2010 MN Moose season starts now

[mconwa951]

Hey Guys I found out I pulled my once in a lifetime MN moose tag this year. It will be in the boundry waters wilderness area here in MN. The zone I chose is very remote we will have to paddle 15 miles just to reach the edge of the zone to start hunting. I will be going on a few scouting trips this summer and will take some pics and try to keep you all updated as the year progresses.

Now for the advice part. I am real straped for cash this year as we are having a nother child in august, so buying another rifle is out of the question right now. I have my savage .308 with 1in10 barrel and am thinking of working up a 210gr berger load for it, any thoughts advice on loads or maximum range for this caliber? My thought is with this small gun trying to stay under 200yds.
Or i have my TC Encore muzzleloader which again probably needs to stay under 200yds any advice?
Thanks again
Mike

 

[trebark]

Hey Guys I found out I pulled my once in a lifetime MN moose tag this year. It will be in the boundry waters wilderness area here in MN. The zone I chose is very remote we will have to paddle 15 miles just to reach the edge of the zone to start hunting. I will be going on a few scouting trips this summer and will take some pics and try to keep you all updated as the year progresses.

Now for the advice part. I am real straped for cash this year as we are having a nother child in august, so buying another rifle is out of the question right now. I have my savage .308 with 1in10 barrel and am thinking of working up a 210gr berger load for it, any thoughts advice on loads or maximum range for this caliber? My thought is with this small gun trying to stay under 200yds.
Or i have my TC Encore muzzleloader which again probably needs to stay under 200yds any advice?
Thanks again
Mike

Mike
Congrats on the baby on the way. I hope the delivery is uneventful for your wife and that your new baby is happy and healthy.

Your 308 will be fine on moose. I have a buddy that loads the 210berger with 48 grains of RL17 and gets 2700+fps with the load. Drop that data in exbal and it shows you would have 1500lbs of energy at 700 yards. If you want to be more conservative, that load has 2000lbs of energy at 525. In the alternative, if you want to go to the extreme end...this load is still going 1600fps (Berger recommended velocity in order for the bullet to expand) at 875.

With your muzzleloader, if it's a 50cal shooting a 300 grain bullet with a max load, it would be good to 200 yards.

You should not feel handicapped by either of your choices.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

 

[winmag]

Congrats on the baby and the Moose tag! I realy liked Trebark's advise, and the way he laid it out. Id ad that anything 180gr+ would do well.
The muzzle loader would make for some great reading when you write about your adventure, and successfull moose hunt. Either way your not handicapped by caliber. Best of luck, We'll be waiting for the story

 

[Oliveralan]

congratulations on the baby and the moose tag!

Trebark was talking about me. I load the 208gr A-max over RL17 for 2700fps. This is in an 28" 1-11tw hart throated for this bullet however. A 210 Berger, 180 Accubond or 200gr Accubond would all be excellence choices. For the 308 I think the 200gr accubond would be my first choice on moose. Those are some big critters, an accubond will put them down good though.

I would try both, see what velocity and accuracy your getting and let that decide.

 

[trebark]

congratulations on the baby and the moose tag!

Trebark was talking about me. I load the 208gr A-max over RL17 for 2700fps. This is in an 28" 1-11tw hart throated for this bullet however. A 210 Berger, 180 Accubond or 200gr Accubond would all be excellence choices. For the 308 I think the 200gr accubond would be my first choice on moose. Those are some big critters, an accubond will put them down good though.

I would try both, see what velocity and accuracy your getting and let that decide.

Any discussion of heavy-for-caliber 308 loads and you can guarantee oliveralan will show up! He may be the second foremost authority on the subject!

 

[mconwa951]

Thanks for the advice guys i am new to the entire scene of rifle hunting last year was the first year I ever killed anythig with a rifle and it was a couple of antelope in SD. With the kids it is to hard and time consuming to dedicate the time I use to bowhunting and extending my range to extend my success was the reason for picking up a rifle. Now I am hooked on the long range stuff. This will be the first load I ever hand load as well I have read tons of books watched tons of videos and am fairly comfortable that it doesn't look hard and seems like almost anybody can do it. So obviosly i am gonna start low and work up to the suggested loads that berger recomends and also play with COAL as suggested by them I was given two full boxes of 210 gr bergers by a friend that picked them up by accident trying to get 185s so I am gonna use them.
I guess call it ignorance but really had no Idea that this caliber and load could carry that kind of energy out that far I am really quit happy to know that this isn't the way to small gun others are telling me it is for moose.

Thanks again and any advice is greatly appreciated.
Mike

 

[Troutslayer2]

Congrats man. I remember how excited I was when I drew a moose tag, it's a good feeling. Do that tag and the whole special drawing system justice by shooting the biggest bull out there!