Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Moose, 30-06, 358 Win, 6.5/284 ,or new rifle ?

I'm another one to question where you are going to be hunting moose. My party hunts the lake country of Northern Ontario and long shots are not unknown. For example, last fall my shot came at 450 yards plus/minus a bit. A 30-06 can reach this far but is a bit on the light side,IMO.

In our last group of four we used a .308 (we placed him in the corners and hidey holes), a .300 WSM, a .338 WM and a .30/.378. My .338 uses a 225 gr. bullet at 2800. This about the same velocity of a 180 gr. .30/06 but packs a lot more punch when it gets out where the moose are.

Some guys hunt the edges of the clear cuts or the back corners of small bays and in these locations a .308 or .30/06 are fine. Once you start to reach out then the magnums really start to pay off.

Find out from your outfitter or who ever is setting up your hunt what kind of terrain you are likely to be hunting. It might have a bearing on the cartridge you choose to use.

I would be the first to admit that small calibers can kill moose but they aren't necessarily the best all around choice. For the same reasons I don't think the .223 is a good all around choice for deer. In our area there are too many variables.

Just my 2 cents worth, and worth what you paid for it!

Jim

My two cents is that the .30-06 is plenty out to long ranges. 'cause I've been there and done that on elks and mooses. Put a suitable bullet in the boiler room and the moose dies quickly.

Yup! A new rifle should be in the offing. Them thar mooses wear armor. Ya should have at a minimum, a .338 Mag. with a 225 North Fork at about 2800 from 73 grs. of Rldr-22. IF, by some chance there's no way you can sneak a new rifle into the back woodshed, then your .30-06 with 180 Partitions at a minimum should be used.
Now go forth and plan on how to get that .338 into your hands.
Bear in Fairbanks

A Canadian Outfitter told me if you hit a moose right you could kill it with a tennis shoe.

?????

Must not be a gun looney.

No, he's a moose hunter

Any of those 3 guns you already own will do JUST FINE on moose. I would base my choice on the terrain you'll be hunting. If hunting in brushy country, I'd use the .358. If I was hunting the open hillsides, like where I hunt, I'd take the 6.5. If hunting mixed terrain, well then that '06 sounds like the way to go.

HOWEVER, I would definitely, above all, get a shiny new Tikka T3 in 7mm Rem. Mag. and load some 160gr TSX's with a nice light scope using some sort of ballistic reticle

I gotta agree with lots of these guys. New Rifle...What could be a better excuse? Ive never shot a moose ( cant draw a tag in home state of Mt.) but as far as I know, you can't kill moose with anything but a new rifle. Like Mule Deer, I like the 7x57, and I don't know if any are currently commercially built, which not only means new rifle, but New Custom Rifle....

A moose hunt is a decent reason for a new rifle. I just need another hunting season to provide a reason. Unless I just want to carry my 35 Whelen, again.

SHhhIp... I blew it... I should have been more loony... Forgive me Mule deer. You are correct..

You should go get a Whelen, swing by, I will warm up the Gibbs reamer, and will make a real thumper outa it. You can toss some 250 gr. poison darts through him.
If the poison doesn�t kill him the air holes will...


Or you could still use the 358 if you want�

Later...
Do not forget the photo's

That get's my vote.

BMT

Shouldn't he take a back-up......and that be in an adequate (new) caliber as well???

A great back-up could very well be something 45-70ish....

Well, thanks for all your suggestions. I was looking for a reason for a 338 Win in Sako carbine. HOWEVER, booking a Ontario hunt, this is cost prohibitive. I am told that shots could range out to 400 yards max. Most hunting will be waters edge, resorting to spoting scoping the treee lines. With that said and all the posts, 06 will be primary with barnes 180s, (I have to get it shooting like it does with 150s, and the 358 Win. 220 Nos BTs when humping hills (which is dead nuts accurate). I have confidence in the 358 win. Every deer I shot (a bunch) looked like a piano fell on them. Once I had a straight on shot at a hudge buck just over 200 yards He would not step out, turn, just stood there with his big rack looking back and forth. I hit the deer dead center just above the hair tuff. Thought I missed, then he rocked, then he dropped like an anvil. Yes I am LOONEY too, if then don't shoot one hole after several tries and work, I trade them in,(with only 10 or 12 shells, ever fired) My dealer just shakes his head.

Thanks for the poop !

Tacksmacker

Wait just one minute. I have slept on it, and had coffee again this morning.

Buying a new rifle is a step in the right direction, but unless it is chambered for 9.3x62 mauser, you still don't have the proper rifle for Moose.

Make all haste and find one. Work up a load and mount a Leupold 6x42. Call the custom shop and have a German No. 1 reticle (or maybe a No. 4, if you prefer.)

THEN, you will be prepared to go slay the moose.

35-375 Ruger

The 30-06 with 180 or 200 gr. Noslers is always an excellent choice for Moose or about anything else on the NA continent..The 358 is a decent choice, but I would suggest the 06 with 220 gr. bullets would be its full equal in the field for all practical purposes..

My choice caliber for both elk and moose is normally the .338 Win. it is just a well balanced shoot'em all caliber IMO and I have shot everything from rockchucks to Cape Buffalo, Hippo and lent it to a client who shot a Lion with it..

Isn't there even one person of Scandinavian origin out there that will stand up for the 6.5. I believe the Norsemen use that caliber about as often as any other. I guess they must be smaller over there, the moose not the people. That said, a friend of mine recently put together a 9.3 X 62 and I can see how a guy might need to find a reason to get one of those. A moose hunt would work. Anyways, your 06 choice is a good one. I don't think I would worry about tack driving accuracy though. Last time I checked, a minute of moose looked awfully big.

tacksmacker,

I'd recommend you use your 358 with the heavier bullet and limit your shots to 250 yards. It will perform great on any moose you hit properly.

If you don't want to be "handicapped by a 250 yard limit, then your '06 with 180 grain bullets would be the "better" choice. Although a 140 grain bullet in the lungs from that 6.5 will also do the trick. (I once took a cow elk with a 140 X Bullet at over 350 yards and she didn't go very far).

If you want a new rifle, a moose hunt is a great place to break it in!

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Tacksmaker,

If I understand this hunt correctly you and the guide will be sitting at the edge of a lake and shooting across it. That a spoting scope will be there and used.

This to me reads like the potential for long range shooting where an accurate powerful rifle is used with a laser range finder and data to support the hold offs for elevation and wind.

While I am a major fan of the .358 Win. and the 30-06 for that matter I don't see either and in particular the 358 as optimum for this task. Perhaps some magnum rifle would be better?

Another thing is the mention of Barnes X bullets. From another thread I read here there may be failures of X bullets to open where the hollow point is not protected and may be closed.

Here is the post on X bullets that do not always expand.

I would most definitely not use the 358 with the Nosler BT for moose. While I have used 200 BTs in my 340 a couple of times, the only 225 BT I've shot into game was one out of my 358 Winchester which nailed a red fox at around 50 yards. Started even at lowly speeds, that bullet came completely undone on an animal about 1% of the size of a moose (and I found the jacket lying in the snow nearby). The 358 deserves something like 225 Partitions, the 200 TSX, or 250 Speer or Hornady bullets.



Can't hardly fault the old '06 as a good moose rifle though. 399 yards and this old boy didn't stop a plain ol' C&C (190 Inter-locked). Gotta be reliable to become boring.