Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game minimum moose caliber

witch caliber wuld be minimum for a moose shoulder shot form 1-300 m not yard and all shots with a good solid bullet like barnes tsx or ttsx. dont talk off all the meat ruined.

Pretty much decided in Sweden, I believe, to be 6.5.

Yup moose are easy to kill if hit right.

Any thing from a .223 on up will kill them. The minimum caliber debate will never end. Moose do vary in size and some big Alaskan moose will run 1,500 lbs. or more, carry over 60 inch antlers and live in brown/grizzly bear country. Some of them are shot near water or late at night in thick timber. Almost all the adults I have known in Alaska considered the .270 Win. and a 150 grain bullet a sensible minimum. I tend to agree. I have always used a 30-06 or a .338 Win. Mag. My Dad favored the .264 Win. Mag. and 140 grain Nosler Partitions. I am starting my grand kids out with a .243 Win. and Barnes X bullets on this fall's moose hunt.

6.5 mm or 26 caliber

i mean minimum caliber to shoot a moose in the shoulder and brake both of them not jsut behind the shoulder. behind the shulder i now a 22 lr is good for that

From what I understand, the most popular moose cartridge in Sweden is the .308, not the 6.5x55; I'm not Swedish and can't verify the information personally, but it is certainly reasonable.

Don't forget that bullet performance is adversely effected by velocity. Those old .30/40 Krag / .303 British loads did perfectly well at velocities around 2200 fps. I've also heard that the 170 gr .30/30 does a surprisingly good job at modest ranges.

The real question is what you mean by minimum caliber? Are you trying to minimize recoil or are you trying to justify using an existing rifle instead of buying a new one? At what range do you think you will be shooting? As always, shot placement is king, but it's asking for trouble to use the bare minimum. With TSX bullets, I'm sure you can kill moose reliably with a .223 given perfect shot placement, but a .270 certainly seems a far more sensible minimum.

All that said, unless you have some kind of physical condition or a poorly fitting rifle, you need more range time if you aren't comfortable with a .30/06 in a well-fitting rifle of normal weight.

Or maybe you were really more concerned about bullet selection than caliber choice?

A 30 caliber that can drive a 180 or 200 X version to 2700 fps would be minimum - and may not always satisfy the criteria. Breaking both shoulders of a moose is well begun with around 80 grains of powder or better. I still have the 225 XFB that broke both shoulders on the first animal I shot with a 100% copper bullet. I used 83 grains of IMR 4831 to move that one as I recall.

I've used calibers as small as 6.5x55 and have friends who've used 243s quite successfully for moose killing. The 30-06 is a good starting point from which to develop moose killing experience. It can be bettered, but it's enough that it can't be blamed for being inadequate.

Although the 6mms and 25s have taken moose, I consider the 6.5mm to be the minimum caliber. The 270 as a minimum would be even better.

Then say so in the first place. Personally I'd not want to damage the animal that badly. Break the neck or spine and save a lot of the meat. A 30 caliber 220 grain slug should do well on one shoulder or the spine.

Both shoulders?

As a minimum, I'd suggest a 45 (maybe a 45-70 or 458 Win Mag) with about a 500 grain solid slug. Perhaps Barnes

On the maximum side I'd step up to a 50 caliber and a 700 grain slug.

Luisss dont shoot trough the shoulders you ll waste too much meat.

i ve seen moose shot by 243, 308, 30-06, 338 win mag, misc 300's, and 9,3x62 and i can tell you if well done one shot is enough but not trough the shoulders forget this idea ... they re not that dangerous in our province ...

Ahh H**l, shoot em with a .45-70!

maddog

I have shot many moose in the shoulder area with a variety of bullets and calibers. With very few exceptions most bullets will not destroy a lot of meat. And any bullet capable of breaking the big shoulder bones in both shoulders is certainly going to be a bullet tough enough not to blow up at impact.

I agree it's rarely necessary or desirable to break both shoulders, but since the OP is asking, I guess it's a fair question.

FWIW, I can't think of any bullet I've used that has broken both shoulders such that the animal has been immediately tipped over other than when shooting heavy X type bullets. I'm sure a heavy hard cast from a 45-70 or similar would also work. I have driven bullets through the scapula (both shoulder blades) several times with various bullets, but that is not a shot that reliably drops the animal. I would imagine a stout bullet like a heavy Partition or A-Frame in an also stout cartridge like a 375 H&H or similar would also suffice for breaking both shoulders if that was wanted.

While moose are not difficult animals to kill, they are very ruggedly built relative to most other North American game animals. They certainly aren't animals that deserve to be squandered.

The only moose that I have shot through both shoulders was with a .308 and a 165gr. Remington Core-Lockt bullet at under 100 meters. I was kinda surprised that the bullet did manage to break both shoulders of the running moose. I hit a mite forward of my aiming point. Results were spectactular. And a sample of one means little!

Used the same bullet in a 30-06 last year to help put one down. It did break the onside leg just below the shoulder joint, but didn't get beyond the mess it made in the lungs. The mess in the lungs was very lethal; the mess of the meat in that leg, was simply a wasted mess. I think that is probably more typical of what the cup and cores will do when confronted with the real heavy bone one finds in the shoulders. That's why I won't recommend it.

I agree - the Swedes shoot a LOT of moose every year - and they have more or less settled on the 6.5 Swede as the minimum "popular" moose cartridge - or, so I have read, anyways.

Personally - for me (with a premium bullet) the 25-06 is the lightest I'd reach for, for a moose hunt.

I'd agree.

Then again moose vary a lot in size with the Yukon/Alaskan moose being larger than a Canada moose,and much larger than a European moose.

I'd venture a guess that there wouldn't be 25 yards difference in where they fell - between the biggest mature bull, and the smallest - if a good bullet went - where it was supposed to go.

What would it take to turn a moose into red mist?




















a wood chipper?