NARA document from March 1945 on Sniper Testing - Shooting test over 600M.

flynaked said:

Very interesting, I wonder if the proof house itself was used for the acceptance or just within the town, I would have to assume it was. I have another document mentioning the final test firing of military rifles sent to Suhl when a permanent firing range was not yet available, I assume the same scenario existed there.

Click to expand...

You know my English language skills are a disaster and I don't understand your first sentence, please explain it again.

As an example: K98k bcd4 "x" block got assembled at Sauer & Sohn in Suhl and then the Heeresabnahmestelle Suhl, headed by Major von Kalckstein, carries out the Beschuss (firing proof) and Anschuss (sighting-in).
If the K98k has met the requirements of the shooting conditions and the shooting results are average, then this carbine will be issued to the troops as K98k.

If the shooting results were above average and it met the requirements, this K98k was set aside and sent to Hermann Weihrauch in Zella-Mehlis.
Hermann Weihrauch built the components and then mounted the scope on the K98k.
Hermann Weihrauch's sighting-in shooter Mr. Möller drive to the Heeresabnahmestelle Zella-Mehlis, headed by Oberinspektor Loesch and carries out the Anschuss (sighting-in).

The Heeresabnahmestelle Suhl and Heeresabnahmestelle Zella-Mehlis was not far from each other, you could walk the distance in 1.5 hours. If one of these places was overloaded, they could switch to the other one. In addition there were extreme precision problems and the poorly shooting scoped carbines were a burden for the Heeresabnahmestellen.

There were also other external influences like bombing raids and in this case I can cite Steyr as an example. After the Americans visited Steyr in February 1944, the weapon assembly was moved to Molln and there was a big problem, the shooting range had not yet been built. By March, Steyr in Molln had already delivered around 3,000 K98k, 2,000 MP40, and 900 MG42. Since the firing range did not yet exist at that time, the weapons were sent to Heeresabnahmestelle Suhl and to a Heeresabnahmestelle in Berlin (company Maget) for acceptance.

Which document do you mean in your last sentence?

Stephan,
My question is whether or not the commercial shooting range facilities in each respective town were used for military rifles, I have to imagine they were.

Also, the document I mention is exactly what you have quoted from the Kriegstagebuch. Before both of the shooting ranges in Molln could be completed rifles were trucked to Germany. On that note, here is the main shooting range in Molln after its completion in 1944. Tubes were utilized to keep the muzzle flashes hidden from aerial reconnaissance, so that weapons could be tested around the clock.

It's an interesting coincidence that we was talking about the same document and thank you for the picture.

If a commercial shooting range would be available, it would probably have been used. But there were probably hardly any usable shooting ranges, a 100-meter shooting range was needed (At the end of 1944, the wish was expressed to carry out the Anschuss for scoped rifles at a distance of 300 meters instead of 100 meters) for the Anschuss and most shooting ranges in Germany have a distance of only 50 meters, which meant they were not usable for military purposes.

We have a 300-meter shooting range, which was used by the Wehrmacht and later by the Bundeswehr, I cannot say from memory what distances were shot there before 1945. Walther was supposed to build the K43 in close proximity to us and the start of assembly was delayed, among other things, because there was no shooting range available in Neuengamme. Our external shooting range was not considered at all.

In other locations, shooting ranges were converted for other uses, such as at Gustloff-Werke in Weimar. After K98k assembly in Weimar ended in 1942, the shooting range was converted into an air raid shelter. In Buchenwald an SS shooting range was initially used within the Concentration Camp until the shooting range in Gustloff-Werke Werk II Buchenwald was completed and put into operation.