The Karstula Hunting and Shooting Club was founded on the 24th of August, 1958. Esa Männikkö was one of the founders and important forces during the club's first years of operation. The acquisition of the shooting range from the reserve officers' school was very important for the operation of the club. The range was opened on the 17th of July, 1960, with an inaugural competition.
In 1963, a shooting cabin was built next to the shooting range, and when the cabin was brought into use in 1964, the shooting range had every chance of successfully hosting a big event. The first Karstula Shooting Week was organised in the summer of 1966. The International Karstula Shooting Week has become one of the most important national shooting events; hundreds of enthusiastic shooters come to Karstula to compete. From the very beginning, the shooting categories have included rifle and pistol competitions. Later on, shotgun and game shooting were included in the competition, but the latter has been left out of the programme since 1981. In addition to Finnish shooters, participants come to Karstula from many different countries, including Great Britain, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland. However, shooters have also come from very distant countries such as Israel, Canada, and Japan.
Unfortunately, the shooting cabin was completely destroyed in a fire in 2001. What is even more unfortunate is that almost all documents that KarMAS had deposited in the cabin over the years were destroyed as well. However, KarMAS did not give up organising the shooting week, and they organised the competition as usual that same year. The services had to be reduced, but all the shooters understood the situation and were very supportive. In 2002, KarMAS started an EU-funded project involving the building of a new shooting cabin by the shooting range. The shooting cabin was used to some extent in the Shooting Week of 2002. The official opening of the shooting cabin was held during the International Shooting Week of 2003, when the building of the cabin was completely finished.