Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska ALASKA MOOSE RIFLE

There should be no trouble moose hunting with a .45-70 in forested areas. But in some areas of Alaska shots tend to be long. A friend of mine hunts moose with a .45-70 and regular ammo (not hard-cast), but the shots he takes are from 50 to perhaps 150 yards. In my view any rifle caliber from the .30-06 to the .338WM, including the 7mm Magnum, would be fine for moose hunting in Alaska. These cartridges are the most common.

This is an interesting subject, particularly from those who hunt moose in Alaska or Canada. The other opinions on calibers are superfluous.
What seems to have escaped the attention of the majority is that one's moose hunt may quickly turn into a bear hunt. This is particularly true
if circumstances require packing the rest of the meat out the following day. My last moose was a one shot kill on a large bull moose with a pre-war Winchester M-71 .348 Ackley Imp
with a 270 gr Hawk bullet. Bears showed up later and were no problem.

Its also a good idea, where practical-to take along two rifles. If one goes south for any reason, the other rifle is a stand in. Very handy if your gunsmith did'nt make the trip with the part
you needed for rifle No. 1.
The newer rifle calibers pose nothing really new over earlier efforts like the 300 Weatherby which improved the 300 H&H. The 30-06 case in bolt action reliable rifles like the controlled feed pre-64 M-70 can really work well in 338 WM, 338-06 or the time tested 35 Whelen. (I have both of these)The older hunters who regularly guided or hunted moose, bear or elk erred on the side of powerful cartridges. Cartridges that worked when everything went wrong, rather than the opposite. Guides like Elmer Keith. Remember: in Alaska-as in WY where the guide was killed by a grizzly recently-
the rifle or bow that you have in your hand becomes your "bear rifle" if Old Ephraim shows up to contest who gets the meat.

Good stuff 450! There will be plenty of Grizz in the area and we will be packing meat also.

Exactly. Like the .30-06!

To paraphrase an old Coot on driving--- "Those basterds driving faster than me are maniacs!" "Those basterds driving slower than me are holding up traffic!"

I most commonly use a 35 Whelen heavy and slow for moose. If you use more, you're wasting meat. If you use less, you're either unethical, or gonna have to use more shots.

You can't win.

Shoot whatever the hell you want.

Or the powerhouse 30-30 "before" then.

Grizz where we hunt moose too. Never stopped us from handguns, MZ, or 30-30.... bears are overrated issues IMHO as long as your head isn't up your.... But dont' forget to pay attention to them moose too... they can be a bit aggressive... folks totally forget that.

500 yards and in, 300 win mag from your choices, but like another poster that asked similar, but whose mind was made up on 7 rem mag already, its really not a big deal.

Kind of like what do I need to use to kill a deer threads... Whatever you want. Done it with about anything you can imagine other than a spear.

Some are more for life than others, and thats just the way it is, and sometimes you put a bullet through vitals and they still live.

All you'll accomplish by choosing the RUM over the Win Mag, is that you'll punish yourself with needlessly excessive recoil, and pay twice as much for the ammo. The moose won't give a flip.

You have made very good points.

By the way, there is a long story about a guided moose and bear story with photos at one of the other Alaska hunting forums (another website), so I was not certain about posting the link to it in this forum. Its an excellent story, titled

You aren't going to waste much meat if you shoot a moose, or even a deer, through the lungs/heart area.

That's just silly talk. 30-30 just wouldn't work.

Inconceivable! Right?

watch out, he may go all defiant on you...

Gotta have a 30-30 RUM.

Just don't tell that kid we know that a 25-06 is too small to hunt with.

Maybe for a dumb moose. ... if lucky. But ya gotta be ready for bears!

Well, this thread was a waist of time...except for some of the smart repartee 😉

I gotta watch my waist with them wonka bars!

Especially with tiny bullets.

There was some smart in there?