Moose hunting ammo ?

When I was a youngun .. I shot a deer with a 30-30 at 238 yards with one shot .. Just as they have the big cuts up north I seen a deer walking on the far side of a large field .. I should have let it go but it was a nice buck and I tried the shot . I was lucky enough to hit it and killed it .
That is what happens with moose hunting .. If you are carrying a 150 yard gun and you see a moose at 250 it is hard to pass up ..
But if you have a 250 yard gun in the first place you do not have that problem ..
 
I keep reading that moose are not very tough and are easy to "put down..." That is a load of horse pucky! You would be correct to say that a moose shot through the lungs is not very tough... there isn't much on planet earth that IS tough with a bullet through the lungs... make a poor hit on a moose and you will see that they are as tough and tenacious as any ungulate... I have had the misfortune of being on a few LONGGGGG... tracking jobs (one was mine)... I know how tough moose can be... even though a host of internet folks keep telling me it ain't so...
 
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mike Crawford said:
When I was a youngun .. I shot a deer with a 30-30 at 238 yards with one shot .. Just as they have the big cuts up north I seen a deer walking on the far side of a large field .. I should have let it go but it was a nice buck and I tried the shot . I was lucky enough to hit it and killed it .
That is what happens with moose hunting .. If you are carrying a 150 yard gun and you see a moose at 250 it is hard to pass up ..
But if you have a 250 yard gun in the first place you do not have that problem ..
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Until you see a nice bull at 350, when you are carrying your 250 gun...
 
mike Crawford said:
The 30-30 may have killed a pile of game .. But it started out as a 38-55 and when necked down the people thought they had a real killing machine .. And there was no 30-06 or the magnums . 30-30 is what they had . I spent some time in Northern Ontario . Around Long lac and Terrace Bay.. I got to see what the locals were using for moose .. And they did use some 30-30 rifles for sure .. And they did kill moose .. But (I read this on the internet does not apply because I was there ) there was moose that they never got .
If they shot them and they did not kill them right there they let them go .. They lived there and they would get a shot at another before the season closed ..
I took two rifles with me .. A 300 and a 338 win mag . When I did get out hunting .. If one of the others had a 30-30 I give them the 300 mag and I used the 338 ..
The amount of moose they shot and walked off went way down if they were using the 300 .
A 30-30 may kill moose within 100-150 yards .. there was cuts up there a mile long .. Under the right circumstances a 30-30 will kill a moose .. But that does not make it a moose rifle
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There is no doubt that there are better choice than 30-30......but it was killing every N.A Big game animal decades before the 30-06, and 70 years before the 300 win mag was even invented???
 
350 Mag said:
There is no doubt that there are better choice than 30-30......but it was killing every N.A Big game animal decades before the 30-06, and 70 years before the 300 win mag was even invented???
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This age old argument can be made for any old caliber, but this was also a time before ethics played in to part of modern hunting.

can *** caliber kill a moose? Sure, but today you have to look at other aspects like should you use it? or do your provincial regulations allow it? do other approve of it's use? etc.
 
hoytcanon said:
Until you see a nice bull at 350, when you are carrying your 250 gun...
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Ya you are right .. But I may be able to go too 350 with the 300 .. .. But at 30-30 ranges I would think either gun would get the job done .. Hell I have even killed wolves at 150 yards with the 338 .. And i even had enough gun to kill a deer with it once .. AND MAYBE A LITTLE LEFT OVER ,
 
mike Crawford said:
Ya you are right .. But I may be able to go too 350 with the 300 .. .. But at 30-30 ranges I would think either gun would get the job done .. Hell I have even killed wolves at 150 yards with the 338 .. And i even had enough gun to kill a deer with it once .. AND MAYBE A LITTLE LEFT OVER ,
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I was suggesting that regardless of your weapon choice there is a requirement to stay within its limitations or suffer (likely) the consequences... I am predominantly an archer when it comes to big game hunting... my limits are something like this; 0-30 yards it is "go time"... 30-40 yards, settle in and when/if my form feels good and the target is calm and unobstructed take the shot... 40+ yards... get closer.

The same could be said for any cartridge... but at longer distances... varying and based not solely on the cartridges ability, but also my own and the environmental factors at play... for moose hunting, if I was to personally choose to hunt with a .30/30, it would be 150+ yards = get closer.

JMO
 
hoytcanon said:
I keep reading that moose are not very tough and are easy to "put down..." That is a load of horse pucky! You would be correct to say that a moose shot through the lungs is not very tough... there isn't much on planet earth that IS tough with a bullet through the lungs... make a poor hit on a moose and you will see that they are as tough and tenacious as any ungulate... I have had the misfortune of being on a few LONGGGGG... tracking jobs (one was mine)... I know how tough moose can be... even though a host of internet folks keep telling me it ain't so...
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I know what you mean I have read so many storys about how dumb and easy to kill and I "heard" storys about people killing last years shot moose , my ol man popped a young bull in the chest w 220 gr 3006 and it coughed and wheezed and ran away sooooo idk
 
The 7mm magnum often does not penetrate well with standard cup and core bullets of 140 grains. Moose-size animals are the reason they make a 175 grain bullet for the 7MM magnum. Big Ugly Man said it well. In my experience, penetration is vastly more important than the last bit of accuracy in choosing ammunition for really big game.
 
Longwalker said:
The 7mm magnum often does not penetrate well with standard cup and core bullets of 140 grains. Moose-size animals are the reason they make a 175 grain bullet for the 7MM magnum. Big Ugly Man said it well. In my experience, penetration is vastly more important than the last bit of accuracy in choosing ammunition for really big game.
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The new bullet designs, are the reason that you don't need a 175gr bullet, or even a 160gr bullet for the 7mmremmag. I drive 140-150gr TTSX bullets at 3400-3500fps out of my 7mmstws, and they penetrate just fine on moose and elk. In fact, it's rare that I recover a TTSX from any animal.As well, accuracy is in the 1/2moa range with my hunting load.
 
i Shoot 7mm-08 and while i know is in a completely different velocity/ energy scale the bullet is still the same. I have a 1-9" twist and I shoot 160 game kings and at 7mm-08 velocity they should work well, but I'm not a better so i have switched. I really like 150's in any 7mm.. Bit more velocity than a 160 but just about as much energy. If you can find a 150 Partition i think that would be a great place to start. But like everyone else has stated.. Anything from 140 and up will bring a moose to the ground.. If a 6.5x55 Swede can do it with 140, a 7mm can do it just as well. Moose are not hard to kill.. I believe they just don't know there dead.

Good luck and shoot straight!
Josh
 
Petamocto said:
Thank god nobody has yet started with the "I once shot a moose with a 55gr 223 and it killed it just fine; it's all about shot placement", like they would have on GCN.
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id not hunt a moose with anything less then a .303 preferably something with hard cast bullet with a wide meplat in .45+ caliber. moose are really the only thing I fear in Ontario they are much bigger then me
 
Went to SAIL here in Ottawa to buy a box of Federal Premium Nosler partition 160gr but they were out of stock. The seller offers me Federal Vital Shok 7mm Mag 160Gr Nosler Accubond instead saying its even better than the partition.
Muzzle energy partition is: 3090 while the accubond is 2990
Any thought on that ?

thanks
 
catapult said:
Went to SAIL here in Ottawa to buy a box of Federal Premium Nosler partition 160gr but they were out of stock. The seller offers me Federal Vital Shok 7mm Mag 160Gr Nosler Accubond instead saying its even better than the partition.
Muzzle energy partition is: 3090 while the accubond is 2990
Any thought on that ?

thanks
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I always went back to the partition with the 7mm mag when I hunted with that, took a number of moose and deer with it. Only thing i didn't like was the amount of meat loss due to blood shot meat from the shock. Now I use 308 and 9.3x62 and have not seen anything close to the damage/meat loss that the 7mm did.
 
catapult said:
Went to SAIL here in Ottawa to buy a box of Federal Premium Nosler partition 160gr but they were out of stock. The seller offers me Federal Vital Shok 7mm Mag 160Gr Nosler Accubond instead saying its even better than the partition.
Muzzle energy partition is: 3090 while the accubond is 2990
Any thought on that ?

thanks
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My thought is that the difference is completely meaningless in determining your choice. Ignore it completely. The differences in terminal performance (if you can actually detect any) will be due to bullet construction, not to 100 ft/lbs of energy calculated on velocities you may or may not get out of your gun.
 
catapult said:
Went to SAIL here in Ottawa to buy a box of Federal Premium Nosler partition 160gr but they were out of stock. The seller offers me Federal Vital Shok 7mm Mag 160Gr Nosler Accubond instead saying its even better than the partition.
Muzzle energy partition is: 3090 while the accubond is 2990
Any thought on that ?

thanks
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The moose wont know the difference
 
rral22 said:
Large, heavy game should be shot with heavy for caliber bullets, no matter what cartridge you are using or range you are shooting. Experiment with some 160 grain or heavier loads from a couple of makers, and use the one that shoots best.
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If you are presented with a broadside shot almost any bullet will penetrate through the ribs into the lung cavity. However if you are only offered a quartering shot where you have to shoot through a heavy front shoulder I agree with rral22. You should use a heavy for calibre stoutly constructed bullet. In 7mm cal I would suggest 160 or 175 gr bullets. Barnes TSX or other mono metal bullets,bonded bullets like Swift A frames, Accubonds and similar bonded bullets and Nosler partitions would top my list. A few dollars for some premium bullets is a small part of the cost of a hunt.
 
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