Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game 308 Winchester for 1000 lb Moose at 50-300 yard range: What Bullet and Why?

I've used the 30-30, 30-06, and 450 Marlin on them. They all worked. I was more impressed with the results with each step up in power. If I get drawn again, and I still do apply, I will use at least a 30-06.

I've shot a couple moose with a 375 magnum. Both were shot in the lungs and did not react to the shot in any way. Moose will just stand there and die unless you hit them in the front shoulder or CNS and then it becomes a bit more dramatic. A bigger cartridge won't always make a difference.

Have mentioned this before, but the quickest-deadest I've seen a bull moose killed with a pure lung shot was with a .270 Winchester and a 150-grain Partition. Took a step and a half and fell dead.

Have seen a big Alaskan bull shot with a 300-grain .375 H&H at relatively close range. It fell--then got up again, requiring another shot, whereupon it fell and stayed down.

Have seen a bull shot three times through the lungs with a .300 Winchester Magnum, with bullets that made a mess of the lungs and exited. Didn't go down until several seconds after the third shot--while the hunter was stuffing more rounds into his rifle's magazine.

Good luck on finding consistent results on moose due to "caliber."

I have never used a .308 at all on anything.

Anything 150 gr and up should do fine. Splurge on a premium bullet if you want. I've taken a number of moose with the 30-06, using 150, 165, and - my preference - 180 gr C&C. Some hand loads, some factory, some premiums.. Makes no difference. .... Or hasn't yet.

I've taken over 20 moose using the .243 (100gr), 12 guage slug, 270, 30-06, .338WM.

Makes no difference... As they say in the real-estate bidness," location, location, location".

The toughest one to go down was a spike yearling. He took the first one (Trophy Bonded), 250 gr .338 high through the shoulder blade , just under the spine, at 140 yards, the second took his knee out, the third as he was going away, just creasing the front of right ham, and exiting bullet #1 exit hole on far side after passing thru the paunch (uhg!), and the 4th - a 250 GK - same as first - finally put him down, tho he had only seconds left on his feet anyway at @ 160 yards. (1, 3,and 4 made one exit hole)

But he had his adrenaline up prior to #1. And it's not easy shooting offhand at a moving target while standing on a rotting birch log 4 feet off the ground, through a screen of alders. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.


I shot another yearling running, at about 35 yards with a 12 ga slug, neatly centering the big artery just under his backbone. He made about 100 yards before tipping over mid-stride, all bled out.

My wife double lunged a 3 year old bull at 80 yards with a 100 gr .243 Corelokt. Missed ribs on both sides, penciled right thru, turned the lungs to mush. He walked about 30 feet, stopped behind a screen of willows, stood there for a minute or so and tipped over.

'Tain't so much WHAT you hit 'em with..... Me - in heavy cover, especially, I've gone to CNS placement if I can get it.

"Good luck on finding consistent results on moose due to "caliber." : MD

I know I could kill Moose with a 308 without trouble. I'm sure I could do just fine with even smaller. I just don't want to.

I shot a large bull with a 338RUM and a 250 Accubond. At the shot, the bull lurched up into the air and flipped over backwards. By the time his palms slammed into the turf he was DEAD. Horsepower matters.

Must be the 338 RUM making them flip back over. Just kidding, I shot an elk with my 338 Rum it did the same as your moose.

Wow!

Would love to hear from more .338 RUM users about it flipping animals over backwards! Sounds like the greatest round ever!

Agreed!

So...what was that physics thing about equal and opposite reactions...if it cause the animal 100 yards away to flip over, wouldn't it cause the shooter to flip over?

I wouldn't say that. I much rather hunt with my 30-06 or my 308 win.
I'm not sure why, i still have that rifle or why I bought it in the first place.
Prolly wouldn't happen again in 100 kills +/-

Take care

Partition, accubond, Interbond

It's NOT the rifle that hits the Moose..... It's the Bullet and I'd not be surprised to be flipped backwards.




I noticed the last part.

Jerry

edit: commentary - IF I was going Moose hunting, the 308 W is one cartridge I would not consider using.

las;
Top of the morning to you sir, I trust it's a nice cool morning up in your neck of the woods and hope that all is right with the world as far as possible.

Thanks kindly for adding your post as it caused me to chuckle and nod a few times while reading. There are in my experience, few things that replace actual experience and you've got that with moose in spades!

While I grew up eating Saskatchewan moose, very few were bulls as my Mom would give Dad absolute grief if he brought one home. I can still hear her saying, "Fred, there were no nice calves or cows? You had to shoot this tough old bull?" It was a young one by the way....

When Dad protested that he'd like a set of antlers for over the garage door which was a "thing" back in rural Saskabush in the '60's, Mom of course replied that we couldn't eat the antlers!!!

Anyways Dad started shooting moose with a Lee Enfield Mk III, then used a Savage 99 in .250 for a few years and finally traded into Model 100 in .308 which he pronounced to be the "ultimate moose rifle"!

The ammo was whatever was available at Thorsness Hardware in the small town near us so likely either Imperial or Winchester I'd think.

The Okanagan bull I shot died eventually after I inserted the second 220gr RN Hornady into it - they came right apart by the way - and like a few in your post it went about 100yds before expiring.

Dad used to say, "moose aren't all that hard to kill really, but sometimes they take some convincing they're actually dead"

A couple of my hunting shooting mentors had such different approaches it's comical really in that one used a 95 in .30-40 to kill what he said had to be "about 40 grizzly bears, at least that many moose and many, many black bears" as they were considered pests in the Fort St. John, BC area in the '20's and '30's.

The other buddy shot everything he could see in the Kootenays with a .270, using St. O'Connor's recipe of a 130gr Sierra because if it was good enough for Jack it was darn sure good enough for anyone else!

Anyways sir, thanks again for your post and for causing some forgotten memories of fine folks crop back up in the memory banks.

All the best to you folks up north and good luck on your hunts this fall.

Dwayne

A 308 Win is the same as a 30-06, it's just a matter of distance.

I am continually amazed by the misunderstanding that if a 30-06 shooting a 180 grain bullet is adequate for moose at X distance and the bullet is travelling Y velocity at X distance, then a 308 Win is also adequate for moose at Z distance when a 180 grain bullet is travelling Y velocity at Z distance when fired from a 308 Win.

Here is an interesting example, I suspect everyone on this forum would be comfortable shooting a moose at 200 yards with a 30-06, 22 in bbl launching a 180 grain Nosler Partition at a MV of 2725 fps.

But it appears that some people would be uncomfortable shooting a moose at 200 yards with a 308 Win launching a Barnes 180 grain TTSX at a MV of 2625.

Yet, the 308 win (in this case) is actually traveling 5 fps faster at 200 yards and delivering more energy.

Funny.

Tough to argue with that logical example.

I've said the same thing when people talk about .308 impacts at longer ranges and how it's not "magnum-ish" enough. If that bullet is still moving at 30-30 100yd impact speeds, it'll certainly kill a deer, provided the bullet construction is soft enough.

Mike Dettorre:
Good morning to you sir, I hope the sky's clear in your part of Idaho and it's a tad cooler down there too.

If I can be forgiven for repeating this family experiment, I shall and it illustrates a few things you've mentioned.

For a good portion of our hunting we've had at least three family members tags to cut for testing, so in the name of science I loaded the 165gr. BT Hornady at about 2650fps in a .308 carbine, 2850fps in a 21" '06, 3050fps in a pair of .308 Norma's and 3100fps in a .300 WinMag 26" No. 1.

We then went out and shot as many mulie and whitetail bucks as we were allowed to see what differences if any we could see.

As well, we cut our own game which enables us to not only gauge the reaction to the shot but internal damage to bones and tissue.

The short version is that while there was a bit of a difference in the higher initial velocity bullets when we'd stretch things a bit, it wasn't as much as I'd personally expected.

What I believe made "some" difference is that the higher initial velocity gave a higher initial rotational speed on the bullet and thus when it landed at the same impact speed of either the '06 or .308 closer in, there was usually a wee bit more tissue damage. Usually and wee bit being the operative words.

Anyways sir, I'm cognizant moose are bigger than deer and that we're talking about moose, but having cut and wrapped a few moose as well, I can say that though it's bigger bones, it's still bones, you know?

All the best to you this fall and good luck on your hunts.

Dwayne

BC30Cal,

I am not sure I understand. If both barrels are 1:10, if bullet A is launched at 3000 fps and it has X rotational speed when that bullet reaches say 2300 fps and it then has Y rotational speed. How does it differ from a bullet launched at 2625 fps and it has W rotational speed when it reaches 2300 fps does it not have Y rotational speed also.

I ask because my in depth physics knowledge is limited and if I read your post correctly it seems to imply that they had different rotational speeds even though they were travelling at the same velocity.

I have seen exactly that with the 30-06 and 165gr bullets...

CNS Matters...