I'm gonna pick something not mentioned yet that at one time was considered quite the moose stopper: 32 Winchester Special.
I don't, I knew someone would say a 22 lr. This guy is asking a legitimate question regarding a suitable cartridge. You can kill a moose with a swiss army knife to but that is not the question. A 22lr is not a suitable cartridge for moose, has a moose ever been killed with one, I am sure there has been at some point.
This thread is funny.
Everything from 22LR headshots to "low recoil" 338WM to it being dangerous to go in the bush with anything short of a reinforced platoon.
I'm gonna pick something not mentioned yet that at one time was considered quite the moose stopper: 32 Winchester Special.
I wondered when somebody might comment on that...
In a hunting situation, I do not notice recoil at all. I have shot moose with a .30-06, .338WM, compound bow and with a .416RM. All of the moose died.
With the 3 different cartridges, that I have killed moose with, which mathematically, have approx 25ft/lbs, 38ft/lbs and 60ft/lbs or recoil, there was no difference. I didn't notice the recoil at all.
I have a McMillan stock that I am going to get put on my .416RM, plus a bit of other work and that thing will be one bad ass bear and moose rifle!
The type of cartridges I like for moose: .35Whelen, 8x57, .338WM, 8RM.
My Dad had a .32WinSpcl and my brother shot a bullwinkle with it a few years ago. He killed the moose, but it took 3 hours of tracking and adding followup shots. The bullets barely penetrated into the vitals!
To say it is marginal is an understatement...
A hunter is always better off buying what they can handle in terms of recoil and what they can afford to shoot enough to become proficient than buying a magnum under the assumption that it will kill big game any better, firing a few shots to check zero, and going hunting. Confidence and experience = meat in the freezer.
I'd like to know how many moose were taken with either .30-30 or .303 brit here in Newfoundland in comparison to the rest of the country's other calibers. I'm all for fancy little calibers, but in all honesty a fudd here with his sportered LE that he has owned since the the 50's has probably taken more moose than any of the more modern cartridges. You've gotta see it to believe it!