I have 2 of the M375s and would not be worried about one taking out a moose. They do not wear body armor. Your Barnes O load sounds very powerful and as with all game animals shot placement is important. My friend and his buddy took a nice moose in Maine with a Marlin 1895 in .45-70. The moose went right down. 100 yards on a moose with an accurate M375 is not a hard shot. It is a good repeater. Now, having typed all of this, I have never hunted moose. Good luck in your hunt.

 

A close friend of mine shot a cow moose in Alaska with a Model 94 Win. in .30-30 with 170 gr. Remington Cor-Loct. He shot it in the lungs with the first round then it sat down. Then in the neck with the second. It dropped right there never took another step.

 

I'm positive the 375 winchester would work if you got with in say 150 yards. That said the 375 H+H would work at 250 yards. I would park the lever gun and take the bolt action.

 

I'm positive the 375 winchester would work if you got with in say 150 yards. That said the 375 H+H would work at 250 yards. I would park the lever gun and take the bolt action.

yeah the 375H&H is a hammer for sure.... but it also weighs in at about 10lbs loaded and sports 24" of tube... she aint exactly a fun rifle to carry when youre out humpin around in the muskeg looking for critters. That's pretty much why it sits in the safe most years.

Thanks for the input guys... I'll keep thinkin on it...

 

Alan,
My Lyman mold is the 375449 which casts 277 gr. water quenched wheel weights bare. With gas checks and lube it weights 283 gr.----either way that is a healthy chunk of lead.
I have never hunted moose but it is said they are not hard to kill ! It's just that they don't know it when they are dead.
I think the .375 Win. with a heavy lead bullet would be a dandy!

Hip

P.S. On a bear hunt in Maine the guide said that they shoot moose in the HUMP, which is near the spine. That shot disables them due to shock to the spine, then they get closer and finish it off. The main reason for this is that it is such a big animal that it is hard to get out of the woods. They try to hunt off of LOGGING roads so they can get to the downed animal easily.

 

yeah Hipshot, I cast the same bullet, but dont quench them. They end up around 270ish grains and have a bn hardness of around 11-13 or so. I wonder if they would be about right for hunting hardness being cast out of WW alloy?

I think I am just getting worked up over nothin... heck I know native guys that shoot them with 30/30's all the time and end up with dead moose. I just really want to bag something with one of my 375Winchesters as I have only shot paper with them. But I have never shot any critters with my 375H&H either..... Did all my real critter baggin with the trusty 30-06 which would be another one to consider taking on the hunt if it werent for the fact that its crummy old Tasco scope finally bit the dust last spring and I dont want to fork out big $ for a good scope for the 06 when I have several other rifles that will work for this hunt.

I probably wouldnt try for a hump or spine shot. I am just too used to the old "1/3 up and aim for the off side shoulder" technique to try something different at this point.... And about a decade back I had a less than ideal experience trying a neck shot on a caribou at 150 or so yards. Missed his spine, but took out the major blood vessles and artories and he wondered off about 100 more yards before going down. The other bull that was standing behind him and unseen until after the shot dropped in his tracks from a lung / heart shot as the 180 gr Nosler partition held together good enough going thru the first ones neck to still make it all the way thru the seccond one and end up just under the hide on the far side.... Two bou with one shot... NOT my greatest moment as an ethical hunter, but thankfuly I had 5 tags so I didnt bust any regs :

 

The WW alloy should work fine. I've killed a couple of deer with it and had no trouble with it at all using a .30-30 and a .35 Rem.

What ever you decide----GOOD LUCK !

Hip

 

Alangaq and Hipshot, I have that same mold. What is the load that you use with that projectile in the .375 Win? I want to try it in my Marlins.

 

When I was a boy my Dad had a friend who grew up in Maine he hunted with a 38-55 and told me when he was about 14 he saw a big bull moose. He told me before he knew it said moose was dead and he ran to his Grandfathers and confessed his transgression. His Grandfather had him go to get a warden and tell him he heard shooting and found the dead bull. The Warden said to him Paul this moose will not go to waste we will take it to the orphanage. Then the Warden said looking at Pauls 1894 that it looked like a 38-55 was used and if it happened again you could bet money he would catch them. It never happened again.
Now if he was using the high speed load I doubt he got more than 1650 fps out of the rifle he used and he never doubted the killing power of his load. Even the standard 1350 load has better ballistics than a 44 mag handgun and that has taken more then a few.
My nieghbor killed two cow moose with his 6mm remington. I asked him how far did they run and he looked at me with his no kidding look and said they didn't run they dropped.
If you hit them well you are going to be busy packing meat.

 

FredT, my load for the Lyman 375449, WW Alloy, 277grn, 13bn, Hornady Gas Check, Javelina 50/50% lube. Is 31 grains of Alliant Reloader 7 in Winchester Brass with WLR primers. COL is 2.56

That loads average velocity at +25 Degrees F is 1934 fps average with a 15 fps Velocity spread out of my Winchester BB 94.

Same load on the same day out of my Marlin 375 is 1888 fps average with a 30 fps Velocity spread

 

Thanks, I'll see what happens.

 

FredT, FYI.... you can safely push them quite a bit faster than that, but in my guns the accuracy fell off dramaticaly above 2,000 fps.

of course your miliage may vary..... just be safe and work up incrementaly

 

The WW alloy should work fine. I've killed a couple of deer with it and had no trouble with it at all using a .30-30 and a .35 Rem.

What ever you decide----GOOD LUCK !

Hip

Hip, did the WW aloy give you any mushrooming or expansion at all, or did they pretty much just act like solids?

 

Good morning
Remember the 38-55 Blackpowder load plopped a whole lot of Moose & bear and yes those lowly whitetails along with muleys, elk, Buffs, and probably a railroad car of grizz.
I would hunt any critter in North America with a 38-55. Bullet placement is everything. If I was going to use a cast bullet ( My first choice) I would tailor make the hardness to the base pressure that bullet will have to support. Too hard a bullet and there is no "Upset" on target. Too hard a cast bullet and it just may shatter if it hits a heavy bone.
When I start load developement (rifle) I generally use 50-50 mix (ww-pure) and stay with it till there is obvious leading from too much pressure on the bullet base. You will be surprissed how much a 50-50 bullet will withstand IF it is .002 over THROAT diameter. My older Winny´s all have fat throats. It is common to have a 379+ throat. One is .381. (Yes a .383 will chamber though snug) Newer rifles are a bit smalller in the throat.
But a softer lead 265+ grain bullet at 1500 fps+ smaking a moose is no little toy. Moose have fell victim to much less for 300 years & thankfully no one is making Kevlar in their size yet.
Good hunting ! Drop that moose close to a road !

 

FredT,
My load (so far I'm still working) is all the same componants right down to the lube except I've only tried 30 gr. RL 7 and water quench them (BHN ?). Also using a WIN. BB.

Alan, Really can't tell you if the bullets mushroomed or not because I got complete pass through. There seemed to be just as much internal damage as a J bullet though. Shots were 50 yds. or less.

Hip

 

I recently bought my wife a 375win. as a step up from her 30-30 Specifically for moose. I chose the 375 as I figured it was about the largest calibre she'd be comfortable with. So far we've only shot the 220gr hornady's through it, and it's been such a nasty winter here we've spent most of the time huddled around the fireplace. (we're butchering a couple hogs tomorrow, and it's supposed to be blizzarding...again)

Anyway, I assume you're coming N? If you're hunting during calling season my experience you'll probably be shooting under 60 yds. Your 375's are more than adequate in my opinion. I'd suggest asking your outfitter what distance an average shot is. Just keep in mind the moose up here are Big, and Tough. They've fought off packs of big wolves all their life. My favorite pic is one of me holding a ribcage; reminds me of the brotosaurus ribs from the flinstone's cartoons.

If you shoot a big bull moose in the lungs it will Not drop immediately, no matter what you shoot it with, short of a howitzer, so if you shoot it in the lungs, force yourself to be patient. It's dead, it just doesn't know it yet. Those are some big lungs, and it takes awhile to fill them up with blood. It's common to think you missed, as you may see no reaction at all, not even a muscle twitch.
Only way I know to drop a moose is to shoot it in the shoulder. Personally I'd avoid trying to hit the spine, it's not where you think it is. Do a search for moose physiology to get a pic of bone structure.
Bit of verbal diahrea, but I simply LOVE hunting moose. Not to mention moose meat is king. Best of luck on the hunt.

 

I agree with everyone else here, that your 375 is plenty powerful for moose at reasonable ranges. I'd stick with expanding bullets like the Hornady or Barns though. I'd also stick with shots into the lungs. Good luck on your hunt.

 

I agree with everyone else here, that your 375 is plenty powerful for moose at reasonable ranges. I'd stick with expanding bullets like the Hornady or Barns though. I'd also stick with shots into the lungs. Good luck on your hunt.

+ yet another vote for the 375 ;D

 

I wont stand in front of one at ANY distance

 

Hullo, In my humble openion the 375 is plenty of gun out to 150 yards as you suggest, with proper shot placement, as stated they arn't boolit proof....have killed several with my 45/70's just take a good shot and bring home the meat...

 

speaking of up close and personal and directly in front of a moose:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hw5HJaS6GOs


Cheers,

Carl

 

thanks for the vote of confidence guys! As soon as it warms up a bit and I can get my hands on some Barnes Originals I will get to the range and finish dialing in my load! ;D

 

My only question is hardness, 11-13. This seems a little soft for such a large animal. Some of you that hunt bear and hog with cast bullets please weight in on bullet hardness.

 

11-13bhn would be fine. they used much softer lead over a 100 years ago to kill moose bears and buffalo. Softer lead was prefered so it would not pass through.

 

Good morning
I remember reading some years back the Elephant Cullers would use a "Hardened " lead projectile in the 8 Bores for better penetration. They found Pure Lead would sometimes not penetrate the skull. So they added 1 part tin to 20 parts lead. THAT is Still Very Soft compared to Wheel Weight. 1-20 would rate about 10 on the Brinnel scale. Pure Lead was used to harvest how many million Buffs ???
So a 11-13 BN bullet is more than hard enough.
The whole key to hardness (for me) is start out realizing I am not trying to puncture T2 armor plate. I stay as soft as possible but yet just hard enough to support the pressure applied to the base of the lead bullet. You would be amazed how much pressure a PROPERLY sized lead bullet will take. Impact velocity comes into the factor also... why do I need 3000 fps at 50 yards to harvest a deer, or moose??? A 250 grain lead bullet impacting at 1800 fps is going through a whole lot of critter.
Most leading problems occur when Overly HARD Undersized bullets are fired down a bore. Load a .001-.002 oversized bullet in a rifle (Throat diameter is the ket here) and have yourself some fun. And if you need more speed the lowly Gas Check will really move a SOFT lead bullet. I know fellers pushing PURE lead in caliber .30 rifles at 2500 FPS+. The paper patch bullet will do everything a store bought jacket bullet can do.
If you have any doughts head over to Castboolits.com and do some reading. Lots of good people who make their own and happily share the simple process.