Erik Hamburger
Well-Known Member
I just want to flag up that there is another training route you can take, and that is a LANTRA courses. After I passed the DSC1 I did the LANTRA Center-fire/Fox-control Level 2 course. This course appears not to be so widely known in the shooting community.
This is a lot harder than the DSC1 in particular on firearms-handling and safety issues. The format of the 2-day course is:
Day 1: Theory during the day; practical exercises and night-lamping assessment in the evening. So a very long intense day indeed - the day started at 9AM and finished at midnight. (The B&B lady was delighted with our late arrival time
Day 2: Range practice in the morning; marksmanship assessment, more theory and a written exam.
The night lamping assessment consist of 3 elements: Identify the target, estimate the distance to the target; decide if the shot is safe or unsafe. The course leaders put some bino's 6' high up a tree so that fooled me....imitating a person watching you through binoculars. It does look very much like a pair of foxes eyes, in particular at 80-100Meters. The range estimation (without using a range-finder) has to be correct within 10% to pass. This is at night, using a standard foxing lamp. Not easy.
The marksmanship test is very similar to the DSC1 test except for that the target is 4" across, not 6". You get 12 shots from different positions 25-100 yards prone, sitting, sticks, standing unsupported dispatch and realistically have to get 11 of those within the 4" target to pass.
And yes, I managed to fail the course first time on safety issues, marksmanship and night lamping. However I was given the opportunity to re-sit the failed elements a few weeks later and managed to pass this time.
It has opened my eyes to the safety issues when shooting at night; improved my marksmanship enormously; has been a great help in gaining further shooting permissions, and also had its benefits when seeking reduced restrictive conditions on my FAC.
For more information: http://www.lantra-awards.co.uk/Prod...fle)-Safety,-Theory-and-Practice-Level-2.aspx
This is a lot harder than the DSC1 in particular on firearms-handling and safety issues. The format of the 2-day course is:
Day 1: Theory during the day; practical exercises and night-lamping assessment in the evening. So a very long intense day indeed - the day started at 9AM and finished at midnight. (The B&B lady was delighted with our late arrival time
Day 2: Range practice in the morning; marksmanship assessment, more theory and a written exam.
The night lamping assessment consist of 3 elements: Identify the target, estimate the distance to the target; decide if the shot is safe or unsafe. The course leaders put some bino's 6' high up a tree so that fooled me....imitating a person watching you through binoculars. It does look very much like a pair of foxes eyes, in particular at 80-100Meters. The range estimation (without using a range-finder) has to be correct within 10% to pass. This is at night, using a standard foxing lamp. Not easy.
The marksmanship test is very similar to the DSC1 test except for that the target is 4" across, not 6". You get 12 shots from different positions 25-100 yards prone, sitting, sticks, standing unsupported dispatch and realistically have to get 11 of those within the 4" target to pass.
And yes, I managed to fail the course first time on safety issues, marksmanship and night lamping. However I was given the opportunity to re-sit the failed elements a few weeks later and managed to pass this time.
It has opened my eyes to the safety issues when shooting at night; improved my marksmanship enormously; has been a great help in gaining further shooting permissions, and also had its benefits when seeking reduced restrictive conditions on my FAC.
For more information: http://www.lantra-awards.co.uk/Prod...fle)-Safety,-Theory-and-Practice-Level-2.aspx