Well, my buddy and I were sucessful on our VT Moose hunt. He used my M700 Classic Whelen (I felt like a caddy) on a 673# Bull. He hit it through the rib cage at 120yds broadside, and took out the lungs.
I am puzzled because the bullet never entered the off side? Any theories from those experienced with this bullet? It was a factory Federal load which shoots really well from my Whelen. I had been desparately trying to develope a good 250gr load with my Speers or Hornadys, but ran out of range time prior to the hunt. For previous moose I have used 250gr Remington factory loads.

Anyway the Whelen made Moose Meat once again so I shouldn't complain. I appreciate any advice you can provide.

Cograts on the moose, I developed a load using 225gr TSX bullets for my Africa hunt and had great success with it, 8 animals shot were complete pass thruogh. DO NOT START WITH THIS LOAD work up to it,(it is a little warm) I used 57.5 gr.of IMR 4064 with CCI 200 primers, I seated the bullet just befor the last groove. This load gave me .75" groups for 5 shots out of my Rem. 700 classic.

Craven

Here's a little information on bullets I have recoverd from elk.

Speer 250 Grain Hot Core, velocity 2600fps, hit a cow elk in the heart, no bone contact, and the recovered weight was 56 grains. Broke up alot, but still dropped the elk in its tracks.

I actually like the 225 Grain Ballistic tip, better than the Speer. Groups under an inch with IMR4064, and the retained weight of one recovered from another elk was 206 grains, and traveled nearly the whole length of the critter.

Other bullets that were used, we only found the jackets no cores etc.

Hope this helps

Jerry

Oh boy, moose roast for Thanksgiving dinner! Congratualtions on your moose.

I'll second Craven's recommendation on the 225 gr Barnes TSX's. They really work perfectly in this caliber. My only change is I prefer Reloader 15 as my powder of choice where I get 2650 fps. I also use the Reloader 15 in the 250 grain bullet loads and achieve 2575 fps. I like the 250 grain Nosler Partitions here.

As far as why it didn't completely penetrate, well I would say that the moose is a pretty big animal and the bullet expanded to such a point where it acted like a parachute and stopped the bullet prior to exit. Many of the traditional lead tipped bullets will be caught by the offside hide.

BTW, you are going to have to find a new load anyway, because Federal has discontinued this loading. It was really the best factory ammo out there for the Whelen, its a shame.

BigBullet: You're right about the federal loads. They were the best performer for my Whelen. I've gotten up to 2450fps with RL15 and 250speers, but inconsistant groups. I will hunt up the TSx's, as I was aware that Federal discontinued the load and I am down to a 30 count as a backup.
Pretty nice seeing that big hole going in!

Most of my Reloading over the past 5 years has been to hunt in Africa or herein the hot south. I have stayed away from the IMR powders because I have experienced severe pressure spikes in the hot weather. Craven suggests 4064 and this can be a good powder. A powder of very similar burning rate but without the heat sensitivity is Varget and with it I have gotten some pretty good results.

You may have to push the 250 grain Speers a bit more to get them to group. In two Whelens, they are not the most accurate bullets, but I can get 1" groups most of the time. And I settle for 1.5", just during range sessions. With the TSX's I do a little better. You may want to play with seating depth as I beleive this makes more differance in this cartridge then most I've played with.

good shooting,

I agree with BigBullet on this, I achieved better results just by changing the seating depth and nothing else. As for the 250's you will need to push them a little faster to get them to group good in your Remington with its 1 in 16 twist.

Craven
PS. how about a picture of your moose..

Craven: Don't know how to post a picture. Have a neat one of the entrance hole!

I couldn't get good groups with the Speer 250's but usually get less than an inch with 250 Nosler PArtitions @ 2,525 fps.
Rich Elliott