MarinePride

I got one of those Sportsmans Guide outhouse blinds for $34 a few days ago and I set it up in the back yard to get a feel for it. My first impression is that it doesn't have that much room inside of it. To be more specific, I took my Win 1300 12 ga with a 28" barrel inside of this thing and took aim out of the window. The barrel is sticking out a lot when aimed and I'm thinking there is no way for me to see a turkey and then take aim without alarming the gobbler. Holding the firing position for a long time is the only solution to this. I guess there will will be ample warning that a gobbler is coming anyway, most likely he will be responding to my calling and that will give me some time to anticipate his arrival.

I only have one other shotgun and its a Rem 870 home defense shotgun with an 18" improved cylinder choke.[X(] I guess this would be out of the question? The area I plan to hunt is an uphill ridge of a fire road. I plan on using a jake and a hen decoy placed 20 yards from the blind. I'm curious if it would be irresponsible to even contemplate using this Rem at only 20 yards. Maybe I'll pattern it on Monday just to see how it does. I plan on using one of two loads, either Rem Nitro Turkey loads, 3", #5, 1 7/8 oz. or Federal Mag Shok, 3", #5, 2 oz. Your thoughts are welcomed.

jrbsr

Just get one of them strap on shooting sticks.
And leave the end of the barrel sticking out.
The shooting stick will keep it up and help with the shot.
I got one from walmart.

I hope this helps.

Good Luck

one on one

PERSONALLY I DON'T USE A BLIND UNLESS I'M USING A BOW, I ALWAYS JUST SIT UP NEXT TO A TREE, THERE WILL BE TIMES WHEN THE GOBBLER WILL COME IN SILENT, MAY ONLY HEAR HIM DRUMMING, AND THEN THERE HE IS.(BUSTED).WHEN SETTING UP THE DECOYS, PUT THE JAKE ABOUT 25YDS, FACING YOU. SO THE GOBBLER WILL APPROACH HIM FROM THE FRONT, GOOD LUCK.

Tree climber

I have one of those blinds also. it is really small , but it will work.I took my last gobbler from my blind like that.I have my seat and shooting sticks. just put you gun out with the sticks holding the barrel up and wait.

in patterning you said you would be using one of two loads, Why? what I mean is why just try two loads.in patterning I will get the 5 shell package of Win; Rem ; Fed ; all different shot sizes.it may surprise you in which one does best.try several ones ; #4;#5;#6.

good luck; hope it works out for you.

MarinePride

The reason I only tested 2 different loads is because they were the cheapest. The Rem Nitro was like $5 for 10 and the Fed Mag Shok was about $7 for 10. Everything else was more expensive and since I'm shooting this stuff in a shotgun that has a a FULL choke barrel and is over 20 years old why bother with the obvious. The obvious is that my limit for shooting at a gobbler is 40 yards under ideal conditions, my patterns have confirmed this. At 40 yards there wasn't much of a difference at all with regards to the number of hits in the turkeys neck area. The number of hits was right around 6 on the red area of the target, which is about as big in diameter as a coffee cup.

I could have spent more money for some of the boutique turkey loads, but it comes down to knowing where the load patterns with regards to the point of aim. I have confidence in the loads I'm using and I'll tell you what, firing turkey loads is not fun, as they do kick quite a bit with my Win 1300. As a comparison, I tried my normal small game loads, which is about 1 1/4 oz of #6 with 3 1/4 drams and the difference is extremely noticeable, both in the recoil and the patterning. The shooting stick idea is a good one, I'll give it a try.

turk2di

Maybe im wrong, but i would want my barrell pokin out a little to keep from bustin my eardrums?