.308, Moose, 150-200 yards...

Skyllz

Skyllz

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Is it a good idea?

My dad... who has been hunting for more years then I am old, insists that it's not enough. Over 150 yards, he thinks the .308 wont have enough power in case the POI is not perfect. where my dad hunts, the longest shot is about 250 yards if I remember right.

I've been reading alot of topics about this, both here and many US forums. I've found answers to be about 50/50 in this regard.

The main reason behind this discussion is I've been shopping for my first rifle lately, I've been looking at many nice .308 like a Savage 10-FCP-K. I would go hunting maybe once a year, but I dont want to miss an opportunity... but I go to the range once every 2 weeks if not more. Makes sense until I get enough funds for more toys that I look for something that can accommodate both.

BTW, he hunts with a 7mm Rem Mag. I cant deny the fact it's a superior round over 150 yards for larger game.

The other solution... I have been looking at the Savage Edge/Axis series in 7mm-08 also knowing should do the job and wont break the bank and buy the other toy later...
 
No problem, .308, 7mm-08, .260 , .257..........................

Hit in the engine room and it is game over.

Use a quality bullet no matter what you are shooting.

Use a poor bullet or a poor placed shot, it don't matter how big you go, you will have poor results.

Accuracy counts!!!!
 
The trouble with getting moose hunting advice out of U.S forums is that you will get one hundred opinions from people with less knowledge of moose hunting than you already have.
From what I've seen 90% of the people offering up an opinion on moose rifles have never seen a moose let alone shot one.

There's one active right now where it's pointing to the .375 H&H as "minimum".

I think it's because their parents never let them play with .303's when they were kids.:stirthepot2:
 
Skyllz said:
Is it a good idea?

My dad... who has been hunting for more years then I am old, insists that it's not enough. Over 150 yards, he thinks the .308 wont have enough power in case the POI is not perfect. where my dad hunts, the longest shot is about 250 yards if I remember right..
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Head shot and game over.
 
I have shot moose out to 375 yards in my .308's with good bullets and never had moose travel more than 30 yards before givin up and they were not all perfect angle shots.
 
Thanks for the advice... I guess i'd be better off shooting something with a rifle I will be used to and have shot often then a couple times per year to zero it before season.
 
DOUGLAS D said:
The trouble with getting moose hunting advice out of U.S forums is that you will get one hundred opinions from people with less knowledge of moose hunting than you already have.
From what I've seen 90% of the people offering up an opinion on moose rifles have never seen a moose let alone shot one.

There's one active right now where it's pointing to the .375 H&H as "minimum".

I think it's because their parents never let them play with .303's when they were kids.:stirthepot2:
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I agree with you on this. I just finished reading an article by a well respected gun writer that claimed that the minimum cal for white tail deal is a 30-06 and 220 gr bullets and even then the deer should be under 100 yards and perfect angle. WTF... Are the deer in the states wearing body armour now. I lost count how many have been killed in my camp by those little 30-30's and 303 savages and the like.
 
If you the the vitals of a Moose, then its game over even with a .270 at 200 yards. The "sweet spot" is pretty big on a moose. About a basketball sized area to kill a moose very quickly, and if you hit the lungs, then the moose will maybe travel a couple hundred yards at most, but the blood trail should'nt be to difficult to follow, and you will find a dead moose very shortly. If you don't hit a moose in the vitals, then it does'nt matter if you are shooting a .338 win mag because it will get away, unless you broke a leg, or were able to get a second shot off.

The first shot is the important one, and a .308 will easily take a moose out to 200 yards. You don't have to be a expert sniper to hit the vitals on a moose, because its a pretty big area to hit. So long as your rifle is sighted in properly, and you can hit a basketball sized target, then you are good to go as far as I'm concerned. A moose won't tell the different between a 180 gr bullet being fired out of a .308 or out of a .300 win mag.

More moose have been harvested with a .303 british than a 7mm mag and .300 win mag put together. A .308 win is superior to a .303 british, so you are fine. Basically if you can hit a moose in the vitals with a 150 gr bullet or larger than its game over, and it don't matter what type of gun its coming out of. The most popular moose gun in a hunt camp is almost always a rifle in 30/06, and there is'nt much difference between a .308 and a 30/06. A moose won't notice the difference if it gets hit by one.
 
While i don't care to hunt with smaller calibers on big game, I think that the .308 would be as good as any of the other high vel. small calibers.
 
Skyllz said:
Wrong Way but you realize you just called my dad(who has been hunting for 30+ years) a moron right...
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Lots of hunters really don't know very much about guns or ballistics. Even ones who have been at it for many, many years. I have friends I hunt with, some of whom have been hunting since the 50's, who really don't know much about any gun but the one they use, and for most of them, it's just a tool to get the job done. They are hunters, not gun guys. Nothing wrong with that. Some people own guns so they can hunt, some people hunt so they can use their guns. - dan
 
Moose are easy to kill. Just shoot then in the lungs. Problem is that a lot of the time they'll just stand there after the shot for a bit until they finally keel over. A bigger/heavier bullet doesn't change this.

A 308 is a fine choice, esp with a good bullet like a TSX or Partition.

.
 
Skyllz said:
Thanks for the advice... I guess i'd be better off shooting something with a rifle I will be used to and have shot often then a couple times per year to zero it before season.
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EXACTLY.

My grandfather was hunting with 5 buddies one Saturday. One buddy had a Win 88 in .308, and came across a herd of bachelor bulls. He had 5 shells in the mag and 1 in the chamber. He emptied the gun and had 6 bull moose on the ground- one for each guy with a tag.

The .308 works just fine out to longer ranges than most people can even think about hitting the vitals of a moose. Just make sure you put that bullet through the boiler room and you'll be eating moose meat in short order.
 
dan belisle said:
Lots of hunters really don't know very much about guns or ballistics. Even ones who have been at it for many, many years. I have friends I hunt with, some of whom have been hunting since the 50's, who really don't know much about any gun but the one they use, and for most of them, it's just a tool to get the job done. They are hunters, not gun guys. Nothing wrong with that. Some people own guns so they can hunt, some people hunt so they can use their guns. - dan
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x2

There are hunters, and there are shooters. Some people are both. A few guys I hunt with just don't have a clue. All they know is the gun they have is good enough.


In the last 20 years, I've shot more moose at less than 50 yards, than further away. A 308 has plenty of energy for moose and is only slightly less than what a 30.06 has to offer.
 
SuperCub said:
Moose are easy to kill. Just shoot then in the lungs. Problem is that a lot of the time they'll just stand there after the shot for a bit until they finally keel over. A bigger/heavier bullet doesn't change this.

A 308 is a fine choice, esp with a good bullet like a TSX or Partition.

.
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Or, they will go for a short walk. Almost always, they walk into deeper crap, unfortunately, but whether it's a .308 or .338 won't make much difference under 200 yards.
 
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