Moose Gun

Obviously nothing less than the good 'ole four five eight will do for such a magnificent beast!

A hand full of these will provide some insurance that your prey does not turn tail and come after you with thunderous fury:



Preferably in a rifle such as this:



This 'ole girl will 6 down and one in the chamber for maximum 458 moose stopping goodness. I recommend a minimum bullet weight of 450gr. In fact the 450gr Barnes X, as previously shown, has been proven quite adequate on the monstrous creature commonly known as the "moose". Might even be good insurance to load the first 3 shots as softs and the last 4 as solids just in case 'ole swamp donkey decides to charge in the thicket.

... in all seriousness.

All previous answers have been fantastic. Pick up a rifle you shoot well with .243-.264 being a minimum caliber with enough powder behind it to send a decent bullet into the boiler room within the design limits of said bullet AND within your personal shooting limits and you will be just fine.
That being said... I would still take my 458 :)
 
Shot placement, shot placement, shot placement: I run my .308 out to 400M on moose & bear. Excellent gun, light, more than enough power, ammo easily found anywhere and great selection from very light to heavy projectiles.
 
and whatever you shoot it with, if it's a good lung shot, just remain quiet and reload. Moose I shot didn't run off like deer (especially whitetail) with lung shots. but if you start jumping around or hooting and hollering, you're almost guaranteed they'll make for the densest brush and make things 10x worse as far as dressing them out and getting them out of there.
 
I shot my last two moose with a 270 Wby and a 375H&H.

When I head out again I will have one or more of the following 300RUM/375JDJ/375H&H/375RUM/45-70 ah who am I kidding I'll probably have all of them with me.
 
My last moose was hit at very close range with a Remington 798 in 7mm Rem Mag and Nosler 150g Ballistic Tips. Not pretty, four rounds and 400 yards later, tracking through dense bush.
If close range is frequent choose one of the under 3000 fps rounds with lots of bullet for caliber and wait for broad side shots. Be patient and they will fall down.
 
Where are you hunting? If you're going to be close range - to within 200 yds, a 45-70 is nice because it damages very little meat. The hot 30's can make a helluva mess. I've seen entire quarters pretty much ruined. 200-400 yds, 308 or '06 are pretty good choices (270, 7-08, 6.5 X 55, etc. are all within that range). Actually, a 6,5X55 kills way out of its class, for some odd reason, without damaging too much meat. Out past that, then the big guns are needed, but keep in mind that out past 500, it'll take a fair amount of time for the bullet to get there, so if it's moving, you can end up a miss, or worse, with a gut shot
 
Shot placement is most important as some have said.. that said... I like 300winmag... is good mix of power and flatter trajectory than 308/30-06, thus easier to calculate and reduce accuracy mistakes on longer shots...example, if I sight in/zero at 225 - 250 yards, you're pretty much good for point and shoot out to 300 yards....if have the time, then even if moose is at your zero, don't rush the shot, take an extra second to be on and steady...
I use a Browning Bar.
 
As many have stated here, Moose are just not that tough to kill.

They are not made of Kevlar. They will let you get quite close.

I have been hunting moose for over 40 years. In that time I have taken them with (or have seen, first hand, them taken with) 243, 270, 7.08, 30.30, 303 Brit, 308, 30.06 and even one guy I hunted with who used a lever action 45 colt and took down a huge bull with it.

Note "no magnums" in that list - not that I'm saying not to use a magnum, just my hunting bunch never saw the need.

I personally hunt (now) with a 7.08, formerly 30.06

So unless you are the type that will shoot at a spec on the horizon at 450 yards you can go with the "even bubba's guns at the corner of middle and nowhere has ammo on the shelf" - read 270, 308 or 30.06 - and it won't command a premium price. Put any one of them through the boiler room and Bullwinkle is going to go down.

And you know, despite all the advice and glossy ad's, moose do fall down when you shoot them with a 303 Brit 180 grain soft point - you don't need bonded, mono's etc BUT you "can use them and they work well". If you feel more comfortable using a premium bullet then you will confidence when you pull the trigger which generally means you will shoot "better". And ultimately, the box of shells you take on the hunting trip will be the "cheapest part of a moose hunting trip" so waffling over spending 50 bucks instead of 30 bucks for 20 rounds is kinda foolish when you are feeding them to hundreds of dollars of gun/glass and spent maybe a couple hundred bucks in gas to drive to where you are hunting - took a week off work and are packing in a couple grand worth of gear besides your rifle.

(Ok, I shoot Swift A-Frames for moose even though I know they will go down with a Core-Lokt, which I used to shoot before the A-Frames came out in the 1980's - they don't end up any "deader" but they do tend to go down quicker - boom, wobble, down)
 
from 25.06 to 338WM with points inbetween. The key to knocking anything down is how well you can shoot you gun. Occasional shooters generally call, "Hail Mary" before letting one fly with eyes closed.
 
snoopycda said:
My last moose was hit at very close range with a Remington 798 in 7mm Rem Mag and Nosler 150g Ballistic Tips. Not pretty, four rounds and 400 yards later, tracking through dense bush.
If close range is frequent choose one of the under 3000 fps rounds with lots of bullet for caliber and wait for broad side shots. Be patient and they will fall down.
Click to expand...

.700 Nitro Express?
 
I like my 300 RUM for moose, loaded with 200 gr TTSX, shot a few of them..close or far doesn't matter.
 
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I don't think it's about how much knock down power a calibre has it's about how well you shoot said firearm. Any number of suitable calibres are listed above. Shot placement is always key. If you looking for a cheap rifle a 303 will work, surplus 8x57 rifles. Some other choices include 7x57, 308, 30/06, any of the magnums (7mm, 300, 338), 35 Rem, 9.3x62, 375H&H, All depends what your comfortable handling. Go shoulder a few rifles, and if you know people who have what your interested in go to the range and try them out. Shoot from the bench and offhand. Should give you a good idea of what you can handle.
 
I see you are from Lloyd. If you are hunting them on the prairies here in Saskatchewan, your shots could possibly be quite long - but moose will often let you get very close. Any good deer caliber will kill a moose as like many have said, they just aren't that tough to kill. I have seen whitetails take more lead. That being said, any good .30 caliber will do the job and there is also no replacement for displacement, so a bigger gun will also work. Have fun.
 
For 70 years the majority of moose in this country were taken with either a 30-30 or .303 You don't need magnums, you need accurate shot placement. Any gun you can shoot accurately will take moose.
 
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