Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Moose rifle

Use a premium bullet around 150-160 grains.

I lost a nice black bear on a guided hunt with a Sierra 170 in my 7x57. I contemplated getting some Barnes X's and wish I had. My shot wasn't perfect...and that can happen .

Don't skimp on the bullets.




Dan

I agree, lots of cartridges and bullets work. Put one in the boiler room and the moose will die. The problem is sometimes it doesn’t happen that way as was the case in 2000. And some of those moose didn’t stand there waiting to be shot again. That may be the norm in Alaska but a few of the moose taken that year Maine ended up in a swamp or a ravine and it took hours to get them out.

My point was to use a gun that is capable of putting a moose down quickly. I guess the 7x57 could do that but I probably wouldn’t intentionally take a shoulder shot with one like I did with the Whelen. If I’m paying 5k for a hunt or drew a tag I may never draw again, I’m using something that can anchor a moose from any angle. To each his own.

The real moral to the story is when you need high tech bullets its to late to pull the core lokt out of the chamber...

Nothing hard about killing moose, just cuz they are big animals doesn't mean they are tough. They have vitals the size of a sheet of plywood and lots of lung! I can recall when I moved to Alaska in 95 and started asking folks I met about hunting moose. Keep in mind the guys I was asking were military guys with very little Alaska hunting experience, but they had more Alaska experience than I did. The only rifle I owned was a 30-06 and these guys were spouting off all kinds of garbage how a 338 WM should be considered the minimum and that a 375 H&H is optimum and I was like chit I don't have the money to buy another rifle. Fast forward to my first moose hunt and I'm 30 yards from a bull I stalked for 3/4 of a mile and as he lay there chewin his cud I raise the crosshairs on this bull and all the garbage I had been told was going through my head. Your guns not big enough your guns not big enough.....well that bull never even stood up, 30-06 crushed him, as it wasn't a little bull. After killing a half a dozen moose of my own and another 6-10 by buddies I'd say there aren't many bullets that won't work on moose, they simply aren't hard to kill. The only real advice I can give you is don't shoot them in the water if you don't have the right equipment to get them out, that sucks!

First Bull

It appears the consensus is either cartridge (7X57 & 270) will work. Now I propose the question:

Factory fodder or hot reloads?

I am assuming since it is so old the 7x57 maybe downloaded in the factory stuff.

Seriously you think .007" of diameter could make a difference?

The most practical option would be to buy my .375 H&H listed in the classified

Of course it would.


There was the gun counter guy that explained to a customer why the 340 Wby hits so much harder than a 338WM....

"It's amazing the difference those two thousandths make!"

Well yeah, and the same holds for why the 308 is so good. (It's 0.0074 bigger than the 30/06 of course.)

Damn, you learn something new here, every day.

When I lived in Northern BC, by far the most popular firearms for moose were the .30-06, .303 British, and the lowly .30-30.

It's all about shot placement.

Ive done it with 30-06 and 308. Both worked about the same. next time I go I'll be using a Weatherby Vanguard Back country in 06.

Don't start making fun on here; there are probably more than couple Alaskans that could give you a reel edge-ewe-ucation!

7x57 Mauser was used effectively on African plains game for decades.

I hunted moose in New Foundland in 2015 (unsuccessfully) and the guides used 7-08 and 300 Savage when they hunted.

"Newfoundland" is one word.

Just sayin'.

Many folk there use plain olde 303s.