Is it possible to kill moose with a .243 say under 50 yards? Say you were hunting deer in moose country and stumbled upon a moose that did not know you were there, you were within 30 yards of it, would one shot to the heart,neck,or head kill it.
it may,i can tell you this. i 've seen more deer lost that were shot with a 243 then any other caliber. lots of deer die every year with a 243 but i know to many guys that wish they'd never seen one.
i watched a friend shoot a bear that was close to 400lbs last sept . he hit him twice with a 243 ,we tracked him for 6 hrs . he never stopped.
you may kill a moose with it ,but to me you need a bigger gun.
As far as losing deer to a 243, I have seen just as many lost with a 30-06 as a 243.You put a bullet in a vital area with a decent bullet and you will have a dead deer. the 243 is a great deer gun.
That said, NO, I would never shoot at a moose at any range with a 243 unless he was already wounded. I think the reason people say that moose are not that hard to kill is that they don't run after beingshot like a deer or elk, so you can keep shooting. They are huge animals with thick hide, big bones, and lots of meat.Sure, you can thread a bullet in between a rib into the lungs, and it would be dead quickly, but everything would have to be ideal. Please respect them more than to shoot them with a 243.
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Venor ergo sum (I hunt, therefore I am)
I too wouldnt advise actually going hunting with the 243 for moose, however, he asked if it was possible to kill a moose. In his senerio while hunting deer came across a moose, 30 yards with the moose not knowing the hunter was there. Easyear shot equals dead moose.
After seeing the eskimos routinely killing polar bear with a .223 one has to reassess. I know my guide was very happy when he saw me show up for an elk hunt with a .308. A .243 will kill any deer on the planet if shot placement is good. I would suggest a bigger caliber if you are hunting long distances or if you are trophy hunting and need to take a quartering away shot on a once in a lifetime Booner....
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He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. Friedrich Nietzsche
Not looking to highjack the thread, but I know several guys who use a .243 for caribou with complete satisfaction...They are not that tough and they do not tend to run off into the thick s*** when wounded, as deer and elk usually do..
IMHO, a rifle in the .270-.280- 30-06 - 7mm Rem Magclass is ideal for caribou..The only reasonI mightuse anything more powerful is to defend myself from what might come to TAKEmy caribou, I.E a hairy volkswagon... That's why I've carried a .338 or a 9.3 x 62 on a couple of my Alaska caribou hunts..
To get back to the original question, a .243 is definitely too light for moose, despite the fact that it will kill one under ideal conditions...
The natives canoe up along side moose and shoot them with .22 rimfires , and I'm sure they shoot plenty of moose with thier .223 ARs and Mini 14s, BUT that does not make those calibers a good choice for moose hunting.. I watched a video of my Inuit guide's 10 year old son shooting a big polar bear with a .222, but that hardly qualifies the .222 as a good polar bear gun...
A more sensible minimum would be a .270 with premium 130 to 150 grain bullets...
Very true statement. However, if I tried to shoot a moose in the ear, he would probably move his head at the last second and I would just break his jaw. Leaving him to run off and starve.
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Venor ergo sum (I hunt, therefore I am)
Yes, that is what would happen! Because moose move their heads way to much to succesfully hit one in the head!
-Jake
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"One accurate shot fired with deliberate precision is worth more than a hundred fired without control." -Major John Foster
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.243 Big Game Animals
