Selecting a gun for moose season

By Bill Graves
Outdoor columnist
    Since the annual Maine Moose lottery in June, I’ve fielded three phone calls regarding the best caliber rifle for hunting the Pine Tree State’s biggest game animal. Two men and one lady made inquiries, two were novice hunters and all three were first-time moose permit holders. I tried to explain to each one that selecting a moose gun can be as simple or as difficult a choice as each individual shooter wants to make it.
SINGLE SHOT – Outdoor writer Bill Graves used a Ruger No. 1, single shot in .270 caliber to drop this bull moose with one shot at nearly 250 yards.  A high-powered rifle can be iffy for firing through brush, but a heavy bullet and moderate speed cartridge like a .45-70 will plow through and get the job done.
    For a lot of sportsmen the best moose rifle is the one they already own. It’s probably their deer rifle, and that’s generally not a bad choice since they are very familiar with handling and shooting their old favorite long gun. Folks who need to purchase a firearm specifically to bag and tag a moose, especially novice hunters and shooters, and particularly adolescents and small-framed women, need to put a lot of thought into their selection.
    My stock answer when someone asks me about choosing a gun for any type of hunting, from wing shooting waterfowl to bear hunting to plinking rabbits is my Dad’s old line: “The most powerful and most expensive gun is still only as good as the person shooting it.”
    Part one of Maine’s multi-session moose season is underway right now, but there’s still time to buy a rifle and prepare for the October session. It’s possible to walk into a gun shop, buy a rifle, have a scope mounted and bore sighted, practice a few shots at the target range and kill a moose the next day. In all likelihood however, a novice will run into difficulties during the heat of the hunt without plenty of practice and the result will be a missed shot or a wounded animal.
    Year in and year out, the .30-06, .308, and the .270 are the three most popular calibers used to down Maine moose. Since I’ve hunted with a .270 for about 40 years I’m a bit biased, but it sure worked on my last moose hunt. I used a Ruger No. 1, single shot .270 topped with a 3 X 9 scope and a 140 grain Federal Vital-Shock cartridge to make a 249 yard shot dropping the 872 pound bull on the spot. Any of these three proven big game calibers will perform at short or long range in the hands of a proficient marksman.
    Other mid to long range rifle calibers that boast flat trajectories, moderate recoil for average-size shooters and desirable impact energy to stop and drop a big moose include the .280 Remington, 8mm Remington Mag. and the 35 Whelen. All of these cartridges as well as the three most popular ones previously mentioned offer at least three bullet weights each to choose from as well as various bullet compositions and configurations to ensure deep penetration, controlled mushroom and minimal fragmentation.
    For youth hunters and female shooters small in stature, recoil is a great concern. No one can shoot consistently if they flinch due to excessive shoulder abuse with each shot. For pinpoint accuracy at long range without heavy recoil it’s hard to beat a .243 or a 7 mm-08, and while these are great choices for small-framed shooters, their knock-down power is suspect, so accuracy and a quick follow up shots are essential.
    Another option offering reduced recoil is one of the new gas-operated, semi-auto shotguns with special recoil-reduction systems. A rifled barrel will assure accuracy and a sabot or slug will certainly yield all the penetration and knock down power necessary to stop a moose. The down side of an accurate, short, rifled-barrel slug gun is distance; 100 yards is a long shot due to the drop of these huge, heavy projectiles so it’s crucial to be within 50- to 75-yards of the animal.
    Probably more deer and moose have been dropped with the venerable old .30-30 in the 1900s than we could ever count. While that caliber will still work for close to moderate distance shots for those hunting brush and thick forest, there are better choices for dense cover. My first choice would be a .45-70 with an Aimpoint red dot sight for quick target acquisition. A .444 Marlin is another lethal load of lead for hunters who plan on calling a moose close or perhaps sneaking up on one in heavy woods.
    Some shooters feel the more gun the better, and select one of several .300 magnum or 7 mm magnum rifles, and a few opt for the  fairly new.325 Winchester Short Magnum. While these are certainly effective they are a lot of gun for the average shooter to handle.  Regardless of how big a chunk of lead a rifle fires or how fast it travels, it’s all wasted if the shooter can’t effectively hit a vital area with that first shot.  
Handgun hunters will want a lot of wallop to knock down a moose and in most cases the shots have to be in the 50-yard range to assure accuracy with open sights. Add a scope and the big bore hand cannons like the .454 Casull, .480 Ruger, and my personal favorite the Smith and Wesson .460XVR are accurate out to 100 yards easily and often further with a solid rest for support.
    Entire books have been written on matching certain calibers to specific game animals, and as you can well imagine there’s a lot of disagreement and speculation.
     In the end it’s a matter of personal preference as to make and model, and as to the best caliber, it’s the one that hits the paper target and the big game animal for the shooter time after time.
    Whatever the final choice, lots of practice and confidence in the gun are truly what make it effective.