I'm in the initial planning stages for a BC moose hunt next year. I'm thinking I'd like to use my 7X64 Brenneke, but have a couple questions.
First, is this cartridge big enough ?
Second, I'm using either Barnes TSX 160 grain or Swift A-Frames in 160 or 175 grain. What is the lowest velocity on impact that either of these bullets will perform adequately ? I think they will have muzzle velocities of between 2650-2750 fps.
What's your thoughts ?

Moose are usually easy to kill but it is unusual if they drop at the shot unless the bullet hits the CNS.
Double lung him with the 7x64 and he will be dead in about a minute or two then enjoy the tasty steaks.

What Snowwolfe said!

Frank - Sounds like enough gun. But remember before you "enjoy" the steaks there is a whole lot of moose to pack out!! See you in Dallas.

Larry Sellers
SCI (International) Life Member

Moose are not hard to kill , there just so big they don't know there dead yet !

I loaded plain old 150 corloks for my niece in her 7/08. One shot, 50 yd run and done.

7x64 is a great cartridge and will work.

the 270 win is working great up here with the 150 and 160 grains so not an issue for your beautiful caliber.

im a partition man so Swift wont be that bad ....

as some says before eating the steacks the portage will remember you how they always find a way to fall and dye where you dont want ...

More than adequate! I use my 270 win with 130's for pretty much everything (including moose and elk). I have a buddy that has killed a dozen moose or so and he's taken all but one with a 7mm Mauser. Best of luck on your hunt!

1. Plenty of cartridge.
2. I don't know your definition of "adequate" but, I can say your A- Frame will give you a much wider range of impact velocities that result in a nice mushroom, say 3100 to 2300 fps. Barnes 2800 to 2300. My experience with barnes above that is you risk it loosing its petals and then you got a nice solid and that's about it. At lower speed, you have the issue of Barnes sometimes not opening at all.

If my gun shoots both equally well, I always leave the barnes at home, no matter what I'm hunting.

When I hunted moose, I was also going on a "to follow" Brown Bear hunt.

I used a .330 Dakota with 250 gr A frames.

The other guys in camp who killed moose were using a 7mm Rem Mag (some Federal factory ammo), a .30-06 (180 Grain soft point factory), a guide with a .330 Dakota (250 A Frame)and a guide with an 8mm Rem Mag (200 gr core lokd), and one guide with a .300 Win Mag (Trophy bonded bear claw 180's).

All the moose died quickly (for moose.) I think there were 2 that had insurance shots done.

A moose will die to anything 7mm or larger with proper bullet selection, and 6.5 and .270's work well also with the heavy bullets.

Sounds like you need to build a 35 Whelen and use the Moose hunt for the excuse.

quote:

Originally posted by Frank Beller:
I'm in the initial planning stages for a BC moose hunt next year. I'm thinking I'd like to use my 7X64 Brenneke, but have a couple questions.
First, is this cartridge big enough ?
Second, I'm using either Barnes TSX 160 grain or Swift A-Frames in 160 or 175 grain. What is the lowest velocity on impact that either of these bullets will perform adequately ? I think they will have muzzle velocities of between 2650-2750 fps.
What's your thoughts ?

The Rifle is fine.Spend some money on a small chain saw.Put vegetable oil in the oil tank.When you get a Moose the shootings the easy part.Getting him apart is a job and packing him out is worse.

Frank,

All these guys are right in that your 7x64 will work. I prefer something bigger for two reasons. First I assume if your going to Canada to hunt your on a trophy hunt. If that is true you may only have one shot at that big boy and the shot offered might be less than ideal. Something more like a 338 or 375 of some type would work better for a raking shot or a TX heart shot. Second it's nice to anchor a moose to keep him from dying in some hole making him super hard to dress and quarter. Once again a bigger rifle will do it better.

Mark

Save the chain saw for the zombie apoc. Bone out your moose.

quote:

Originally posted by Navaluk:
Save the chain saw for the zombie apoc. Bone out your moose.

Thats fine as long as you don`t have to contend with hungry bears.I can take a Moose apart plenty fast with a chain saw and do the boneing at camp.Maybe you are on better terms with the bears!!!

quote:

Originally posted by MARK H. YOUNG:
Frank,

All these guys are right in that your 7x64 will work. I prefer something bigger for two reasons. First I assume if your going to Canada to hunt your on a trophy hunt. If that is true you may only have one shot at that big boy and the shot offered might be less than ideal. Something more like a 338 or 375 of some type would work better for a raking shot or a TX heart shot. Second it's nice to anchor a moose to keep him from dying in some hole making him super hard to dress and quarter. Once again a bigger rifle will do it better.

Mark

Completely agree with Mark here. Also, the moose hunting I've done has been in prime bear country as well. I've used my 340WBY with 225gr TSX bullets to very good effect. TX Heart Shot drove that bullet the entire length of the animal and anchored him on the spot.

7x64 is plenty for a moose. I wouldn't drop below impact velocities of around 2,000fps for the TSX....you are asking for expansion problems if you do. Speed is definitely their friend.

Frank kill something with a double rifle. Two shots one kill.

Mike

Mike, what if it's more than 35 yards away??? :-)

quote:

Originally posted by MARK H. YOUNG:
Frank,

All these guys are right in that your 7x64 will work. I prefer something bigger for two reasons. First I assume if your going to Canada to hunt your on a trophy hunt. If that is true you may only have one shot at that big boy and the shot offered might be less than ideal. Something more like a 338 or 375 of some type would work better for a raking shot or a TX heart shot. Second it's nice to anchor a moose to keep him from dying in some hole making him super hard to dress and quarter. Once again a bigger rifle will do it better.

Mark

I agree with Mark, too.

Also, the way I see it: check with the guide about cartridge choice, and make sure that there is ammo available for your rifle in Canada, in case that something happens to the ammo you are carrying with you. In fact, I would choose a rifle caliber based on ammo availability, and potency. After all, it's an expensive hunting trip, so you want to make sure that your choice of cartridge is capable of dropping a moose at an extended range. And don't forget that you also are in bear country.

Something else, moose may be easy to kill, but only with well placed shots. Just like any other animal, injure one and you are in for a lot of tracking on grounds (soft tundra) that often doesn't show any tracks.

Thanks for all the input. I'm probably going to reconsider my choice & go with a .338 WM.

no u need magnum to kill moose,haha ,dont worry,there is not so many catridges that have history of legendary 7x64 brenneke,i hae twin cartridge 7x65r,and has taken,moose,brown bear with no problem,for me 177 grain tig working perfect,also i found from all 7mm ,7x65r have about perfect balance,and kills all game same as 7 mm mag with less recoil and blust

quote:

Originally posted by Frank Beller:
Thanks for all the input. I'm probably going to reconsider my choice & go with a .338 WM.

A fine choice, Frank. Good luck!

Good choice, Frank. Those of us who can see moose near our homes don't think of them as exotic, and can certainly use smaller cartridges while we wait for the perfect shot presentation. When you are flying across the continent, spending serious money and limiting your hunting time to a week or two, you are much better off shooting "more than enough gun".

Adequate is....merely adequate.

Frank ----- Your choice is wise. The smaller chamberings are entirely adequate but considering you will be in big Bear country the .338 is safer if needed. I took my Brown Bear with a .300 Winny and had no problem, however that encounter persuaded me to go larger the next time. I picked the .340 Wby for my Moose and now use a .358 STA and feel much better when in that country. Good shooting.

Frank…… I have shot around 50 moose and have been in on a couple of hundred more. The 7x64 with an A-frame or the Barnes will work fine as long as the shot is not WAY out there. They are not hard to kill, however as has been mentioned, I would go for something a tad larger.

I prefer something along the lines of a .338 Win Mag with a good 225 grain bullet because as Mark mentioned, what if the shot is less than ideal? A huge bull way out there with a quartering shot towards you, requiring a punch through the near shoulders to get at the boiler room.

I have shot moose with the .25-06, 7mm, etc. but if I was heading out on an outfitted hunt for a big bull in remote country in Canada's northern I would be packing my .338. Better safe than sorry.

I hunt moose in my backyard with my 06 but when I am laying down a bunch of coin and flying in to big bull country I pack the .338.

I use my 7 WSM for everything up here and it works just fine. Moose, caribou, brown bear, etc. 140 grain Barnes TTSX bullets.

Frank

Your Kimber Montana worked well on that elk a couple years ago.
Good luck on your hunt.

Take a 45-70 and you won't have to worry about the moose--or the bears.

quote:

Originally posted by sharpsguy:
Take a 45-70 and you won't have to worry about the moose--or the bears.

All depends on the terrain. For closer range work the .45-70 is good, but for long shots on moose it is not. I don't know about the area in Canada where the OP plants to hunt at, but in a lot of areas in the interior of Alaska the .40-70 is not the best choice for open terrains where longer shots are possible.

I have both the .338WM and .45-70, but use the .338 for hunting moose. If I were hunting moose in wooded areas, then I could use either one.

Now, the guide could give the OP the best advise possible, since he or she knows the area the OP will be hunting at.

Frank - How about lugging that big ole 404 Jeff I sent your way? Should make short work of the moose and fend off any bear that would like to take away your moose meat.

Larry Sellers
SCI (International) Life Member

quote:

Originally posted by Frank Beller:
Thanks for all the input. I'm probably going to reconsider my choice & go with a .338 WM.

quote:

Originally posted by Larry Sellers:
Frank - How about lugging that big ole 404 Jeff I sent your way? Should make short work of the moose and fend off any bear that would like to take away your moose meat.

Larry Sellers
SCI (International) Life Member

quote:

Originally posted by Frank Beller:
Thanks for all the input. I'm probably going to reconsider my choice & go with a .338 WM.

..ain't no flies on the 404J!

Frank, the 338 is just about perfect for Moose....good combination of bullet weight and trajectory for longer shots. .

As one of the "geezers" that remembers one Scandinavian poster (named Overkill) always asking the question "Will xxx kill mooses?"
I gotta say this, to kill a moose you need a "600 Overkill"

I have killed three moose with a .338 Win Mag. None went down at the shot, but none went more than 15 yards.

When I got one it was with a 300 Weatherby Mag as that was my heavy rifle then. It just took one shot of the Weatherby factory load. It made somewhat of stir with the guides at the time though.

Later I moved on to the 338 WM but no moose. Then a strange thing happened. I got a 416RM. Now I don't actually have big game hunting rifle in the 30s caliber anymore.

So I guess if I go for a moose again, I would be using the 416. I will be making yet another stir.

That 338 will sure do the job. Good luck for a great hunt.