.308 hmmm,

At what range would you take a moose with a .308 you are competent with

  • 100 yrds and less

    Votes: 40 5.1%
  • 200 yrds and less

    Votes: 222 28.1%
  • 300 yrds and less

    Votes: 315 39.9%
  • 400 yrds and less

    Votes: 213 27.0%

  • Total voters
    790
then if the .308 is legendary in your mind I hope the 400yrd moose thinks so too.

In my mind I'd pick a 300 win mag over the .308 for the 400yrd moose. I'll
bet the moose feels the same way. CDN1

Anthropromorphizing moose is not going to make your case any stronger.... nothing legendary about a .308....it's just a catridge that spits a .30 cal pill at an adequate velocity. How much energy do you think it takes to kill a moose. At 400 yards you are still talking 1,800fps and nearly 1,200 foot pounds of energy. Truthfully, I don't even own a .308 and got into this conversation when it turned to long-range shooting and optics, two of my passions, but I've killed more than enough moose, including with a .308 to know what it takes to knock them down.
 
"WOW" this is good humour only 10 pages when I left for the gun club today and I come back and the spewing is so thick that we're now on page 15... :D

Amph love your sig line... :D
 
Anthropromorphizing moose is not going to make your case any stronger.... nothing legendary about a .308....it's just a catridge that spits a .30 cal pill at an adequate velocity. How much energy do you think it takes to kill a moose. At 400 yards you are still talking 1,800fps and nearly 1,200 foot pounds of energy. Truthfully, I don't even own a .308 and got into this conversation when it turned to long-range shooting and optics, two of my passions, but I've killed more than enough moose, including with a .308 to know what it takes to knock them down.
SH all i know is that if I were to embark on a hunt for moose with a .308 i'd owe it to the moose first and to myself 2nd, to get alittle closer to be sure I'd take a shot I felt comfortable about. If I didn't think I could get closer than 400yrds I'd use a bigger cal just to get comfortable. *for me it's not a question for if it can, it's about why does it have too, if something else can.
CDN1 out!
 
SH all i know is that if I were to embark on a hunt for moose with a .308 i'd owe it to the moose first and to myself 2nd, to get alittle closer to be sure I'd take a shot I felt comfortable about. If I didn't think I could get closer than 400yrds I'd use a bigger cal just to get comfortable. *for me it's not a question for if it can, it's about why does it have too, if something else can.
CDN1 out!

I respect that you have self-imposed limits and live by them.....For me and my experience with the .308, I'm comfortable pushing it further.
 
SH all i know is that if I were to embark on a hunt for moose with a .308 i'd owe it to the moose first and to myself 2nd, to get alittle closer to be sure I'd take a shot I felt comfortable about. If I didn't think I could get closer than 400yrds I'd use a bigger cal just to get comfortable. *for me it's not a question for if it can, it's about why does it have too, if something else can.
CDN1 out!

Exactly.
get alittle closer to be sure I'd take a shot I felt comfortable about.


Some may be very comfortable with shots that you are not comfortable with, or do not have the ability or faith in the calibre to pull off successfully.

Personally I don't shoot big game at extended ranges, .. why? Because I like to stalk and get close, that's my style, ...200yrds or so with my 30/30
If a guy can pull up beside me with a .308 and tell me he is going to shoot that moose 400 yrds away, good for him if he can do it. That's not my thing, but if that's his, I have no doubt the rifle can do it.

I do shoot varmints out to about 500 yrds. Is that OK? Is it OK that I use a factory rifle and factory ammo. Heres an example of the s**tty results that you get with factory ammo and factory rifles

032-1.jpg


IMGA0019.jpg


That yote is at 380 something, can you see the hit?

That is not bragging or boasting, ,... if you read any of my posts you will see I never brag or boast. This is simply to state that factory ammo and factory bullets are quite acceptable when you have the right combination.

As for big game calibres?

I had a 6mm that would chew out a 3-4 inch circle at 400 - 450 yrds.

My 30/30. It;s not the gun for that stuff, so I'm smart enough not too use it for such.

Know your limits and don't assume they are everyone elses.

When you stretch out to 600 yrds plus, yeah, there is advantages to tweeking loads and bullets etc.
and even at 400 yrds, decent ammo and a decent rifle are usually needed, but they certainly do not need to be custom.
 
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Exactly.* *Some may be very comfortable with shots that you are not comfortable with, or do not have the ability or faith in the calibre to pull off successfully.*Personally I don't shoot big game at extended ranges, .. why? Because I like to stalk and get close, that's my style, ...200yrds or so with my 30/30*If a guy can pull up beside me with a .308 and tell me he is going to shoot that moose 400 yrds away, good for him if he can do it. That's not my thing, but if that's his, I have no doubt the rifle can do it.*I do shoot varmints out to about 500 yrds. Is that OK? Is it OK that I use a factory rifle and factory ammo. Heres an example of the s**tty results that you get with factory ammo and factory rifles
032-1.jpg
IMGA0019.jpg
*That yote is at 380 something, can you see the hit?*That is not bragging or boasting, ,... if you read any of my posts you will see I never brag or boast. This is simply to state that factory ammo and factory bullets are quite acceptable when you have the right combination.*As for big game calibres?*I had a 6mm that would chew out a 3-4 inch circle at 400 - 450 yrds.*My 30/30. It;s not the gun for that stuff, so I'm smart enough not* too use it for such. Know your limits and don't assume they are everyone elses.*When you stretch out to 600 yrds plus, yeah, there is advantages to tweeking loads and bullets etc.and even at 400 yrds, decent ammo and a decent rifle are usually needed, but they certainly do not need to be custom.
SH my arguement is not with anyones or ability or if a factory gun is able to put an accurate shot out to 400yrds.* Shooting at a target is one thing and shooting at an animal is another. Our game animals deserve our respect, why not use a bigger gun for the long shot. I bet you wouldn't try to shoot gophers at 500yrd with a caliber the you didn't think would kill them at that range. ie) if you could accurately shoot a .22 mag 500yrds and hit paper every time would you shoot at a fox that far? or would you take that .22-250.The .22mag might well kill him if you hit him but the .22-250 would for sure.
That is the point. CDN1
 
SH my arguement is not with anyones or ability or if a factory gun is able to put an accurate shot out to 400yrds.* Shooting at a target is one thing and shooting at an animal is another. Our game animals deserve our respect, why not use a bigger gun for the long shot. I bet you wouldn't try to shoot gophers at 500yrd with a caliber the you didn't think would kill them at that range. ie) if you could accurately shoot a .22 mag 500yrds and hit paper every time would you shoot at a fox that far? or would you take that .22-250.The .22mag might well kill him if you hit him but the .22-250 would for sure.
That is the point. CDN1

Dead is dead and a bigger gun doesn't make them any deader. As long as you use a cartridge that offers suffcient velocity and energy the shot is ethical. I feel the .308 offers both at 400 yards. Going to a .300WM or a .50BMG isn't going to kill the moose anymore dead......
 
cdn1 - how about you do things your way and let others do things their way? At this point of the thread even my dog understands that we are never going to agree.
 
I say if you can"t shoot the heavier recoil (and nobody should if they fear it.)
just move alittle closer. I don't say you have to stand on the animals back but 300yrds is a good ways even for experienced guys.

CDN1

So what is enough cartridge then and how do you determine it? How do you know a 300WM is enough? I'm curious what your scientific criteria is for how much gun is enough. To me, 1800 fps and nearly 1200 foot pounds of energy with a well constructed bullet is more than adequate to bring a moose down. What are your magic numbers???? What has been your experience at killing moose at a variety of ranges that has lead you to the conclusion that a 300 is required? How close is close enough with a .308?

Yes 300 yards is a long ways and shots of that distance need to be evaluated for many condition before you decide to shoot or not shoot but let's say all conditions are perfect, how much energy/speed is required to kill a moose regardless of range?
 
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I learned something on this thread.

I learned that at 400 yards, a bullet form a .308 will bounce off a moose. Interesting.


Thats true! but at 390 yards it will flatten him, and 410 yards it falls 3 feet short:bangHead:

I should also add to get it to 1000 yards what we have to do is shoot it twice! So we find the bullet about 500 yards, reload it quick with our wilson arbor press and fire it again at the V-Bull and hope it makes it!

Sometimes we hit it!
 
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thats true! But at 390 yards it will flatten him, and 410 yards it falls 3 feet short:banghead:

I should also add to get it to 1000 yards what we have to do is shoot it twice! So we find the bullet about 500 yards, reload it quick with our wilson arbor press and fire it again at the v-bull and hope it makes it!

Sometimes we hit it!
lol!
 
Thats true! but at 390 yards it will flatten him, and 410 yards it falls 3 feet short:bangHead:

I should also add to get it to 1000 yards what we have to do is shoot it twice! So we find the bullet about 500 yards, reload it quick with our wilson arbor press and fire it again at the V-Bull and hope it makes it!

Sometimes we hit it!

So I guess long shots are out for me because I use that horribly inconsistent factory ammo and I'd have no way of reloading half way there....well I'm convinced, a .300 it is for me then!
 
I learned something on this thread.

I learned that at 400 yards, a bullet form a .308 will bounce off a moose. Interesting.

Some of us think the 400 yard impact velocitys as delivered by a 308Win could result in questionable bullet performance on large moose. Considering the 30 cal bullets are designed to hold together under magnum velocities we think a higher impact velocity would produce a better margin of error.

Then again the operative word is think. :slap: - :D
 
I have witnessed moose being harvested at 800 yards with a .308 Winchester, using 180 gr. Silvertips. Others are available to vouch for this. A long shot for sure (not by me!), but by a very capable, confident shooter, who uses the same gun on everything. At the end of the day, moose are not "die hard" critters like Elk, so it all depends on your competence.

Patrick
 
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