best round for moose with the lowest recoil

T/C Encore Pro-Hunter with 300 Win Mag 28" barrel.

Felt recoil reduced by as much as 43% because of the design of the stock.

This is a single shot and if you do your part, that is all you need although for a moose, you can reload in a few seconds with practice and take additional shots. I have seen on some hunting videos where at least 3 shots were taken on the same moose with a T/C Encore.

If a semi-auto would do, look at the Browning BAR in a a magnum caliber such as 7MM Rem Mag. The semi-auto will significantly reduce felt recoil.

If you want a bolt action, my choice would start at 7MM Rem Mag, followed by 300 WM and then 30-06/270.

Never forget that confidence that the caliber is adequate for the job will be a factor in a successful hunt.

Good luck with you choice,

Duke1

PS. On the light side, I notice that you are an off-shore oil worker so felt recoil should be a minor factor in selecting a caliber - LOL:p:sniper:
 
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It is amazing to see how some people think it is OK to shoot any game with any cartridge you want, as long as you shoot it enough times or that infamous "head shut".

Of course you can shoot a moose with a 22 or .223 or ..., but is it adequate and human? I know up North people shoot them with anything they have until they drop (or get away and die somewhere else). I also know that your grand Pa shut them with .......and it works with proper shut placement and bla...bla...bla...

Still, there is such a thing as proper cartridge for certain game size.
 
A zillion moose have been killed with single shots from .30/30 carbines. If there is a nicer big game rifle to carry in typical moose country than a Winchester or Marlin carbine, I don't know what it is. Provided one is content with shots at moderate range, this one is hard to beat. But if you hunt along a power-line, in the mountains, or from a boat the choice of one of the cartridges found between the .25/06 and the .30/06 is a better choice.
 
Boomer said:
A zillion moose have been killed with single shots from .30/30 carbines. If there is a nicer big game rifle to carry in typical moose country than a Winchester or Marlin carbine, I don't know what it is. Provided one is content with shots at moderate range, this one is hard to beat. But if you hunt along a power-line, in the mountains, or from a boat the choice of one of the cartridges found between the .25/06 and the .30/06 is a better choice.
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Exactly. I love those folk who spew "If it ain't a magnum, it ain't no damn good!"


.30-30 is still a great old round for moose. It's all my family has used... and I'd sure as hell pit our moose count up against anyone :)
 
Fry said:
303 brit:)
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:D
First moose - good sized bull - I was 15 years old (first hunting license).

Gun - .303 British Lee Enfield bolt action - birch stock - dad chopped the "toilette plunger" off the barrel & re-crowned it & installed a respectable pair of iron sights.

Original purchase price from Simpson's or Eaton's (forget which) catalog - $12.00

I eventually went "sophisticated" after dad jury rigged a set of mounts in his machine shop & installed a Weaver K-4 on the Enfield.

That gun put down 5 moose in my hands before I graduated to a Model 700 in .30-06.

Dad gave the Enfield to my brother-in-law & I think his son is using it now.......it still has the Weaver scope dad mounted on it.
 
Home3 said:
It is amazing to see how some people think it is OK to shoot any game with any cartridge you want, as long as you shoot it enough times or that infamous "head shut".

Of course you can shoot a moose with a 22 or .223 or ..., but is it adequate and human? I know up North people shoot them with anything they have until they drop (or get away and die somewhere else). I also know that your grand Pa shut them with .......and it works with proper shut placement and bla...bla...bla...

Still, there is such a thing as proper cartridge for certain game size.
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I couldn't agree with you more.

Last year I ran a survey on the optimal moose round, out of the 433 responded less than 10% chose 270 or smaller caliber. The overwhelming majority favour .30 or larger. http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php?t=312074&highlight=Optimal

When you take into consideration - "Lowest recoil", I suggest you to look at a .308.
 
I went with a 9,3x57 from Tradeex-286 gr Privipartizans around 2000 fps.Very manageable recoil,so what if they say its''only'' a 200 yard gun-how many moose are shot even that far away?
 
dpo2o said:
I am rethinking my rifle needs for the upcoming season so I am looking for your opinions/experiences. As the title says I want something with the ability to take down a moose but comfortable to shoot. If the the addition of a recoil pad such as a Decelerator for example also helps, so much the better.
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You're living in the land of the .303 Lee-Enfield B'y! My Mom can shoot my sporterized No.4's without any problem. For those really recoil sensitive due to surgery, etc...it isn't that hard to have a nice Pachmayr recoil pad fitted in place of the standard metal bull plate. You also have the option of a drop in synthetic stock that already comes with a rubber recoil pad, or you can pick up one of those civilain conversions by Parker-Hale, Churchill Arms, etc...

More moose have been put down by the .303 Brit round in Newfoundland over the last 50 years than the rest of Canada combined...and I don't think that is much of an exaggeration!
 
Lots of good choices. It's not about absolute speed, but rather about bullet performance/penetration. Put a bullet into the vitals and the moose will fall, end of story.

I would agree that a 6.5x55 or .260 Rem with 140gr bullets will be fine on the low end.

The .270 with the 150gr partition load from Federal is a popular moose load.

7x57 or 7mm-08 with 160's or .308 with 180's, also fine. There are a lot of other good choices as well.

They have good sectional density with standard cup-and-core bullets so should penetrate just fine on moose with reasonable trajectory. No need to beat yourself up with a .300 mag, I've read one too many articles suggesting you need a .300 for deer hunting nowadays for some unknown reason.

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.
 
X-man said:
You're living in the land of the .303 Lee-Enfield B'y! My Mom can shoot my sporterized No.4's without any problem. For those really recoil sensitive due to surgery, etc...it isn't that hard to have a nice Pachmayr recoil pad fitted in place of the standard metal bull plate. You also have the option of a drop in synthetic stock that already comes with a rubber recoil pad, or you can pick up one of those civilain conversions by Parker-Hale, Churchill Arms, etc...

More moose have been put down by the .303 Brit round in Newfoundland over the last 50 years than the rest of Canada combined...and I don't think that is much of an exaggeration!
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as i said i didn't know there was another option:p
 
X-man said:
You're living in the land of the .303 Lee-Enfield B'y! My Mom can shoot my sporterized No.4's without any problem. For those really recoil sensitive due to surgery, etc...it isn't that hard to have a nice Pachmayr recoil pad fitted in place of the standard metal bull plate. You also have the option of a drop in synthetic stock that already comes with a rubber recoil pad, or you can pick up one of those civilain conversions by Parker-Hale, Churchill Arms, etc...

More moose have been put down by the .303 Brit round in Newfoundland over the last 50 years than the rest of Canada combined...and I don't think that is much of an exaggeration!
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:agree:
 
I'm not sure about other places in Canada but here in Saskatchewan you best have a rifle with a lot of capabilities moose can be from 40ys to 600yds so for me it makes sense to have a cartridge with some down range energy. By the way on the subject of moose to all who have responded let us know your count. 21 out of 29 years of hunting All that being said my hunting rifles are the Win 308 and a 300 H+h mag. and I have shot moose with my 308 win out to a couple hundred or so yds.
 
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.308

Very manageable recoil, commonly available, huge slection of bullets.

I think the 6.5x55 and 303 British are also excellent choices, but choices of factory ammo are very slim (like only two loadings per cartridge). The 6.5x55 is also (relatively) poorly represented by any factory ammo I have ever seen, due to the very conservative pressures that this cartridge is factory loaded to.
 
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