DSC1. Slightly humbled . . . and a good deal wiser!

[TomT3]

Lol! As I was assessment-only, I attended on the Saturday for the range and safety sections, then again Sunday afternoon for the deer ID, meat hygiene, and main assessment. The rest of the guys attended from the Friday morning.

All kidding aside, I was surprised at just how nervous I was. I don't usually get flummoxed, but nerves got me so wound up that I managed to get the cartridge follower on my bolt out of line, and it took about five minutes for me to figure out why I couldn't get the bloody thing into the rifle. Then I thought my first zero shot was high as my mind had gone blank and forgotten I zero 2" high at 100 yards Thankfully though, a mental slapping sorted my head out.

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The main thing I took away from that was that it doesn't matter how experienced you are, doing even familiar things under assessment conditions is very different to doing them without any external pressure.

You think that’s funny- I never use my bipod apart from zeroing -so on the shooting assessment for the zero I decided to don the bipod, being a compete **** I put it on back to front and couldn’t work out whilst the recoil of my .243 (yes I know ‘243 recoil’ ) seemed more violent than usual -this shifted my point of aim (id zeroed the week before and was bang on) which I couldn’t work out why until the instructor said might be because your bipods on backwards que severe embarrassment !

 

[Klenchblaize]

Well done.

I understand you may learn more about your fellow man than deer when submitting to L2 but happy to be proved wrong.

K

 

[geoffers]

I spent last weekend (Friday to Monday) doing mine in Kent. Not having done very well in school many many years ago, the thought of 3 days classroom work and tests really messed with my head. And the fourth day doing the safety and shooting test in very windy conditions wasn’t easy. There was a massive amount of information, banter and knowledge, the course tutor was excellent. All in all was a really good weekend. Just a matter of waiting for the results now.

 

[Woodsmoke]

Just a matter of waiting for the results now.

Best of luck! The waiting is the worst part, but I'm sure that big brown envelope is on its way

 

[foxdropper]

Just need a blazer now then mate .

 

[geoffers]

Just need a blazer now then mate .

I was warned off them. Everyone said they rust? Plenty of time to look around, not put in for my FAC yet.

 

[Dexter]

I was warned off them. Everyone said they rust? Plenty of time to look around, not put in for my FAC yet.

Maybe Blazers rust but I have never heard of them. Some of the best and most knowledgeable stalkers that I know use a Blaser though. The safety mechanism is foolproof safe. The tracking guys love them for that reason! They're a great rifle. Don't believe everything that jealous people with zero experience of the subject matter tell you! You will learn that after you have been on here a while! The message count means absolutely nothing! You will hopefully see for yourself who give advice and who just make inane comments to up their count! Blasers cost a lot of money for a reason. They wouldn't sell if they weren't good! Jealousy is a nasty trait! If you own one you will be very happy with your purchase, I'm confident of that. However, any rifle you buy is likely to be more accurate than your or I! Good luck.

 

[Alantoo]

Just need a blazer now then mate .

I was warned off them. Everyone said they rust? Plenty of time to look around, not put in for my FAC yet.

As it is Sunday...

Mathew 6:19 "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal"

Moths for blazers
Rust for Blasers

However....in the Swedish independent lab test the Blaser (most expensive) was best for corrosion resistance in the salt test...Howa (the least expensive) was best overall...so don't believe everything you hear...find a rifle that looks and feels good to you, and look after it.

http://www.testfakta.se/sites/default/files/_BINARY_11457.pdf

If you want to look at the whole test report, do it in Google chrome so you can get it translated...

Här exploderar älgstudsaren under testet - Testfakta

Fastnar kulan i loppet vill du inte stå med det här vapnet i handen. Två av älgstudsarna klarade inte sprängtestet, när Testfakta lät Försvarets Materielverk prova åtta jaktvapen. I testet som helhet blev det billigaste geväret bäst.

www.testfakta.se

Alan

 

[Dexter]

Thankyou Alantoo. Telling it how it is with evidence to prove it! Not something commonly seen on this forum!

 

[Dickie]

Wow how far off topic can we digress from passing level 1 to what rifle you should buy only on SD
love it

 

[woodmaster]

Thanks mate. I was gobby enough to have a honk about the negatives, so I thought it was only fair to follow up on how I got on. Truth be told, I was bricking it at the thought of having to 'fess up that I'd buggered it up

Thankfully though . . .

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Well done. And we'll done for bothering to let people know that even experienced people can and do learn something most of the time. I see your new hunter number is about 10,000 more than mine. I can't believe that so many people have taken the course. It's no wonder stalking is hard to find! On the other hand that's 10k more people who I hope will help us all stand united while our passion comes under attack.
Happy hunting.

 

[imnotrucknut]

I was warned off them. Everyone said they rust? Plenty of time to look around, not put in for my FAC yet.

Trust me They doooooo rust

 

[foxdropper]

Wasn’t talking rifles ,was about a jacket to pin your new medal on .

 

[foxdropper]

Thankyou Alantoo. Telling it how it is with evidence to prove it! Not something commonly seen on this forum!

When we going to see a post from you that dosnt involve a bitch note ,you know the type of post that actually informs rather than trolling lads .
Not seen a single constructive post from you ,ever .

 

[Woodsmoke]

even experienced people can and do learn something most of the time

Yep. Nobody knows everything. It certainly made me appreciate that I although I know a lot, it's only about a relative little!

 

[Scapegoat]

I went on the DSC1 a year ago. My lad needed it for his student placement on a Scottish estate, so I thought I'd join him. Yeah, so I could shoot deer and gralloch and butcher them all day long, and I could pierce your ears at 100 yards off a bipod with the .243 so what was I really going to get out of it?

I learnt quite a bit...... and was suitably chastened to realise just how little I really knew. In the classroom I learnt a lot more about different species (all my experience was on Yorkshire Roe). I knew the law pretty well (ex-cop, FEO and RFD experience helped there) but in hygiene and health I had a great deal to learn. The classroom input was from a former colleague and friend who had spent decades on an estate as a 'keeper and deer manager, and his classroom sessions were brilliant (he's a superb wit and raconteur) and he made learning fun for the class which was a mixture of total novices and a couple of wannabe professionals. Fortunately there were no gobshite know-alls, but he's told me tales of courses where he's been close to binning folk off! The tests are pretty simple if you have read the stuff, gone through it all in a well-presented class, and know how to wade through multiple choice tests (one ridiculously wrong, one pretty wrong, one nearly right and one absolutely right........)

The shooting test was a bit of fun, with some pressure as I was sharing the .308 with my lad. How I wish I'd taken the .243! Shot a few practice groups off the bipod so well that the ex-forces guy running the test started to take the **** in a friendly banter sort of way... "Who do you think you are smartarse? ME?" was my favourite comment, but of course that just led to added pressure. Come the actual test I failed to load a round, had to go through a hang-fire drill, then loaded and tried to take the shot with the safety on, then got even more flustered and pulled my first shot an inch and a half low left....... middled the next two and then found I was wobbling on the sticks for the next sections. Christ I wish I'd taken the .243!!! Somehow I managed to get them all well in the scoring circle, but I felt pretty humbled....I'd never live it down if I'd have had to retake the shooting test!

As a side note, there were two novices on the course whose first shots were all over the place. They were borrowing the estate rifles and had very little shooting experience. Brian was a patient man and an excellent coach, and by the time the test was over they shot some of the best groups of the day.

The practical safety and mock stalks were well set up, but I've been out in the field with several ex-forces buddies for decades and we're all pretty anal about safety anyway, so a walk in the park as far as that is concerned.

I'd recommend the course to anyone who is interested. We keep reading adverse nonsense from the naysayers, but their circumstances and needs may be different to mine (or yours!!) . To dismiss it all as a waste of time and effort is pretty much missing the point. I really enjoyed myself, and was humbled to realise how much more there is to it all than I already knew.

 

[Woodsmoke]

Come the actual test I failed to load a round, had to go through a hang-fire drill, then loaded and tried to take the shot with the safety on, then got even more flustered and pulled my first shot an inch and a half low left....... middled the next two and then found I was wobbling on the sticks for the next sections

Lol! I'm glad to read I wasn't the only one who suffered from nerves. I actually thought I was OK, but without even realising got so flustered I couldn't get the bolt into my rifle. Something I've done with absolutely no problems hundreds of times

 

[opticron1]

I was waiting with bated breath for the results of this as had followed your trials and tribulations on the thread earlier this year! Glad everything has worked out well and you enjoy your new syndicate! congratulations

 

[Overlay]

I was warned off them. Everyone said they rust? Plenty of time to look around, not put in for my FAC yet.

ive got a 22 Rimfire, .222. .243 .6.5x 55 and a .308 in Blaser none of em have been mollycoddled they’ve all had a good working life, I can tell you there is not a hint of rust on any of them, anything will rust if you don’t look after them

 

[Woodsmoke]

Glad everything has worked out well and you enjoy your new syndicate! congratulations

Thank you kindly, sir

Wonder if it's too late to still try for that refund, though?