize-shooting
festivals. At Ausgburg, in 1429, hand-guns and muskets were used, and
guns with small lead balls. In 1446 the first prize shooting with
arquebuses and muskets was held; afterwards the hand-gun in its various
forms always prevailed. The practical Swiss were among the first to
give the preference to fire-arms. As early as 1472, at the great prize
shooting at Zurich, only guns were announced; after that, at important
festivals, both weapons had prizes assigned to them, but at smaller
ones frequently only fire-arms. The gun of the prize-shooter, up to
1600, was the smooth hand-gun for one ounce balls, with a straight or
crooked stock,--all grooves were forbidden.[61] The shooter fired
without a rest; the gun when fired was not to rest upon the shoulder;
it was not to be supported by any strap in the sleeve or round the
neck; it was only to be loaded with one ball; the gun was only to have
a small round sight at the end. After 1600 rifled weapons, for the
first time, received prizes at special meetings. At Basle, in 1605, a
prize shooting for arquebuses was announced, the distance 570 feet, the
target two and a half feet round the nail; and for muskets with crooked
or straight grooves and balls of one ounce--distance, 805 feet; target,
three and a half feet. It must be mentioned, by the way, that sometimes
at great shooting festivals heavy guns were also used, such as
arquebuses, falconets and serpents, as in Strasburg 1590, at Breslau in
1609, and frequently at Leipsic, where these exercises were preferred;
however splendidly these festivals, after the pattern of the old prize
shootings, were appointed, they had more especially a practical aim,
and were not generally attended by strangers.

Different as the weapons so was the mark. The bird on the pole was very
ancient. But when guests began to appear in numbers the bird was
inconvenient. The duration of the shooting could not be reckoned upon;
a violent wind easily diverted the course of the bolts.