Understanding rifles and ammo

filledeferme

Well-Known Member
I am revising for,my Dsc1 and find the whole subject of rifles and ammo hard to understand. Never having shot rifles before all the combinations are difficult to remember, that's to say nothing of ballistics!! If anyone has a table that easily explains it I would really appreciate it.
 
You might find it easier to revise the rifles/ammo questions backwards ie look at the questions first then just learn what you need. Probably because it's a pet-topic for someone- there's far more info in the manual than you need for the test. You can always refer to the manual over the years as your knowledge progresses.
 
Tried that but that means I can answer the question but nit understand the full picture!! Thanks for your response.


You have just hit the nail on the head where it comes to exams and tests. Most are designed with course work then tests that trigger a memory. At school I upset Mr Thompson when I explained that exams only test ones ability to be a Parrot and a sponge. You absorb the information like a sponge and recite it like a parrot. It does not men that you actually understand it.

If the question does not contain the trigger many cannot answer it. Only those who really understood what they were absorbing and really learnt it would answer.

Of course this was not popular or well received by the afore mentioned Mr Thompson and for some odd reason we never got on after that :rolleyes:.
 
I imagine the bit the OP is struggling with is all the different legal requirements for deer rifles in different parts of the UK.

In this instance, understanding the big pictujre helps not at all - you just have to memorise it.

If I recall, there aren't really any other rifle & calibre questions.
 
I found it utterly pointless being tested on the various species and sex close seasons in 3 different jurisdictions!

I have no intention of shooting roe does in Northern Ireland, or Chinese Water bucks in England....... but if I did I would look up when to shoot them and what with.
Knowing that useless info off by heart does not make me a better stalker!!
 
I can sympathize with you, if as you say you have had very little experience with rifles before attending this course, then the plethora of different calibres can be a little daunting.
However, it is clearly laid down in the manual what the legal minimum for each of our three countries require per species and in the same way you revised breaking distances years ago for the good old driving test, I found you just have to learn them!
atb.
 
Poor Mr Thompson, having the flaws in his life's work being uncovered by a teenager.. He probably never got over it.
the problem I also have is twofold. 1) I think men and women communicate information in a different way. When guys try to explain to me it just does not resonate. 2) most of my male friends have known this information for a long time and it as though they are talking to someone who already understands. I am sure I will get there with persistence
 
Ahhhhh yes indeed the female mind doth work in mysterious ways ..................................................... well to me at least :D . Now here must be some way to present or put the information in a layout or format that will make it more easy to assimilate for you. What that format is I am sorry but I don't know :oops: but it's something that perhaps the providers of this training should look into perhaps.

I understand what you saying as if you gave mother a 3rd projection drawing (Engineering) she would not make much of it on the same scale I cannot make head nor tail of her knitting patterns. Might as well be in Chinese :rolleyes: . Perhaps it's the result of "nurture" when young and at school? We are taught, trained if you like, to accept, understand certain ways of presentation. At least when I was at school Boys and Girls were taught quite a few subjects segregated.

May I wish you the best with your mental exercises in this and the best in getting the pass in the course.
 
I found it utterly pointless being tested on the various species and sex close seasons in 3 different jurisdictions!

I have no intention of shooting roe does in Northern Ireland, or Chinese Water bucks in England....... but if I did I would look up when to shoot them and what with.
Knowing that useless info off by heart does not make me a better stalker!!

+1. But it does then, of course, then allow a whole INDUSTRY of DSC1 trainers and assessors who make a good living off the back of it.
 
At school I upset Mr Thompson when I explained that exams only test ones ability to be a Parrot and a sponge.

I'd disagree.

This way you are tested on whether you can, at the moment that it is required, use the information that you have been taught and learnt. After all imagine the surgeon who on conducting an operation suddenly found another problem and stopped, mid-operation, to consult a book as he or she had was only used to "open book" testing methods.

My three years at university came down to eight three hour examination papers. No continuous assessment, no compulsory attendance at lectures, no mid-term tests or examinations. Just eight three hour examination papers over a period of ten days. You either knew it by then or if you didn't you failed. Open book examinations merely test your ability to find the right page and transcribe what has been asked onto a piece of paper.

Closed book examinations test whether you have taken in the information, have understood it and can recall it to others (the examiners in this case) in a manner that it gives an answer or explanation to or for a given problem.
 
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I'd disagree.


That's OK after all it's supposed to be a free country ;) .

This way you are tested on whether you can, at the moment that it is required, use the information that you have been taught and learnt.

As I said many only recall what the text book says and if the question is worded different and for instance does not use the same "trigger" phrases then many cannot answer teh question as I beleive happened a while back when test papers were updated and re-written. Suddenly very few got the answer to certain questions that the percentage answering before was much greater. On examination it was fund that as the wording had been changed even though is was asking the for the same answer. Many could not answer as the "trigger" was missing.

Only those who had actually learnt and understood what was being taught answered correctly. The test paper was again amended and the numbers correctly answering those question rose once again to an "acceptable" level. Learnt and actually understanding are two completely different things of course. A dog can learn to do tricks.
 
My three years at university came down to eight three hour examination papers. No continuous assessment, no compulsory attendance at lectures, no mid-term tests or examinations. Just eight three hour examination papers over a period of ten days. You either knew it by then or if you didn't you failed. Open book examinations merely test your ability to find the right page and transcribe what has been asked onto a piece of paper. Closed book examinations test whether you have taken in the information, have understood it and can recall it to others (the examiners in this case) in a manner that it gives an answer or explanation to or for a given problem.

Ditto, though I also had a year in the middle idling about in Spain -under the pretext of learning actually to speak the language- in which I did a fine job of forgetting everything else I'd learned in the preceding 2 years.

Thank heavens for a Final-Exams-only system. If I'd been marked on the work I did in my first term back I'd certainly have emerged from the process with a fair amount of egg on my face.

The point is though that when I sat my exams I had reached a point of understanding that allowed me to synthesise a great deal of information, to formulate it coherently, and to express it with confidence. (If only I could pull off such tricks now. Certain breweries, wineries and distillers have a lot to answer for, not to mention Old Father Time!)

But back to the original question. The factual information required for DSC1 is limited and easy to memorise, so it shouldn't be a source of worry. A wider interest in rifles, meanwhile, is the basis for a lifetime of discovery and entertainment. There's no rush... I hope.
 
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