Moose bullet in 30 cal.

I recently had a custom rifle built in 300 Win. The rifle has a Swaro Z5 3.5-18x44 and a turret built for the Nosler 180gr AccuBond at 2950fps. I just got it and haven't got a ton of shooting done with it yet. The builder put the scope on and worked up the load, first time I haven't done my own load work, but he did a good job. I shot a nice group at 100yds, adjusted it a couple clicks, and shot it at 50yd intervals from 350 to 500yds and it did what it was supposed to do.

I know the 180gr AccuBond at that speed is plenty capable of taking a moose but I keep hearing how hard they are to kill and how bad of spots they like to die in. My hunt isn't until 2018 so I have time to play with loads and bullets in the rifle for that hunt. I plan to use the 180gr AccuBond load that came with the rifle for elk hunting which I'll do more often than anything with this rifle.

My question for those here is would it be worth working up a load with a real stout 200gr bullet for this hunt and to have components for on hand in case I ever hunt moose or bear with the rifle again? I tend to think I should just get familiar with the 180gr load and shoot it for the moose hunt and anything else I do with the rifle. I just haven't shot anything bigger than elk (broadside with 7mm RM and 270 win with accubonds) and don't know if it's worth changing anything.

The area I will be in does not have big bears, just black bear so that's not an issue.

I have a couple 264WM's and a 270 I plan to use for most of my hunting plus a 25-06 couple 243's and a 6mm that I'll use for anything smaller than elk so this rifle will only be used on bigger, heavier game.

Thanks for your input.

Your 180 grain AB will work just fine on moose. They are phlegmatic; they die fairly easily. It is just that they don't always know they are dead and look for someplace inconvenient to complete the deal. I've taken a reasonable number of moose with 180 grain bullets from a 300 WSM (and 175 grain bullets from a 7 RM). All managed to die pretty much on schedule. Unless you hit neural tissue or shatter the shoulder, the animal will likely run. Candidly, your 270 loaded with a good bullet such as a 140 grain AB or PT will work just as well. I've dropped several moose in the past several years with a 130 grain E-Tip launched from my 270 WSM at somewhat modest velocities. That load works very well for me, and a 130 to a 150 grain premium bullet from your 270 would work just fine. The 180 grain AB from your 300 Win Mag will do the job.

Since I just ate a tenderloin from a moose I killed with a 180 AccuBond from a .300WSM at 360 yards. I'd say you're good to go.

Moose are big... darn big. But they are relatively soft for their size (compared to say an elk. If they were as tough as goats we'd hunt them with howitzers...) and they are nearly impervious to shock. You're not going to impress one with anything less than a bazooka. I've seen a bunch shot really well with 7mm and 30cal rifles and a smattering of bigger- bigger didn't seem any more effective to be honest. It's purely anecdotal, of course- but it's what I've seen.

If there is a fault with the 180AB at 2950fps, I simply can't find it. There are some good 200gr bullets out there, but I just don't think there's anything really to be gained over a 180AB in them. The 200 might give a little more penetration (or not), but a bad angle on a moose is just a bad angle regardless- 20gr won't make up for it. I personally think today's controlled expansion and bonded bullets make the 200-220gr .30 bullets kind of pointless. I've seen a couple shot at longish range with really tough bullets that didn't expand resulting in a slow kill and a long recovery. I've also seen a couple blasted in the ribs with the meager 7x57 shooting a Corelokt that took two steps and flopped right over.

Moose aren't terribly hard to approach and during the rut they respond to calls so shooting isn't always a long proposition unless there's an intervening body of water involved but sometimes shooting can be longish across tundra or a big meadow. Moose have a big kill zone- on the order of a small block V-8 so a 300+ yard poke isn't that outlandish.

I'd take a .300 with a 180AB any day if it shot well. I think good shooting does more to solve the problem than anything else. Despite the size, moose are really pretty straightforward- a good bullet that expands through the lungs makes short work of it.

Sounds good guys thanks. I'll stick with my current set-up, it ain't broke so don't fix it!

I've been an AccuBond fan since they were invented and have shot most of my game with them. The 264's I have I don't use on critters bigger than deer so I switched one to the Berger VLD Hunting bullet. The 140gr AccuBond shot good and performed great for me through that gun but the Berger shoots even better and the wind always blows where I hunt. I'll take any BC advantage I can get. The new 264 is a big heavy sucker to play with at long range and is showing a lot of promise with the 143gr Hornady ELD-X at 3300fps. I don't know how much actual hunting it will see but it should sure be fun to shoot.

The Accubonds have always done exactly what they are designed and advertised to do for me in my other rifles. A buddy shot a nice big bodied KS whitetail with his 257 Weatherby and the 110gr AccuBond starting out at nearly 3400fps. The buck was only 80yds and the bullet hit a rib going in and exited through the offside shoulder. Takes a pretty tough bullet to withstand that speed and hits on bone.

Look at the 200 gr PT. It will smash big bones and get into the vitals of a moose from any sane angle.

JD338

Bud I have shot numerous Moose with a 270win & 130gr. using either the AB or Partition. My cousin has taken a Moose every year for over 30 years and has shot a good number of them with the 300win & a 180gr. bullet.
Moose in my opinion are likely the easiest big game animal to anchor .
Get fimilar with that new rifle & go have a great time using 180gr. AccuBond.
Remember we like stories with lots of photographs .

Blessings,
Dan

Been using reloads of 180gr AB's in my 300WM since 2005 to hunt moose, elk, bear, deer in Alberta. Love the performance. Its my reloading bullet of choice in most of my hunting rifles.

I have been shooting 180gr premium bullets in my Sako m75ss 300WM since new in 1997 -Factory loads in Partition Golds then the factory WS Accubonds and now the reloads.

My 300WM is my moose rifle and goes with me every year to camp. Of the 9 guys in our moose camp group, 5 shoot 300WM, 3 shoot 300WSM and one shoots a 270WSM.....all with Accubonds-180gr for the 300WM/WSM and 140gr in the 270WSM.

Have a fun hunt. I am counting down the days for our trip-we leave on October 1 for 8 days.

Thanks guys and good luck on your own moose hunts. I know I'm going to drive myself crazy looking forward to mine for a couple more years!

The only one I've ever shot was with a .308 and 150 gr Hornady soft points because that's what I had. Was injured by a car accident and the local deputy requested I come out to shoot it for him as I lived nearby and all he had was a sidearm and a 12Ga with slugs and the animal was unapproachable in an open wayside. Moose was quite panicked and full of adrenaline and still quite vigorous despite 2 broken legs. The 150gr did the job quite handily. Shot placement was at the junction of the skull and neck. Bullet shattered the spine and did not exit. Didn't seem as hard to kill as I expected, but that was an atypical shot placement.

I would think any solidly constructed bullet of 180 grains or heavier would do nicely.

Just a quick survey of four friends who have killed moose this year.

.300WM with a 180 Partitition
.300WSM with a 180 AB
.30-06 with a 180 Scirocco
.338WM with a 225 AB.

I use Winchester AccuBond CT 140 grainers in my 270 WSM for black bear and whitetail and it hits like Thor's Hammer
I am going to try out Hornady 165 grain GMX this year for moose in my 300 Win Mag

I have decided to use the 180 gr AB out of my 300 H&H for moose this year after a lot of great info from people on this board. They shoot really well out of my rifle. I did kind of want to try the Partition and AB in 200 gr but kind of ran out of time. Maybe that means that I will have to go on another moose Hunt in the future..... :mrgreen:

Camo

...all the moose I've killed were shot w/ a 7mmRM & 175gr. GrandSlams, they ain't bullet proof, but picture, if you will, a 55gal drum set up on stilts w/ a watermelon in the bottom. If you "center punch" a moose you're shooting a lot of airspace, you've got to get in the bottom 1/2, or even better, the bottom 1/3 to put one in the "boiler room"...

wildgene":2nqsc4cj said:

...all the moose I've killed were shot w/ a 7mmRM & 175gr. GrandSlams, they ain't bullet proof, but picture, if you will, a 55gal drum set up on stilts w/ a watermelon in the bottom. If you "center punch" a moose you're shooting a lot of airspace, you've got to get in the bottom 1/2, or even better, the bottom 1/3 to put one in the "boiler room"...

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Nice description. I'll keep that in mind if I ever draw a doggone moose tag!

Guy

I'd hunt moose all day long with a big 300 and 180 Accubonds and never sweat it a second. It'll dig well like a 180 Partition and it seems very accurate. To be honest I'd be just fine with a 165 AccuBond as well. Seen it crush elk, it'll do just fine for moose.

Took my one and only elk with a 7mm Rem Mag and 160 Barnes. Worked fine. The 300 is more better'er!

After many years of owning & shooting rifles up to the 300 mags I just had a yearning for a 338 RUM. I had no real "need" for anything that big but had a semi-custom built from a Rem 700 LSS. The gun shoots fantastic and will print groups under an inch at 300yds with several different bullets.

But, as time went by, I decided to move into an even larger cartridge rifle and purchased a 375 Ruger, another gun I didn't "need".

When my moose hunt came up a few years ago, there was no question that I would use my accurate and powerful 338 RUM. All that power may not have been needed but why else even own the rifle, I reasoned. The 338 w/250gr AccuBond dropped my big bull like a whitetail.

A few years later I was off on an American Bison hunt. Yup, I took the 375 Ruger. Even though I really wanted to take a bull with my Marlin 45-70, I just couldn't justify having the 375 sitting in the safe knowing that this would likely be the biggest animal I'd ever harvest. The 375 worked fine.

I guess my point here is; if you own big guns that shoot well, why not use them even if smaller cartridges could get the job done? A little extra horse power never hurts when things don't go as planned.

And to stay on topic; I'd use a 200 AccuBond for moose in 30 cal. They shoot very well from my 300 RUM and I have yet to recover one from an animal.

Charlie, I agree with you on all counts regarding the .338RUM. Dropped a number of elk with mine and once I pulled the trigger they didn't go anywhere.

Wish I was going moose hunting with you and carrying my .280 AI with 140 gr. Accubonds or Partitions! Lots of good comments and I think you will be very pleased with that AccuBond in your 300!! Best of luck.

huntnmachine":1r7fg9yl said:

I use Winchester AccuBond CT 140 grainers in my 270 WSM for black bear and whitetail and it hits like Thor's Hammer
I am going to try out Hornady 165 grain GMX this year for moose in my 300 Win Mag

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Your 270 WSM with the 140gr AB's will do a great job on moose as well. I have been very impressed with this caliber and bullet combo on big game. Not saying your 300WM wont work-its nice to have a backup rifle. The 300WM -that's my traditional moose camp rifle so it goes out every year. :mrgreen:

My wife and inlaws use the 270WSM on elk, moose, deer and bear. I have taken a few elk with it as well.

I shot my bull here in ID with a 250gr Hornady out of a 358STA and I shot my cow with a 300gr Barnes X out of a 416 Rem. Neither animal took more than 2 steps but it took them a bit to hit the dirt. I actually shot the cow twice before she fell. In AK a buddy shot one with 180's out of a 300wm and it ran into a pond. Another buddy shot one with a 358STA and it did the same thing as my two moose. It stood there for a few seconds and started swaying back and forth before tipping over.

If I was hunting near water I would shoot one in the shoulder (and probably the high shoulder to impact the spine) unless your prepared to fetch one out of the water.