.270 For Moose?

Would you use a .270 for Moose in Canada or Alaska?

Not my 1st choice as I have better suited for the tasking but yes, however, I'll use one of the top premium bullets (140/150 gr or heavier) and try to keep it within 1500 ft-lbs of energy at point of impact (just my personal choice).

Good luck!

Ed
 
I have only killed 2 moose and both of my sons have each killed 1, so I'm not an expert. The .270 will do the job. Use a bullet that will get good penetration. Don't expect it to drop at your shot. Get close enough to be sure of your shot placement. It will work, but there are better choices.
If you are paying for a trip to Canada or Alaska you might want to borrow or buy something in a .30 caliber or larger. Even the 7mm's offer significant increase in bullet weights. Shoot a heavy for caliber bullet.
A good quality bullet placed right will do the trick with any of them. The bigger calibers just kill faster and give you a greater margin for error. Bruce
 
My friend shot a Canadian moose with 270 under 150 yards. In my opinion, .277 is a tiny bullet, compared to 7mm (.284) or .308

It will kill the moose in the shot placement. As for Alaskan moose, it is way bigger and stronger so...
I'd choose bigger caliber to do the good job.
 
I've harvested on Idaho bull moose w/the 270 Win.

He wasn't the largest moose on the mountain coming in at 400 pounds, 4 qtrs hanging in the butcher shop.

It took awhile but he ended up harvested.

First shot @ 60 yards w/130 Sierra BT @ 3190 MV. Complete penetration with vigorous dust on off side hill side. Bullet expanded well taking the top off the heart.

Second shot, about 5 minutes, seemed like ages, again at 60 yards. This time through both shoulder blades about 2" above the joint.

That one slammed him.

Pretty amazed that nothing happened with that first shot.

Next time I go after a moose it's gonna be 5 shots. First in the boiler room then one for each knee. Then I'll tie the sucker to an aspen and use the pistol to finish.

They aren't hard to kill but some time take a long time to expire...:)
 
I hunt moose here in Canada yearly and the 270 is used more often then that. My old man has hunted moose for 25+ years and has never shot anything bigger then 270. Win. Currently using 150 gr partitions but now I'm reloading I'm thinking of trying 140 gr accubonds. One way or another he's never lost a moose, as long as shots are good the moose will go down.
 
Roy, 10-4 on the Knee Caps.:)

OP, My only Moose was in Seward, AK before The Pipe Line, mid AUG about 1972 ish.
Long story short, for 45 years I used W Mod 70 FW .270 / WW 130 gr Silver Tips except for that trip I got some 150gr Core Locks for BIG BAD STUFF! Cuz and me were climbing up the Mt. for a white spot-Billy Bob- and come across a box canyon with a snow cap in the bottom.. There was a young Bull Moose down in the middle in high weeds (they were 3-4 ft tall) so cuz sneaks 250 yds down the side of the canyon to try to drive him out in the open. About the time he gets to the bottom the Moose took a couple steps out from behind the clutter that had me blocked from a clean shot and stopped broad side. Put cross hairs of the K-4 centered right behind the shoulder and sent first round downgun) 250 yds (guessed range) at about a 35 / 40 degree slope = about a 50 / 60 yrd Horizonal shot-(Guessed drop). Nothing moved and saw nothing of hit in snow. Held up about 3 in higher on him and fired # 2 gun)– No movement or hit in snow. Laid cross hairs on his back and fired # 3.gun) Still no movement or hit in snow. He had no idea where I was or what was going on.
I started thinking "...he is in the middle of a box canyon and I can shoot all 5 of my rounds before he can get out of my line of fire" so I started pushing 3 new 150s into the Mod 70. About that time he shook his head and fell over DRT! When we got to him I had put all three in a vetrical 7-8" line from dead center behind shoulder to top one just under his spine. I did that off hand / knees maby but no other help.

With this information you can see what a one year old bull did – with three through the boiler room he just sucked it up and stood there cause the sound echos must have been all over the place. But, it only took 35 / 45 sec. (Total time) before he went down. No Idea what would have happened if I had picked the center shoulder, which is what I would do today with my Tikka T-3 in 338WM and 225gr MRXs at 2,995 / 3,005fps.--My one load.

In CO for ELK I now shoot factory-Hornady Superformance 185 GMXs cause they kick less and are a little faster and NELLIE likes 'em. Barnes quit making the SHORT 225 MRXs and that is why I have a life time supply......I'm saving mine for " BIG BAD STUFF" if I ever get to go to AK again. If you are like I was back in the 1970s -one gun for North America – go for it and use the biggest .270 round that your gun likes. Good Luck.
 
Yep - 270 will work great. A 150gr bullet and down it goes. Moose aren't that tough to kill. A 260 or 6.5x55 is plenty. Heck, a lot of moose are killed during the winter hunts off snow machines with .243s. However, for out of state folks hunting in the fall...... often there are bears that are not so wimpy where you find those moose - so going bigger has as much to do with them as to do with the moose - and if you wind up having a brownie that you can't see, huffing and popping his teeth at you from 20 feet away, through brush that is over your head then a 375 H&H is gonna seem small.
 
270 will work, bullet placement is key with everything you shoot at.
my tc contender 23" 30/30 dropped one last winter hunt first round in the rib cage. second base skull and neck bone. the 270 has a little more power than the 30/30.
 
If the 270 is what you can shoot striaght go for it. It is shot placement that counts not bullet diameter or foot pounds. Good luck!


Don't be so sure of that, especially the energy comment when it most certainly has much to do with what you need to properly and humanely take an animal, especially as distance increases.
 
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