Best Moose Caliber
- Thread starter JasonG61
- Start date
A .17 Hornet is allowed by the regs here. It's certainly possible to bring a moose down with one but there are better choices for success.
WereWeasel
CGN Regular
- Location
- Albert County, N.B
Well what kind of moose are you trying to kill; in these parts native moose seem to go down with a .223 behind the ear. Swedish moose appear to die from a 100yo round but then again those are Swedish moose. For decades .44-40, 32-20, 30-30, 32 sp, 32rem, 35rem, 38-55, .303brit, 303sav, .300sav then moose suddenly got tough and only a .308 could kill one unless someone in camp had a remington jamomatic with see-thru rings chambered in the venerable .30-06 (worlds most powerful north american round) at that point .308 was rendered completely useless. BUT it gets better somewhere in the late '80s moose got super armoured and the only thing that could kill them were the belted magnums of old and remington's ultra-mag line... unless you were a poacher then a .22-250 sufficed. Scientist have have been studying the marvel of evolution in these animals in a short 100years.
In all seriousness I being a .300wm owner would set up a brown painted paper plate at 200yds, fire 3rnds from prone and then hop to my feet a shoot more 3rnds from standing at 100yds. If you can't make 4/6 hits or found it woefully uncomfortable I would be finding something with less recoil. I think a 20" barreled .308 with a 1-6 optic @ 7.5# would be the bees knees for east of the prairies hunting.
Find some people with some hunting rifles and offer to pay for ammunition to have them take you to the range to see what you like; it will be way cheaper in the long run and you can see how/why people set up their hunting rifle than buying something because the internet says its cool.
In all seriousness I being a .300wm owner would set up a brown painted paper plate at 200yds, fire 3rnds from prone and then hop to my feet a shoot more 3rnds from standing at 100yds. If you can't make 4/6 hits or found it woefully uncomfortable I would be finding something with less recoil. I think a 20" barreled .308 with a 1-6 optic @ 7.5# would be the bees knees for east of the prairies hunting.
Find some people with some hunting rifles and offer to pay for ammunition to have them take you to the range to see what you like; it will be way cheaper in the long run and you can see how/why people set up their hunting rifle than buying something because the internet says its cool.
I think the standard for moose kills over the last 100+ years is the 303 Brit. A 170 ish grain bullet at ~2400 ft/s or a 150 grain bullet at 25-2600 ft/s. These are with standard cup/core bullets, premiums while good, don't make a difference at these velocities
There are definitely rounds such as the 243 class bullets etc. that will do the job as well as anything 30 caliber and above.
Over the last 30 years that I have been keeping track of moose kills, myself and friends, most shots come at 150 yards or less, very few over that but one at 425 yards (35 Whelen).
So today, my minimum, is a 7mm-08 with 140 or 150 grain bullets. Yes, most of the 6.5's will do the job as well, but I like the option of running a 175 grain bullet, 8.6 twist Steyr. Anyway, the 7mm-08 is very close to the 303 Brit (power wise) but has better bullet options as well as ranging ability.
Many failures can traced back to the wrong bullet at the wrong velocity, recoil been difficult to unmanageable in larger higher velocity rounds, rounds that are uber expensive , this puts a financial dent in the frequency of practice as does hard recoil.
As a handloader I use the 7mm-08 150gn NAB for bush 2600 ft/s, 280ai for long range 150gn NAB 2990 ft/s, and a 30-06 general purpose tool with a 200gn NAB at 2695 ft/s. The 7mm-08 does not need a premium bullet, an ELD-X will do the job just fine at the velocity I drive it.
The 30-06 /200 combo really smacks large animals hard. This observation comes after many moose with the 338win, 35 Whelen, 9.3mm, and 375 H&H.
The round one choses should be based on the animal,ranging ability, velocity and bullet construction.
There are definitely rounds such as the 243 class bullets etc. that will do the job as well as anything 30 caliber and above.
Over the last 30 years that I have been keeping track of moose kills, myself and friends, most shots come at 150 yards or less, very few over that but one at 425 yards (35 Whelen).
So today, my minimum, is a 7mm-08 with 140 or 150 grain bullets. Yes, most of the 6.5's will do the job as well, but I like the option of running a 175 grain bullet, 8.6 twist Steyr. Anyway, the 7mm-08 is very close to the 303 Brit (power wise) but has better bullet options as well as ranging ability.
Many failures can traced back to the wrong bullet at the wrong velocity, recoil been difficult to unmanageable in larger higher velocity rounds, rounds that are uber expensive , this puts a financial dent in the frequency of practice as does hard recoil.
As a handloader I use the 7mm-08 150gn NAB for bush 2600 ft/s, 280ai for long range 150gn NAB 2990 ft/s, and a 30-06 general purpose tool with a 200gn NAB at 2695 ft/s. The 7mm-08 does not need a premium bullet, an ELD-X will do the job just fine at the velocity I drive it.
The 30-06 /200 combo really smacks large animals hard. This observation comes after many moose with the 338win, 35 Whelen, 9.3mm, and 375 H&H.
The round one choses should be based on the animal,ranging ability, velocity and bullet construction.
Cameron SS
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Ground Zero
.300 ultramag is a cartridge, not a caliber.
Ultimately the 'best' is going to be heavily influenced by how you intend to actually hunt, and there is a lot of room to manoeuvre.
Cartridge or calibre doesn't matter nearly as much as bullet (weight, geometry, construction), impact velocity and shot placement.
Several years ago while moose hunting with my father-in-law who was 86 at the time, as we were sitting together and enjoying a cup of tea, I asked him if he ever thought over the years of getting a "more modern gun, you know like the .300 Win. Mag. I was carrying?" He gave me that puzzled look and all he said was, "why?" I then went on about more range, bigger bullets, more power, blah,blah. He looked at me again and said,"how many moose you killed with that thing?" I smiled and proudly replied, "around 2 doz. I would think, give or take 1 or 2". He said, as he proudly foundled his Lee -Enfied .303 British, "well son, I`ve killed 73 moose with this thing, never saw a reason to change anything." He used Dominion 170s and later Imperial 170s for the majority. We talked about grand kids after that. That was his last moose hunt, he passed away at 102.
The .303 British Lee-Enfield remains probably the most popular big game cartridge/rifle combo in this province, many of them having been passed down generation to generation. (Unfortunately, the vast majority of them in bubba'd form, but that's another issue.) With roughly 15,000 moose taken every season, that's a lot of successful hunts with the (relatively ballistically unimpressive) .303.
Cameron SS
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Ground Zero
At Shot Show this year I got to shoot this fancy custom gun made by this little mom and pop Firearm Shop out of Tennessee. Called Barrett or something like that. Gun was chambered in 300 PRC. With the Can and recoil system that was fitted on it the felt recoil was roughly inline with a .308 Win.
- Location
- Southern Vancouver Island
This, coupled with plenty of experience.
unstableryan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Beautiful Okanagan Valley
In my hunting stable, I have 6.5x55, 30-06, 7mm rem mag, 45-70 and a .375 h&h that fit moose season. The .243 is a little... little. I only like carrying it when I am hunting with someone else. Griz aren't cool when you see them while walking.
I carry the 6.5x55 the most during deer season because it's just good at it but during our 2 week moose season I usually carry the .375 just because I can and I am of the impression that if you shoot a moose, it's probably in the best place it could be right there. Given a couple minutes, they will find a much less good place to die. I might carry the 7mm though this year as I just inherited it from my dad and it will be my first season without him and together they have taken many moose over the years.
I carry the 6.5x55 the most during deer season because it's just good at it but during our 2 week moose season I usually carry the .375 just because I can and I am of the impression that if you shoot a moose, it's probably in the best place it could be right there. Given a couple minutes, they will find a much less good place to die. I might carry the 7mm though this year as I just inherited it from my dad and it will be my first season without him and together they have taken many moose over the years.
Moose tags are hard to get here in Nova Scotia, I’m lucky enough to have been invited along by a friend who drew a tag this year. I was going to use a 30-06 or a 300 win mag and probably will. But I do have a recently acquired “.423-300 RUM” on the way and have to admit that I’m tempted to take it Moose hunting just for fun, but I’m not going to even pretend that it’s a sensible choice.
Exactly...! Op have you ever shot a 300 RUM, it's is not a fun cartridge, or for the faint of heart recoil wise, and you certainly do not need it to kill moose cleanly. I have taken many a moose and all with a 30-06 loaded 165 gr. Nosler Partitions. Ranges from 15 ft to 400ish yards. Moose are not a hard to kill animal, any reasonable caliber, loaded with a decent hunting bullet and "placed " well will kill a moose. You do not need heavy magnum caliber chamberings and a small howitzer for moose.
