6.5 Creedmoor for moose

[PredatorSlayer]

I'd pick a caliber that would handle a charging grizzly

Because you are going to have time to get the gun off your shoulder, flip the safety or run the bolt, get the bear in your cross hairs and squeeze the trigger in the time it take a bear to cover 30 or 40 yards? Or are you hoping the bear will start its charge from a couple hundred yards out and give you a signal to let you know its on its way?

Come on man...shooting a charging bear is different than hunting big bears.

 

[remingtonman]

Anyone know the name of the Alaskan trapper that shot most everything with a 220 swift. I read about him years ago but have since forgotten his name. Not hijacking the thread, but it relates to shooting big game with a small center-fire.

heimo korth?

 

[X47guy]

Don't be mean, X47.

Don't take it as being mean. Those kinda post constantly come up when it comes to cartridges, calibers, bullets, etc. Someone blames **** poor shot placement on the rifle/ammo.

I have literally killed hundreds of white tails and pigs with a 22lr all the way to 338 cals. Ive lost a few and it wasn't because of what I was shooting.

 

[dwinmeade]

Because you are going to have time to get the gun off your shoulder, flip the safety or run the bolt, get the bear in your cross hairs and squeeze the trigger in the time it take a bear to cover 30 or 40 yards? Or are you hoping the bear will start its charge from a couple hundred yards out and give you a signal to let you know its on its way?

Come on man...shooting a charging bear is different than hunting big bears.

C-a-r-e-f-u-l-l-y...re-read my post...

What part of..."(I'd also have a holstered 44 Magnum with me, as well.)"...don't you understand?

My grizzly experience is zero, but I've heard they can close the gap to you in seconds. Use your rifle (if you have time), make that one (maybe 2, if time) rifle shot(s) count. Pull the 44 Magnum for the last 25-50 yards, if needed.

This sounds real good on paper, but in reality, let's hope you/me get at least one hit to change his mind.

Oh, I forgot to mention, pack some extra underwear, you'll (& me) will need it!

 

[PredatorSlayer]

C-a-r-e-f-u-l-l-y...re-read my post...

What part of..."(I'd also have a holstered 44 Magnum with me, as well.)"...don't you understand?

My grizzly experience is zero, but I've heard they can close the gap to you in seconds. Use your rifle (if you have time), make that one (maybe 2, if time) rifle shot(s) count. Pull the 44 Magnum for the last 25-50 yards, if needed.

This sounds real good on paper, but in reality, let's hope you/me get at least one hit to change his mind.

Oh, I forgot to mention, pack some extra underwear, you'll (& me) will need it!

I read it. ReRead mine C A R E F U L L Y. I hunt in grizzly country all the time, seen plenty of them. They aren't giving you a football field worth of warning charge. They are usually close encounters from the get go. Carry the rifle for the game you are hunting, doesn't need to be a bear stopper - if you can get it off your shoulder in time you might be able to use it like a bat. Carry the handgun and spray for the bears. The last 25-50 yards...haha. You'll be lucky if it even starts that far away...

 

[WildRose]

From my own experience I wouldn't call a 6.5 creedmoor anything more then a plinking rifle. Lost 2 deer this year due to poor performance.

If you're losing them it was due to a bullet failure or a poor shot, not because it was the 6.5.

Since I started shooting the .260 I've taken over sixty deer and hogs with them and have yet to see one run off that was hit well.

 

[LongBomber]

You can tell people who have hunted and taken northern moose and those that haven't had the chance. They are a much larger animal than an
elk, and significantly bigger than a southern shiras moose. The first decent bull you get with 100 yards of will make you think about the rifle in your hands real quick.
Will a 6.5cm do the job, maybe with perfect shot placement and a bullet built to penetrate. But you need to have the bull present himself in the right spot and be able to place that shot with an animal that large a short distance away. The reality is you would need to pass up many shots on a bull, and on a ten day trip how many bulls are you going to get within 200 yards of? Then how many will be broadside to slightly quartering away with an open slot to the heart?

I am a fan of using the right tool for the job, Yukon/Alaska moose is territory for the bigger 338's.

 

[RevJim]

My only experience with Moose is the Shiras. I too belong to the "cow moose scare club", ha But even then I was able to out maneuver her, it just took about a half mile of cat and mouse to do it, ha. But I had a 338WM/250gr (elk hunting) to protect my life if needed. I can't imagine what a Yukon/ or Canadian size would look like, my guess is "Big", ha. I answered the OP as to what "I believe" a resident would/might use. In fact, I know a younger personal friend (avid hunter) who moved to Alaska 25yrs ago, who uses a Tikka 6.5 Creedmoor Sheep/deer hunting. He normally used a .270, but it got heavy, ha. He hunts Brown Bear/Moose with a 338WM. So, I too also think that any visiting nonresident would use a .270/30.06/or bigger on moose. From what I can read/hear, the 300WM is pretty common, rightfully so.

 

[WildRose]

You can tell people who have hunted and taken northern moose and those that haven't had the chance. They are a much larger animal than an
elk, and significantly bigger than a southern shiras moose. The first decent bull you get with 100 yards of will make you think about the rifle in your hands real quick.
Will a 6.5cm do the job, maybe with perfect shot placement and a bullet built to penetrate. But you need to have the bull present himself in the right spot and be able to place that shot with an animal that large a short distance away. The reality is you would need to pass up many shots on a bull, and on a ten day trip how many bulls are you going to get within 200 yards of? Then how many will be broadside to slightly quartering away with an open slot to the heart?

I am a fan of using the right tool for the job, Yukon/Alaska moose is territory for the bigger 338's.

There's a serious hole in your theory which would be all of the many thusands of them killed before any of the .338's even existed.

For about 40,000 years they were killed with pointy sticks, followed a few hundred years back with Muzzle loaders.

Every year quite a few are still killed with pointy sticks and ML's.

Yes, going bigger gives you advantages but the 6.5's have been doing the job since the 1880's.

 

[MOOSE39465]

If you're losing them it was due to a bullet failure or a poor shot, not because it was the 6.5.

Since I started shooting the .260 I've taken over sixty deer and hogs with them and have yet to see one run off that was hit well.

I was using Barnes Vor Tex 127 grain tipped triple shocks. Both shots I was dead on behind the shoulders sitting in a box blind. It could have been poor bullet performance but I want take a chance no more. It's back to the 7 mag for me. Maybe after some more bullet research I will pull it back out and give it another chance. High doubtful though.

 

[MOOSE39465]

You are gonna blame a cartridge for losing a deer? You aren't gonna blame your bad shot? Or the lack of being able to track?

I can see I have hurt some feelings talking poorly about the 6.5 creedmoor, but I was very confident in my shot placement and tracking skills. I will bow out of this conversation and let you guys have it.

 

[WildRose]

I was using Barnes Vor Tex 127 grain tipped triple shocks. Both shots I was dead on behind the shoulders sitting in a box blind. It could have been poor bullet performance but I want take a chance no more. It's back to the 7 mag for me. Maybe after some more bullet research I will pull it back out and give it another chance. High doubtful though.

At minimum you should have ended up with a double lung hit then.

I've seen the TSX do some really weird things on angled shots following bones instead of penetrating.

I tracked one very large 10pt more than a mile and a half after such a hit before he just stopped bleeding completely.

Found him again a few months later after the coyotes finished him off several miles away.

Hornady GMX have disappointed me penciling through even with full length body shots but the Peregrines and LRX's have been excellent and good. The Nosler accubond and Hornady Interbond have never failed me yet but nothing I've shot in the last fifty years has impressed me like th Peregrines.

I'm not a CM guy but I shot the .260's almost exclusively for about four years and I've gotta say that they will do the job even on very large, tough game as long as you have a decent bullet and put it where it belongs.

 

[LongBomber]

Thats true, but we used to ride a horse to town for supplies. Last time I checked most people have a vehicle, times change and so does the best tool for a job.
Will a 6.5 work, sure but it would be hard to argue that any of the fast 338's are not a better choice on moose. Especially given optimal bullet choices.

I wonder what the hunters of the early smokeless powder era would have chosen if they had all our cartridge and bullet choices.

There's a serious hole in your theory which would be all of the many thusands of them killed before any of the .338's even existed.

For about 40,000 years they were killed with pointy sticks, followed a few hundred years back with Muzzle loaders.

Every year quite a few are still killed with pointy sticks and ML's.

Yes, going bigger gives you advantages but the 6.5's have been doing the job since the 1880's.

 

[WildRose]

Thats true, but we used to ride a horse to town for supplies. Last time I checked most people have a vehicle, times change and so does the best tool for a job.
Will a 6.5 work, sure but it would be hard to argue that any of the fast 338's are not a better choice on moose. Especially given optimal bullet choices.

I wonder what the hunters of the early smokeless powder era would have chosen if they had all our cartridge and bullet choices.

The fact remains you don't need the big 338's to kill moose or any other big game.

The Rum's, Lapua's and other big .338's are but an infinitesimally small percentage of rifles used to successfully take moose.

Moose are huge animals but they are not hard to kill with a well placed shot. All you gain with the big .338's is forgiveness for poor marksmanship.

The only area in which the offer a significant advantage is when shooting beyond 600yds which according to all the moose hunters and guides I've ever talked to is extremely rare.

Cannonitis does not actually alter reality.