Mercy, Caribou can and have been dropped quite regularly with .243's. They are pretty much as easily killed, dropped, DRT, with anything that will drop a whitetail. Moose on the other hand, are not a critter to be fooled around with. But a 7x57 with a 160 grain trucking along at 2550-2640 with a high quality bullet that will hold together is plenty of medicine for the big beasties. That round is used in Alaska quite a bit actually. Lot of fellas have those old Mausers up there. Same with the tiny little old thuddy thuddy that people seem to always underestimate. I'd be willing to bet that those 2 cartridges have downed more Moose than any other round in Alaska. While the 7x57 round aint the fastest, biggest, or prettiest it is most certainly a VERY effective round when used within it's limitations. Out to 200 yards it can and has killed many big game animals. I've seen guys push it to 300 but I myself wouldn't. But part of what I love about hunting is getting as close as I can anyway :D

Wow, pulling up an 11 year old posting to correct someone's grammar, nice first post.

Nomercy,

I second you sentiment about missing eldeguello. I always found his insights and advice very worthy. Hope he's ok.

I skimmed two lines on this and frankly, lost interest, because it's all a distinction without a difference...

First and foremost: THIS THREAD IS 11YRS OLD...

1) Forgive (read: "forget") that I mentioned caribou at all, as the inclusion of caribou on his list is absolutely moot - they're the easiest of the 3, so discussing an ideal caribou gun is a waste of breath... The guy said his dad has ONE GUN WITH ONE LOAD - a 7mm Mauser with 140grn pills - and is going after Caribou, Bear, and Moose. I was not previously ignorant to the fact that caribou go down as easy as whitetails, but I'm aware that mentioning that in this thread is irrelevant - he needed a bear and moose gun and he intends to kill caribou with it. He needed to know if his ONE GUN and load would work, and wasn't asking about an ideal 3 gun battery with individual ideal guns for each of the 3 species. He asked about one gun, one load, and my comment as well as yours agree that it's not the proper load...

2) I said exactly this:

A 7x57 mauser with a 160grn pill as a .284 sectional density. I said I wouldn't spend money to go on a hunt without a 300, or at least 280, 284 makes the mark. Since this is an 11yr old thread, I didn't feel the need to elaborate on what bullet weight that meant, or what velocity it needed to by flying or what color of hair the shooter should have - a 7x57 with a 280-300 SD bullet will kill the game he's after. Enough said.

LOL Smartybritches :D I also skimmed over where you mentioned .280. OOPS?