Ammunition recommendations for Eastern moose hunt

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chrismtl

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I'm shooting a 308 and am looking for ammunition recommendations for eastern moose that I'll be hunting in Gaspé. I've looked at Barnes VOR-TX in 168gr and they really interest me, but the only way to buy them is to order them from BC. What would people here recommend that can be obtained from most retailers easily? trying to stick with 165 or 168 gr.
 
chrismtl said:
I'm shooting a 308 and am looking for ammunition recommendations for eastern moose that I'll be hunting in Gaspé. I've looked at Barnes VOR-TX in 168gr and they really interest me, but the only way to buy them is to order them from BC. What would people here recommend that can be obtained from most retailers easily? trying to stick with 165 or 168 gr.
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If you're not a hand loader go with the Nosler "Trophy" brand factory ammo pushing the 165 grain Nosler Accubond bullet.
It's on the expensive side but worth every nickel and you're not going to get the excellent Nosler brass any other way.
It's superbly reliable and accurate in my Winchester model 100 semi, my Remington model 7 (first version) with the 18.5" bbl, my Savage model 11 and my Miroku BLR 81.
Bench rest shooters will love that Nosler brass.
It's as good if not better than Norma brass.
 
Pretty much any domestic made expanding 30 cal bullet will work for you. I'd find the ammo that shoots best and give er!!
 
chunkydrunky said:
Pretty much any domestic made expanding 30 cal bullet will work for you. I'd find the ammo that shoots best and give er!!
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This. By a large margin, whether the available ammunition is accurate in your rifle is the most important factor. (I am using you will be using factory ammo). Nothing against premium makers like Barnes - they make some great products - but you certainly don't need those kinds of fancy bullets. There are many other cheaper, more readily available, good performing choices.
 
Did you get drawn for the park?

Canadian Tire Winchester or Remington if you plan on keeping the brass, otherwise Federal too. I usually stuck to 180gr for my 308 but use what works best for you.

If you're bent on getting something different, Arc-Inter in St-Jean used to have a pretty good selection of Hornady ammo.
 
There are two of us at my camp that use premium bullets for moose. The issue is the other guys only use normal cheap points and since theres more of them then us they kill the moose first on a regular basis. Ive yet to see a properly shot moose not die from a cheap soft point.
 
180's in any of the standard cup and core bullets or bonded bullets. As already mentioned you don't need fancy bullets, just use whatever shots best in your rifle.
 
Piled up plenty of deer and moose with off the shelf "big green" Core-Lokt ammo.
My first 5 moose bit the dust with one shot each from gramps pre-64 model 94 in 30 WCF.
The ammo was the off the shelf "green box" Remington-Peters ammo featuring the cup and core 170 grain SP.
I don't think RP called their bullets Core-Lokt back then.
I think they were Klean-bore or something like that.
All I can remember for sure is that they were $4.99 a box at Crappy Tire and they killed moose.
 
Gunoholic said:
Piled up plenty of deer and moose with off the shelf "big green" Core-Lokt ammo. My first 5 moose bit the dust with one shot each from gramps pre-64 model 94 in 30 WCF. The ammo was the off the shelf "green box" Remington-Peters ammo featuring the cup and core 170 grain SP. I don't think RP called their bullets Core-Lokt back then. I think they were Klean-bore or something like that. All I can remember for sure is that they were $4.99 a box at Crappy Tire and they killed moose.
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Rolling my own these days, but factory Remington Core-Lokt always performed well for me in both accuracy and lethality.
 
I have shot and or witnessed many moose & caribou shot with Remington Core lokt, Federal Blue Box, & Winchester Power Point/silver tip Ammo. As others have stated, when the animal is hit correctly I can't see how anything could have performed better.
 
Federal premium orange box should do the trick.
If you wanna get fancy and spend more get the remington partition gold.
 
DMS said:
I have shot and or witnessed many moose & caribou shot with Remington Core lokt, Federal Blue Box, & Winchester Power Point/silver tip Ammo. As others have stated, when the animal is hit correctly I can't see how anything could have performed better.
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Thats all Ive ever used and its always been good. I just finished zeroing my 308 with the Core Lokt, fired four shots, first two were three - four inches high, made a scope adjustment and the next two would have hit a quarter, thats good enough for me.
 
NL-Hunter said:
As long as it is for thick skinned animal...
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Really didn't know they where thick skinned. Eastern moose must be a lot tougher then the ones we shoot here. Lol. Anyway I found Fedral Fusion are pretty devastating on "thick skinned" moose. I used 180gr in my 300wsm and they grouped really well. Last year finally recovered one and it weighed 167gr so it held up well at a 80yard shot out of the WSM. Plus you can't beat the price on them.
Cheers
Geoff
 
Great recommendations, id go with whatever is available and shoots well. Affordable ammo that you can put some time in the range and be better prepared for a well placed ethical shot. In 308 i have had great success on moose with core-lokts and accubonds in 180s but im sure the 168s will do fine. Personally i wouldn't push it past 300 yards on an animal this big using 308. I have seen plenty taken down 250 yards and closer with this combination. Only bullets i will advise against is the Winchester Combined Technologies 180 Ballistic Silvertips. Recovered 3 bullets that had the lead core completely removed from the copper jacket and nowhere to be found. I have pics if anyone is interested. Maybe i had bad bullets but its enough to turn me away. Nosler 180gr Ballistic Tips have also worked excellent (kinda weird considering the Ballistic silvertip is supposed to be the same bullet only molly coated)
 
What I like about the Nosler brand Accubond ammo is the accuracy and the high ballistic coefficient of the Nosler Accubond bullet to stretch that maximum range out to 400 yards even with a 308 Win.
The performance of the Accubond is good over a wide velocity range.
I have pretty decent rifles and if I say so myself I'm a pretty good shot.
I can still group well on paper at the longer ranges and I've shot deer from tree stands in timber clear cuts at ranges from 500 - 600 yards.
I'm not hurting financially so $50 for a box of ammo won't break the bank.
 
chrismtl said:
I'm shooting a 308 and am looking for ammunition recommendations for eastern moose that I'll be hunting in Gaspé. I've looked at Barnes VOR-TX in 168gr and they really interest me, but the only way to buy them is to order them from BC. What would people here recommend that can be obtained from most retailers easily? trying to stick with 165 or 168 gr.
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I use Federal Core-Lokt 180grain for everything.
It kills stuff dead.
No prob's with accuracy, have tacked a moose at 400yards, and it didn't walk more than 50 after it was hit.
 
44fordy said:
I use Federal Core-Lokt 180grain for everything. It kills stuff dead. No prob's with accuracy, have tacked a moose at 400yards, and it didn't walk more than 50 after it was hit.
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Core-Lokt is a Remington brand. Did you mean another Federal brand or the Remmy Core-Lokt?
 
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