For many hunters, harvesting a moose is a once-in-a-lifetime bucket list trip. In that case, you want to make sure that you do everything possible before the hunt to ensure that it is successful once you arrive in your moose hunt camp.
One of the most important things you can do to set yourself up for success is to choose the right moose hunting cartridge.
The 10 Best Moose Hunting Cartridges
If you ask ten people for their opinion on the best moose hunting cartridge, you’ll get ten different answers – or maybe more. That is to say, there’s no one best cartridge for a moose hunt. There are a variety of variables that you have to take into consideration and make a personal decision for you and you alone.
With that in mind, here are ten moose hunting cartridges for you to consider.
.30-06 Springfield
It has been said that there’s not a single big game animal in North America that cannot be felled by a .30-06 bullet, and that’s no exaggeration. The .30-06 was the caliber of choice for hunters of all kinds for most of the 20th century. Even though newer calibers have come on the market, the .30-06 has remained a faithful standby that is certainly more than capable of harvesting a moose.
30-30 Winchester
There are plenty of old deer rifles floating around in .30-30 Winchester. You may have inherited one from your granddad, picked one up at a pawn shop, or even bought one new because of the cartridge’s versatility for lots of different hunting opportunities. Whatever the case, there’s absolutely no reason that you can’t take a moose with the old “Thutty-Thutty” standby – so long as you know the limitations of yourself as a shooter, your rifle as a platform, and your chosen load in the cartridge.
.308 Winchester
While the .308 Winchester is certainly not restricted to semi-automatic rifles, it’s a caliber that is certainly well-suited to them. If you wanted to hunt a moose with a semi-auto, then an AR-10 style rifle chambered in .308 is a good place to start. You’ll also have the advantage of using a platform that many shooters are already very familiar and comfortable with, making it an easy transition from the training or tactical environment to the hunting environment.
6.5 Creedmoor
For hunters who want the utmost precision in their shot, it’s hard to beat the 6.5 Creedmoor. Since it was designed for competition shooting, it’s beyond capable of delivering an exacting blow to the vitals of a moose so long as the shooter behind the rifle is capable of making the shot. Another advantage for the 6.5 Creedmoor is its availability in a wide variety of firearms, including semi-auto, lever-action, bolt-action, single-shot, and more.
.300 Winchester Magnum
The .300 Winchester Magnum is something of a Goldilocks cartridge for use on a moose. Whether you choose from one of the many factory loads available or you hand-load your own, the .300 Win Mag has proven itself time and time again as a more-than-capable moose cartridge with felt recoil that, while certainly noticeable, is more than manageable for most shooters.
.375 Ruger
If you’re looking to pack an equitable punch to that of the .375 H&H in a more manageable package, look no further than the .375 Ruger. It’s an absolute powerhouse of a cartridge that is more than capable of taking down the moose of a lifetime.
7mm Remington Magnum
Sometimes it all comes down to the proper bullet selection, and that couldn’t be more true than with the reliable 7mm Remington Magnum. If you load a 7mm Rem Mag cartridge with a heavy bullet that is tough and designed to stay together, then it becomes a low-recoil caliber that is hard to beat when it comes to moose.
.338 Winchester
The .338 Win Mag cartridge was made for the challenges of big, tough game, and it is capable of taking on that challenge and defeating it. With the right heavy-grain bullet, you can be confident that your projectile is traveling faster than most comparable loads on the market and will deliver the devastating punch needed for a quick and ethical harvest on your moose of a lifetime.
6.5-300 Weatherby Magnum
Everyone has a 6.5 cartridge these days, and Weatherby is no different. The 6.5-300 Weatherby Magnum claims to be the fastest 6.5 cartridge on the market. Because its case has comparatively larger volume than others in this caliber, it’s capable of fantastic velocities. This makes it a flat-shooting cartridge that is perfect for long-range shots on a moose.
.270 Winchester
The .270 Winchester meets the three A’s: accurate, affordable, and available. Hunters have been using the well-rounded .270 Winchester to bring down all sorts of wild game for decades – and that includes moose. Therefore, there’s no reason that you can’t take your hunting rifle that you use for other pursuits and put it to good use on a moose. A .270 is right at home on a moose hunt as well as in pursuit of deer, hogs, sheep, and more.
What to Look for When Choosing a Hunting Caliber
There are a lot of different things to consider when choosing a hunting caliber, but let’s take a look at three of the most important ones.
Availability
You can do all the research in the world and settle on a specific caliber for your moose hunt, but if you can’t find the ammo that you need, then it’s all been for nothing. That becomes even more important if you fail to bring enough ammo with you on the hunt. Your moose camp may be remote and the likelihood of finding some calibers may be slim if you need to restock.
Performance
Perhaps the most important part of choosing a hunting caliber is evaluating its performance. You’ve got to be sure that the load you choose is going to be capable of taking down the type of game you’re hunting in a quick and ethical manner. This is especially true when it comes to large animals like moose.
Cost
That ammo prices have risen exponentially in recent years is an unpleasant yet cold, hard fact. Similar to our point on availability, you’ve got to be able to afford the ammo when you find it. Some calibers are less expensive than others, but that doesn’t mean that they’re going to be any less effective at bringing down a moose.
Suppressed Hunting
Once you experience your first hunt with a suppressor, you won’t ever want to hunt without one again. If you’ve never done it before, that may sound like an exaggeration, but trust us, it’s not. Here’s why.
Benefits of Hunting With a Suppressor
Even when they were first commercially introduced in 1909, suppressors were actively marketed to hunters, and for good reason – they make hunting safer and quieter, eliminate the need for bulky hearing protection, and improve accuracy when shooting.
Here are just a few of the reasons why suppressed hunting is better hunting:
It makes the outdoors quiet again
Suppressors, when paired with the right firearm and ammo, reduce the sound of a gunshot to hearing safe levels, and “dull the edge” of the sound of a gunshot.
A suppressed rifle doesn’t disturb the game that you are after
Animals have great hearing, and that’s to their benefit – not yours. The hearing of coyotes, squirrels, wild pigs, mule deer, whitetail deer, elk, pronghorn antelope, bighorn sheep, moose, caribou, and plenty of other game animals all have incredible hearing. The sound of a gunshot can keep them out of their known territory for weeks at a time.
Hunting with a suppressor is safer
While in recent years electronic ear muffs that allow you to hear ambient noise while blocking the sound of gunfire have hit the market, the simple fact is most hunters still choose between no ear protection or wearing something that makes it hard to hear what is going on around them. Using a suppressor on your hunting rifle allows you to hear everything that is going on around you, and not damage your hearing when taking a shot.
Accuracy is improved when shooting with a suppressor
This benefit has also been touted since the early 20th century. This is because the physics of a silencer reduces felt recoil and muzzle climb. With both of these factors greatly reduced, shooters find their rifles easier to shoot. So it isn’t that silencers make the gun more accurate per se, but they make it easier for YOU to shoot your gun more accurately.
