What if any cartridges would be suitable for taking a moose? The largest handgun that I currently own is a .44 mag. Would it be a good idea to look into something even larger, such as a .454, .480, or even the new S&W .500? What would you guys recommend.

A good heavy hard cast bullet from a 44 mag would work but you are probably better off with a 454. Dont' bother with the 480, anything the 480 will do the 454 will do better. The next step up would be a 475 or 500 linebough or one of the rifle cartridges from a T/C encore or contender.

The 44 Rem. Mag will do the job unless you just want a good excuse to purchase the 500 S&W. Good luck.

handloader1- I think subconciously that may be exactly what I was doing.

I was born and raised in Anchorage, AK, but now live in Pennsylvania. I go back home every year and Im thinking about going after a moose while im home.

I' m going to disagree that the .454Cassul can do everything the .480 can do and better, it can' t, it shoots comparably accuracy wise, and dead is dead, of course, but in energy and trajectory, the .480 Ruger wins out. HOWEVER, it' s kind of like comparing the .30-06 and the .300win mag, or the .270win and the .308win, they are so close that in any hunting application, you' ll never notice the difference. What matters to me is that the .480Ruger kicks so differently, it' s just like their ads claimed two years ago, a good solid shove as opposed to a sharp kick as found in the cassul, with ear protection, I can shoot the .480R a lot longer without gloves on than I could my .454C, of course, it costs me more. Also important is that there are still very few loadings available for the .480R, which if you handroll isn' t important. Also, there is no ' little brother' round that can be loaded in the .480R, so cheap and easy practice isn' t an option as in the .454C, good .45LC rounds through the .454 wheel would be great for taking deer with your moose gun.

Hope that helps a bit, if you' re still looking to get a new gun, the .44mag you' ve got would be fine, it' s just a shorter range basically.

You could always get a .45-70 from MR like mine!! [8D][X(]

Get close, 50 yards or less. Use a .44 mag 300 grain controlled exspansion bullet or a hard cast bullet

Wrong answer. The 480 Ruger is not as powerful as the 454 Casull, period. As a matter of fact the 480 gives up about 500 flbs to the 454 and 300 fps so tell us just exactly how the 480 wins out in trajectory and energy.