PAL/RPAL test question

matt491

matt491

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Okay, so I went to target sports this past week, just outside Toronto and had a blast. Decided it's definitely a sport I want to get into. I picked up the Canadian Restricted Firearms safety Course student handbook while I was there.

The guy behind the counter said read the book over and get in contact with an instructor. You can save money by not doing the course and just doing the test. He said it was incredibly easy.

Here's my question. I found a list of instructors http://www.fseso.org/416.htm

Do I simply call one and explain my situation and tell them I want to do the test? I don't want to call one and waste his/her time being and idiot if that's not what I need to do.

Thanks
 
Take the Restricted course. Even though it is easy, I'm glad I did. Was a great opportunity to chat with the instructors and get some generally good info on firearm handling. I did however, simply challange the long arm exam after I wrote the restricted, and passed quite easliy.
 
Challanging the test

You still need to call an instructor to find out when and where a course will be, because at the end of the course is when the students write thier exam. You can call him and tell him your not taking the course but you want to challange the test anyway.
The course is only 50.00 do your self a favor take it, and the cost of the test is usally included. Most guys that challange the test already have a liscence and they want to upgrade it from a POL to PAL, or to restricted. And if you don't have your outdoor card most instructors are doing back to back courses and you can get yourself both hunting and Pal/Rpal at the same time. Taking the course will only make you more knowledgable about basic gun skills, whats wrong with that. Dooooooit............
 
I was asking same question myself. Should I save some bucks? Total cost to you is $230 for both courses. I don't know how much just writing the exams costs, so I'm guessing not taking courses would save at least $100.

Having not played with rifles and shot guns before. I was concerned about the practical. At the end, I prob would have done fine without taking the courses. However, the instructor was decent. He talked about other stuff that is good to know. And students will ask questions you may not thought of asking. He clarified some general things such as ATT. I actually thought you can't even stop anywhere along the way to buy gas or donuts, but it's okay. But he did mention that handguns should never be left in car unattended, so technically, you can stop by on the way home to watch a movie, but you must bring guns with you. LOL!

If you choose to save bucks, the instructor doing the practical will do a once over on all the guns for your. Maybe even a once over on what you need to do during practical exam (I dunno). How long will he let you study to remember them all, up to the instructor I guess. But during the course, you're allowed to play with them as long as you want until you're comfortable and run through the entire practical test with you/group.

Of course, any time you wave the firearm in the wrong direction, you'll lose points. Any time the business end of the muzzle is pointed at instructor, it's an EPIC FAIL.
 
Skallywag said:
Take the Restricted course. Even though it is easy, I'm glad I did. Was a great opportunity to chat with the instructors and get some generally good info on firearm handling. I did however, simply challange the long arm exam after I wrote the restricted, and passed quite easliy.
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You were able to do the Res tests beore the Non-Re tests :confused:

I was under the impresion you had to do long guns before "advancing" to handguns?

To the OP: Skallywag is right. Taking a course is never a bad idead if you have the time and can find one at a reasonable price. My experience is that most instructors who are "listed" can provide courses as well as challenge exams. Just tell them what you're looking for and they should be able to point you in the right direction. Dont worry about looking like a noob - you wont be one for long. :D
 
I would also say take the course, at the very least you will find some other people with like interests. After the course i was super comfortable handling firearms of all types and actions. For me that was worth the price of admission.
 
I would love to take the course, my problem is finding something near my house that works with my schedule. Everything I've found is Friday, Saturday, Sunday and my issue is sunday which is VERY difficult for me to get off work.

Not to mention the $240 I was quoted from Target Sports.

If it was $160 which someone above mentioned, I'd love to.

And can someone clarify for me, someone above said the instructor will show you how to load the gun before the test and give you a minute or two to practice, even if you don't do the course?

I guess tomorrow i'll just call up one of the instructors on that list I posted in the first post. I've been told Fred William Bell is excellent.
 
Yes, if you don't take the course, the instructor will show you how to load and unload each of their guns and show you all the safeties. Just ask if they don't. They should be happy to show you. DOn't forget, you'll need to ID the bullets and also what caliber to load as well. Also need to know how to safely transport them, cross fence, etc etc... As for them running the entire practical exam once over with you, beats me...

If you think $240 (interesting, I took my courses at Target in April, it was only $230) is pricey, wait until you learn about club fees and ammo, especially if you love to shoot 200-300 rounds per session, provided it's not .22lr. The gun itself is pretty cheap, even if it's $1k. :)
 
john777 said:
Yes, if you don't take the course, the instructor will show you how to load and unload each of their guns and show you all the safeties. Just ask if they don't. They should be happy to show you. DOn't forget, you'll need to ID the bullets and also what caliber to load as well. Also need to know how to safely transport them, cross fence, etc etc... As for them running the entire practical exam once over with you, beats me...

If you think $240 (interesting, I took my courses at Target in April, it was only $230) is pricey, wait until you learn about club fees and ammo, especially if you love to shoot 200-300 rounds per session, provided it's not .22lr. The gun itself is pretty cheap, even if it's $1k. :)
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Okay, thanks very much. I'll give an instructor a call tomorrow and talk to him. I think I might just challenge the two tests and not do the course.
And I know it gets expensive. It's less about the money and more about the time. My work hours suck and it's tough to get out of them because there's no one else trained to do my job.
I dropped $85 when I was there this past weekend shooting 50 9mm rounds, 5 12g shotgun rounds, and 5 .223 rounds on the AR-15 variant they had.
 
matt491 said:
Okay, thanks very much. I'll give an instructor a call tomorrow and talk to him. I think I might just challenge the two tests and not do the course.
And I know it gets expensive. It's less about the money and more about the time. My work hours suck and it's tough to get out of them because there's no one else trained to do my job.
I dropped $85 when I was there this past weekend shooting 50 9mm rounds, 5 12g shotgun rounds, and 5 .223 rounds on the AR-15 variant they had.
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WTHeck, they have a AR-15 variant to let you shoot? Damn! I thought they only let you shot crappy stuff but that is for $40. I didn't even know they'll let you try out an AR type firearm, but 5 shots is not nearly enough to get my jollies. Hehehe...

I was out shooting at the range with my cousin in Cali. We easily shot 300 rounds in a day and wanted to do more. My 1 week vaca basically went towards shooting and more shooting. At the end of the week, my right hand was noticeably larger than my left and so was my cousins. And no, I don't grip the handgun hard, a mistake that I made thx to my cousin and has been doing and telling other noobs for years b/c so called expert told him to grip it as hard as you can. LOL!
 
john777 said:
WTHeck, they have a AR-15 variant to let you shoot? Damn! I thought they only let you shot crappy stuff but that is for $40. I didn't even know they'll let you try out an AR type firearm, but 5 shots is not nearly enough to get my jollies. Hehehe...

I was out shooting at the range with my cousin in Cali. We easily shot 300 rounds in a day and wanted to do more. My 1 week vaca basically went towards shooting and more shooting. At the end of the week, my right hand was noticeably larger than my left and so was my cousins. And no, I don't grip the handgun hard, a mistake that I made thx to my cousin and has been doing and telling other noobs for years b/c so called expert told him to grip it as hard as you can. LOL!
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Yeah, it was some kinda of a m4 knock off. Semi only, as par cdn regulations. 5 rounds for 10 bucks. I agree, 5 rounds wasn't enough to get my jollies either. I would have loved to use it for accuracy though. Throw a scope on it, do some 25meter shots. Eh, oh well.
Looked like this http://www.blueline-activities.com/...d=217&osCsid=b4f93a3aee8a451500fff6611419eee5
I enjoyed the standard glock 17 a hell of a lot too. And honestly. I didn't think $65 to get on the range and fire 50 shots was bad at all considering I don't have any gun licenses yet. Also did the 12guage. My god the kick she had...
 
If you read the books the test is easy as I just challenged the course a couple months ago and passed. If you have never had any hands on time with long guns or handguns you will never pass the practical. At least with my instructor.

Good luck
 
I recently completed the course and it was worth the time and money. Besides...who wouldn't want to play a bunch of guns? They had many models and styles to get familiar with and it gives you a sense of the type of firearm you would be interested in. I prefered the classic single action revolver. Overall it is a fun weekend with the right instructors. Have fun.
 
I have experience handling handguns (revolvers and semi-auto's alike), shotguns, and bolt action rifles.
I've read through the restricted book 6 times, and watched the videos for the non-res course four times.
The only thing I'm nervous about is a musket of some sort. I saw in the video, they show you how to load one. Will they make me do that for the test? Otherwise I think I'd be fine.

Calling the instructor this afternoon to see what's up.
 
As a Firearms Instructor myself, I say take the full course~ Like someone else pointed out earlier, If you havent had that much experience with long guns and handguns your not gonna pass the practical. Taking the full course will also let you ask questions as with a challenge, you come in, write the test and practical with no questions asked. Remember, a challange is for the people that have had A LOT of experience or just let their PAL expire over the years. Also taking the course will also drill in the ACTS & PROVES which is vital. Safety always comes first! So do yourself the favor and take the full course! You will be happy you did!
 
No worries... I can't confirm, but I don't think you'll get tested on a musket.

Written, they'll probably ask T/F if you can use smokeless powder in musket rifile or vice versa.

Those boring videos are actually pretty good... And they'll show you those again during courses. It goes through all the steps for you. You read book more than me. You should score 100% unless you mis-read. The only test I lost points on was the PAL practical (lost 2%) b/c I forgot to pop out mag first to unload gun. Stupid me.. I was pumping out all the ammo and then realized that I forgot to pop out the mag first.
 
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