Moose - Lets see em!

[tim629]

Moose are babies shoot them with whatever

my dad, uncle and I are going to newfoundland in 2026. they will both probably use their 308's I'm a toss up between 338-06 and 280, i really want to take them both but i'm curious too what bullet to grab for the 308's since i need to find factory for those 2

 

[Sask hunter]

my dad, uncle and I are going to newfoundland in 2026. they will both probably use their 308's I'm a toss up between 338-06 and 280, i really want to take them both but i'm curious too what bullet to grab for the 308's since i need to find factory for those 2

Any good bonded bullet or good soft point

 

[ismith]

Killed this guy with one 180 Nosler AccuBond. He took one step and died.

 

[Andouille]

Any good bonded bullet or good soft point

Im going to disagree on the latter based on my experience, which is that moose and caribou aren't that difficult to kill... Unless you shoot them in a large bone (e.g. humerus) with a soft point, which then grenades and ruins lots of meat, and requires follow up shots. Corelokt and SST for example.

A bonded bullet provides both good expansion and penetration to allow for a broader range of ethical shot angles. Plenty of 165-180gr bonded or even 150-168gr copper options for 308 that will work well inside of 400 yds or so, where velocity should still be above 2000fps for expansion to at least 1.5x caliber.

 

[Sask hunter]

Im going to disagree on the latter based on my experience, which is that moose and caribou aren't that difficult to kill... Unless you shoot them in a large bone (e.g. humerus) with a soft point, which then grenades and ruins lots of meat, and requires follow up shots. Corelokt and SST for example.

A bonded bullet provides both good expansion and penetration to allow for a broader range of ethical shot angles. Plenty of 165-180gr bonded or even 150-168gr copper options for 308 that will work well inside of 400 yds or so, where velocity should still be above 2000fps for expansion to at least 1.5x caliber.

I have shot several moose with soft point bullets. As long as they aren’t screaming they work just fine. Hornady interlock in 7mm-08 and 180 power points in my 300 win mag.

I have shot 6 moose and never had go more then 60-80 yards with five that have gone less 20. I have also been involved with probably 12 or so other moose and only had one go far. It was a leg shot that got jumped and never killed when it go back up. Other then that they either stand there and you keep shooting them or they lay down quick and go you and finish them off

 

[Andouille]

I appreciate your perspective and certainly don't dispute your kills with soft tip bullets. My preference and that of my hunting companions is a bonded bullet that holds together to preserve more meat while offering more shot angles. A "screaming" bullet speed as you imply has happened to myself and friends several times when we've shot bull moose at <40 yds, so bullets we're barely below muzzle velocity, but held together due to bonded and mono construction. I've experienced the poor combo of high velocity and large bone hits with corelokt and SST bullets which readily "grenade" upon impact. For an extreme example of soft bullets vs a large animal, an acquaintance of mine shot a large bison at ~50 yds over 12 times (180gr SST out of a 300 WM) before it would stay down, necessary to keep it from walking onto precarious river ice. We discarded a lot of meat due to excessive lead fragmentation. Perhaps Interlock bullets aren't as prone to grenading, or you've got excellent shot placement!

Probably the more important point here for the OP is that a 308 or 280 with a decent bullet, shot placement, and close to mid-range (<500 yds) is plenty for Newfoundland moose, which are appreciably smaller than Alaska-Yukon moose I've seen fall to similar calibers. 338-06 would clearly be sufficient and likely be a one-shot deal, which means recoil and getting back on target might not be an issue. My friend had a nice bang-flop 110yd frontal shot on a 48" Alaska moose last fall with single 2 shot from a relatively similar 9.3x62 cartridge (250gr Accubond handload).