Alberta Swiss Crossbow Association - Calgary

Crossbow Shooting

Shooting with the crossbow was perhaps a necessity a few hundred years ago, but to-day it is a popular sport. Most of the shooting organizations and ranges are in “Wilhelm Tell’s country,” Switzerland, although, there are organizations in many other parts of the world.

Our range is within Calgary’s City limits, just north of the Deerfoot Mall. 6710 - 11 St N.E. (Steve Johnson Range) There is no need to travel long distances out of town.

We shoot every 2nd Wednesday evening. The 6 automatic targets and shooting positions should not create any waiting time for a shooting spot.

Generally we shoot from 4 PM to about 7 PM or as long as somebody wants to shoot.

What is in it for me?

Your membership entitles you to experience the relatively inexpensive crossbow shooting. There is no need to buy expensive ammo. The same bolt can be shot for many years.

Crossbow shooting is challenging and is excellent shooting training for all types of shooting. Most crossbow shooters become good rifle shooters. Coaching and club crossbows are available. Membership is not limited to men only. Women and young peole are most welcome. We do however suggest a minimum age of about 15.

Our shooting season is from May to September largely depending on the weather and temperature. We participate in internal shooting programs as well as postal matches with other clubs, mostly in Switzerland. The end of the season is usually enjoyed with an indoor fun shoot, good friendly socializing with the whole family and some good food.

Technical Data

The match crossbow is precision hand made, built in Switzerland. The case hardened track, trigger mechanism and steel or carbonfibre bow are fitted into a laminated wood stock. A leaver is used to pull the 140 kg steel cable string to load the bow.

The bolt (arrow) has a blunt heavy steel tip (93% Wolfram) with a hard wood shaft 14 cm long and weighing 37 gr. When fired at our 30 meter target, the bolt imbeds itself in the lead target, is returning to the shooter’s position to be re used over and over again. The bolt travels at 60m/sec or about 210km/hr and could reach a distance of 310 meters at an angle of 45 degrees. The front aperture with a built-in level, a rear aperture with iris and/or color filter help to improve the shooting scores