Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game 30 caliber bullet for moose

What 30 caliber is best for moose? I have a 300 win mag or 06 to use. Do I need a larger caliber? Anyone use a muzzle loader?

Rumour has it [here in Canada] that moose aren't all that hard to kill.

A 180gr Nosler Partition or TSX would work fine for either of the aforementioned cartridges.



.

There are a lot of good bullets in 30 cal for moose and definitely no you do not need anything bigger Choose any premium style 180 or 200 gr and you will have more than enough gun. With the Barnes TSX bullets there is no need to go above 180 gr.

Either cailber is quite sufficient. As the others have stated just use a good quality bullet. Have never used a muzzleloader but no reason not too use one. I'm sure lots of moose have been killed with one. Good luck! I've killed them with a 454 Casull at 15 yds and a 338 WM at 300 yds. I've seen them killed with a 30-06 and a 300 WSM.

What they all said. 180 grn in either cartridge works dandy. Pretty much everyone I hunt moose with uses a .300WM or 30.06 except one .338WM and I believe they all use a 180 grn bullets. Those that don't handload use Fed premium ammo. I've used 180 grn Partitions, Accubonds, and TSX to kill moose and they all worked fine.

I used a 180 Hornady "interloc" out of my 30/06 for my WY shiras bull moose. Use your elk loads----that's what I did. If in doubt Nolser Partitions are never a bad choice. CB

I used a .30-06 with 180 gr Grand Slams to take a moose in Alberta, no problems. Two shots through the chest, but the second one was not really needed, he was going down but I wanted to make sure. Ammo is cheap compared to the cost of the hunt.

moose aren't very tuff to kill. they are big and it can take some time before they die. ive guided lots of bow hunter to moose and the quickest kill ive seen came from a bow hunter. a 30-06 with a tsx will be all you need. shoot straight and good luck on your hunt
.

The majority of the moose I have taken were with a .270 Winchester. Initially I used the old 160 grain Dominion Kling Kor bullets but eventually settled on 150 gr. Nosler partitions. On unalarmed animals the .270 is plenty.

If the moose are being driven out as in say clear cut areas then something like the 30-06 is a little better for an adrenalized animal.

One friend killed either 2 or 3 with his .243 in the early days when he didn't have anything else to hunt with.

Hope this helps.

Jim

The heaviest weight bullet I've used in the last 10 years,was a 165gr Failsafe in a 300.Now the 150gr E-Tip is the one.

Any 180+ grain slug should more than suffice from either unit.

My personal choice for the last number of years has been the 200 gr. Nosler partition in my 300 H&H, and the 180 Nosler partition in the 30-06..I am beginning to lean to the 200 gr. in the 30-06 on the big stuff as of late, it really seems to put them down.

My wife shot this one this year with a 30-06 loaded with 150 gr TSX Barnes and H4895 powder for a pretty mild recoiling load about 2850 ft/sec. Range was 60 yards broadside. Dropped at the shot and stayed right there -- shot high in the shoulder and broke the back -- basically no meat loss.

Another view.



I shot this one as a 15 year old in 1965. 150 gr Remington factory load. Range was 400 yards. Broke the back. Moose died where it was standing.



This one, I shot with a 180 Hornady BTSP at 225 yards quartering away. Dropped at the shot and stayed down.




This one my wife shot with a 243 Handi Rifle and I think a 90 gr Barnes XFB. Walked about 30 feet and died -- no lungs left.




All this proves is that you can kill moose with almost anything you can hit the vitals with. With the 30-06, I personally like the 168 TSX at 2900 fps -- very accurate, and very effective. I also shoot the same bullet in the 300 Win Mag, and have absolutely zero complaints. Put the bullet through the lungs and you will be eating moose meat.

150 E Tip 300 Win 200yds.Boom down.

7STW, with nothing in that picture for "scale", my brain sees that as being about the size of my Labrador!

I'm for thinking it was a bit bigger <g>...

If it were me, I would be toting my custom fwt. Winchester in 30-06 shooting either a 150 TTSX, or a 200gr. Partition. I know the 180 is all you need, I have just always loved the 200 grain Partition. Oh, almost forgot about the 190 Hornady! Another good one out of the venerable '06! JMHO

Jeff he was a year and a half old meat moose.I'd reckon prolly 750-800 live weight.Standing with a full belly.

I shot my first moose with a Marlin .30-30, using 170 gr. Silvertips, at about 70 yards, double lunger.

None of the 18 or so since shot with 12 ga. slug , .243, .270, and (mostly ) .30-06 and .338 died any better.

Either of yours will do fine, and you don't need premiums, but I would use 180 gr. slugs. Pick the one you like best.

My dedicated "moose gun" is a .338 with 225 or 250 gr. loads- again, sometimes I use premiums, but mostly Plain Janes. My backup is a 17 inch barreled .30-06, with 180 gr loads. Last year, I carried- but did not get the opportunity to use- a .260 with 140 gr. loads, and did not feel undergunned. For moose- thisis also brown bear country....

I've seen a bunch of moose fall to 30 caliber bullets and killed them with 170 Core-Lokt in 30-30, 190 Inter-Locked (twice), 180 Grand Slam, 180 Nosler BTs, 200 Partitions. I don't recall ever finding one of my bullets in a moose from my '06 - and I have a decent collection of bullets I've pulled out of various moose. If I carry my '06 later this week it'll be loaded with some kind of lead cored 220 or a 168 X type bullet. I know they will do the job.

The selection of bullets these days is so good that finding the "best" is easy compared to the picking of which one do I want to use (try).

As long as it is NOT a .30-30. More animals have been shot -- that's right shot -- with a .30-30 than any other caliber. And more animals have been wounded with that ridiculous caliber too. Crawled off to die someplace. Geez.