Fellas, in your experienced opinions please give me some guidance here. I have often thought of getting a little more traditional in regards to my upcoming moose season. I have come up with a very accurate load for my .38-55 pushing a .379" 245 grain flatnose at 1658fps and 1496 ftlbs. It has a bhn of 22. At 150 yards i have 1069 ftlbs remaining. If i keep my shots under 150 yards would this load suffice?? Thanks for your time.

I personally would limit my shooting to 100yards with this combination.This load appears about equal in energy to my muzzleloader and I would not try to kill a moose farther than 100 yards with the muzzleloader.

Thank you for your input. at 100 yards i have 1193 ftlbs and at 150 yards, 1069 ftlbs. Would the difference in 124 ftlbs make a big difference and still force me to stay within 100 yards??

Win94:
While I have no first hand experience with a 38-55, I do have some with a .45-70 Sharps on moose using cast bullets. Understand I'm only surmising here. I've taken 2 moose with my .45-70 Sharps, 1 with the 405 gr. RCBS fngc & the other with the 530 gr. RCBS paper patch. Both were using smokeless powder at approx. 100 yds. Moose don't seem to react to being hit immediately and can really put the country behind them afterwards. My opinion is that moose should first be hit in the shoulder in order to immobilize them then another shot into the lungs. Understand, where I hunt there are numerous large ponds, sloughs & rivers & you could end up with a lost animal because it wasn't immediately put down. Even when I hit the shoulder with the 530 gr. paper patch round nose, penetration only broke the near shoulder & he still kept going for a distance, finally piling up about 30 yds. from the river.
I'd guess that your bullet with a BHN of 22 may be a bit on the brittle side. You'd want something softer to expand. Several years ago, I visited with Dan Phariss, noted BP rifle gunsmith in Montana. He asked me what the hardness of my cast bullets were & I told hbim about 15 BHN (mixed with antimony). He flat out said "Too hard. Make 'em not harder than a 30:1 mix with tin, maybe even 50:1". I now go with a 50:1 lead/tin mix in my .45-120-3 1/4 Sharps.
Apologize for all this rambling but wanted you to get the info on my experiences. Hope it helps some. Don't mean to put a damper on your plans but.... Bear in Fairbanks

[ 06-30-2003, 00:27: Message edited by: Bear in Fairbanks ]

I agree with Stubblejumper, it is probably best suited to 100 yards and in. Not saying it won't kill a moose at 150 yards, just that you're pushing the envelope out there.

Bear has some good advice there. I can only add that Steve Garbe shot an elk at something like 250 yds with a .38-55 and black powder of course. But then, he is rather an excellent shot (to say the least). 100-150 yds either may work but bullet placement and position of the animal will determine that more than anything else. I'd use a bigger gun, but like Bear, I have a .45 (2.6"). I also religiously use paper patched pure lead bullets over black powder. Pure lead will not fragment.

Brent

I'm sure it will work with proper shot placement if you keep it to 100 yards or less, but I would be hesitant to use it at all. I plan to use my .375 with 300 gr. Trophy Bondeds for my Moose. Good luck.

I think the best shot with a combo like that would be through the lungs and at the far side shoulder. Those hard cast bullets penetrate like a muther but that really isnt much velocity/energy to work with. Its comparable to a 35 remington load in terms of energy which is touted as a fine deer/ black bear load and that is NOT in reference to the larger northern bears. More gun would be a good idea.

Do yourself a favor and contact this gentleman. His name is Dan, and he has put down a lot of big Alaskan moose with some pretty traditional equipment.
http://www.midrivers.com/~bullshop/BullShop/Page_1x.html
He won't steer you wrong, and definitely won't lie to you, if it won't work he will tell you, but he may have used a 38-55 for the same thing. He helped a bunch when I started in the 45/70 arena.

Thanks AKBman!!!