ABSTRACT
Ever since the middle of the nineteenth century, the sport of sharpshooting has attracted and organized several hundred thousand people of all ages and sexes in Nordic civil societies, often associated with a mostly non-violent culture. The aim here, then, is to discuss how such military sports have developed historically up to their current position. Moreover, Nordic sport leaders have also been eager to include sharpshooting skills in other sports, and they have even invented certain military-like sports. However, Nordic historians have mostly ignored this kind of sports as a research subject, at least when compared to studies of other popular sports. This essay should be a small contribution to augmenting this state of knowledge.
