Best handgun for moose?

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jwalk

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Hey everyone,
This is my first post so here goes. Recently I was camping in Eastern Idaho with my family. I had no idea it was moose country but found out quickly when we saw one 100 yards from our camp. Well the same moose came back and ended up right outside my tent in the middle of the night. It snorted and stamped the ground not three feet from me, my wife, and my six-month old daughter. Unfortunately I left my 12 guage at home and only had a Sprinfield XD 9mm with a fifteen round mag of 124 grain corbon (sp?) hollowpoints. Needless to say I never felt so inadequate in my life. I probably would've gotten us all killed if I shot and pissed it off.

I was looking at the Taurus 44 mag raging bull for price and it being smaller, but am having second thoughts of moving to something bigger for moose. We're either going to end up in Northern Idaho, Montana, or Maine so we'll pretty much be by moose and black bear, possibly some grizzlies. The Taurus also only holds five rounds. Should I move up to a 454 casull, stay with a 44, or go with a 40 or 45 and have the extra carrying capacity.
 
Mag capacity my foot---you need ft-lbs energy, not 7 or 15 rounds. .454 would be the minimum for a moose, IMHO. one of those .500 S&W would probably do the trick.

IIRC, .454=practice with .45LC (and theoretically, moon-clipped .45 to get you familiar with said gun). HTH, and good luck with your moose problem.

It's not going to matter if you saved $200 if your gun won't stop a pissed-off moose. Unless, of course, that's going towards your casket.
 
.454 Casull will stop a moose. .44 mag will, too. You gotta hit 'em in the right place, of course. I think, for me, this would be the perfect excuse to use some funds I wouldn't ordinarily use and buy a Freedom Arms revolver. Always wanted one, but my GOD they're high dollar! It's a quality chunk of finely machined steel, though, and worth what it costs. I'd feel good about carrying my .45 colt up there, though, frankly, just that the .454 has a good bit more energy. I wouldn't mess with any snubby compacts, either. Shoot that monster from a 7.5 inch barrel and get the full effect of the cartridge.
 
Any handgun from .41 mag on up loaded with heavy hardcast bullets will work just fine on moose, they aren't hard to put down. The same combination will also work on other large critters too. Handguns aren't ideal for grizzlies, but they will work when loaded properly.

Don't get caught up in the ft-lbs numbers game and get something you can't or are afraid to shoot. Full power .454s are my limit and I can only shoot a small few at a time.

You'd be surprised how deep a flat-nosed hardcast bullet moving at moderate velocity can penetrate.
In most cases you'll shoot through the animal. Cast bullets will also crash through bone structure and keep going where a hollowpoint or softpoint will mushroom out early and fail to penetrate deeply enough.

A .44 mag or .45 Colt loaded with 300 gr bullets moving between 1,000 to 1,200 will take care of anything you need taken care of.

Don't worry about expansion. At .44 and .45 caliber they're already expanded enough. What you want is a hole going in and one coming out on the other side.

You should have at least a 4" barrel, but not one so long that it loses it's handiness.
If you are handgun hunting then a longer barrel might be warranted, but for camp, fishing hole and trail security the 4'' is plenty.

Federal Castcore, Garrett and Buffalo Bore are factory loads that are more than suitable for your purposes. If you reload, then you're even better off.
 
I tend to agree with KaceCoyote, but you might look too much like a poacher if you carry a rifle for self-defense.

Just curious - to avoid prosecution, do you need to show hoofprints on your chest to justify shooting a moose out of season? I know they're large and can be dangerous; I'm just wondering how the state Dept of Wildlife would view the situation.
 
Sort of OT

But one of the most chilling videos I ever saw a few years was some little town up north and a moose was loose walking around the streets. Some poor old guy was walking down the sidewalk and came around the corner and didn't know the moose was there. The moose lifted up on its hind legs and suckered punched the guy in the face with its front feet. Killed him instantly. Imagine, you are just walking down the street minding your own business and the next thing you know you're killed by a stupid moose
 
Moose Country?

I don’t know if I’d call Eastern Idaho “moose country” or not, but there’s certainly a lot of moose around here. They wander across the back of our place every once in a while, at least a couple of times a year the Fish and Game Department has to round one up and transport it out of Pocatello or Idaho Falls, and in the winter one occasionally gets trapped in the ice on the Snake River. And if you think hitting a deer messes up a car, you should see what happens to a Toyota Tercel when it hits a thousand pound moose at 75 mph.
That said, I’ve never heard of anyone around here having a confrontation with a moose that wasn’t asking for it. A couple of years ago a bull moose chased a buddy of mine back to his pickup truck. But my buddy was trying to get a good picture of the moose facing him by cupping his hands around his mouth and “grunting” at the moose. Another friend of mine was backcountry skiing when he spotted a cow moose with her calf further up the trail. My friend stopped to have a sandwich and allow time for the cow and calf to wander over the ridge. Unfortunately, my friend’s dog didn’t understand and ran on up the trail to bark at the calf. Well, momma moose didn’t like that. She chased the dog back to my friend where she proceeded to bend down and bite that dog once on its back. Then she went on her merry way as my friend cussed out his dog for “fetching” a moose.
Moose are big and dumb. They stink, and they’re forever getting in the way when you’re deer or elk hunting. Spook one and he’ll run off down through the brush making enough noise to scare the heck out of every deer and elk in the canyon. But Idaho Fish and Game rules only allow a person to draw one Bull Moose permit in a lifetime. My wife and I have taken turns putting in for a moose permit every year for the past thirty-five years and neither of us has ever drawn.
I suspect if you shoot a moose in Idaho out of season and without a permit, you’d better have as someone said, “hoof marks up your back.” I approve of that policy. If you have a moose coming around your camp, shout, bang some pans together, throw sticks, or shoot your 9mm in the air. But don’t shoot the moose except as a last resort. And as long as I’ve lived in Idaho (58 years) I doubt that last resort is ever going to happen. Yes, I too saw the pictures of that guy getting killed by that moose. I think that was up in Alaska. It happens up there every once in a while. I’d be surprised if a moose has ever killed anyone around these parts.
 
News Shooter said:
Imagine, you are just walking down the street minding your own business and the next thing you know you're killed by a stupid moose.
Click to expand...
You think that's bad? Imagine being just your normal, average, everyday moose-about-town going about your business, when some old fart jumps around the corner and whacks you in the foot with his forehead.
 
Jwalk,

We have a cabin where you are talking, up Warm River out of Ashton.

Anyway, ya the moose in that area have no fear of humans. Chalk it up to no pressure, being feed by the :cuss: city folk from Utah and being the biggest critter in the woods.

Like SS says, they get in the way mostly. Couple years back we were elk hunting in the Island Park zone on a cow tag, stupid cow moose kept following us about 150 yards back.

No handgun has enough poop IMHO, 454, 500 come close, but I want a modern 45 cal rifle if I am up close and personal with one.

BTW SS, there were some left over cow tags last time I looked, doesn't count against you lifetime draw iether.
 
Thanks ID Shooting. I just checked with the Fish and Game about those left over cow permits. They said to call back on the 20th because they just held the 2nd drawing and would know by then what they had left. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Just thinking about barbecued moose ribs makes my mouth water.
I agree with you too about handguns for moose protection. If I ever had to stop an angry moose I'd want a 45-70, or maybe even a 458 Win Mag RIFLE. I think shooting an animal that big with a 44 Magnum handgun and waiting for him to lay down and die would be quite different than stopping his charge. Then again, I've never done either. So what do I know?
 
Smith 500, 8 3/8" bbl

Loaded with Hornady 350 grain XTP bullets @ 1900 FPS for 2900 ft-lbs, which is what a 30-06 puts out at the muzzle. Gun holds 5 shots, so that's 14,500 ft-lbs of deliverable energy, and them 50 caliber bullets make BIG holes! There's really nothing else in the same league, and if you have a half ton of pissed off moose to deal with, you ARE going to want the most powerful handgun on the face of the earth.
 
I've been charged many times by moose. There's rarely call to shoot one. Running away does the trick.

The moose lifted up on its hind legs and suckered punched the guy in the face with its front feet. Killed him instantly.
Click to expand...

Um, are you sure this was a MOOSE? They don't rear up and strike with their front legs, at least I've never seen anything like that with our variety. That sounds more like a mad horse. Cow moose will chest-thump you to the ground then trample. Bull moose will do that or gore you with the antlers. Thankfully in almost all cases they just want you to acknowledge their personal space and aren't really trying to hurt you, so they don't press the attack if you get out of the way.

Here's a video of a fatal attack at the UAA from a few years back, showing classic cow defensive behavior:

http://www.goyk.com/video.asp?path=350

The student who was killed was trying to walk past the cow and to the doorway. By the time they realized the danger, it was too late. Anyone with some basic knowledge about moose body language would never have tried to walk past this one! The hackles are up, and the animal is moving in a very aggressive fashion. You will also see the calf running around terrified, which made the cow all the more nervous.
 
I'm definately feeling that pretty much any handgun wouldn't give me any warm fuzzies or anything like that when face to face with a moose. I don't think much would when I'm hoof level with one in my tent.

We heard her out in the distance but played the sit and wait thing, leave them alone and they'll leave you alone. Unfortunately she came crashing down right by our tent and that probably scared her a little. All I could think of was this is an awfully small pea shooter (the 9mm) and I wish I had my twelve guage with buckshot and slugs. Everything ran through my mind like banging my flashlight against my gun, yelling, or shining the light at it, but it being three feet or so from me I didn't want to piss her off anymore. Fortunately she walked off.

Don't know if that qualifies as hoof prints in my back, but I think I could've made a case like protecting my family that was right next to me, especially if there was hoof prints on the tent. Who knows, hindsight says maybe I was lucky to not have anything bigger and really been tempted to shoot her.

ID shooter, this was in a campground around Bear Lake. She didn't seem scared of us at all earlier, and my sister, who's a host up there, has run into a few while hiking around the area.

I'm just questioning whether a 44 with hot loads would cut it. A 454 seems like it would give you a little more confidence when your rifle isn't by your side, or worse, at home.
 
My first instinct would be to try to scare away the animal and not kill it with a gun. Running works too. If I were just hanging in the area and moose were a concern, I would probably just have some heavy 41 magnum loads in a Smith Mountain Gun (4") and not get too worried about it. 44 mag would be fine too in most cases. If I were hunting, I would pack my 480 Ruger SRH loaded with heavy solids.
 
stevelyn

You nailed it. If you are sleeping in a tent and a moose decides to trample you, just hope it is quick. Otherwise they aren't the brightest beast on the planet. If they don't wonder off on their own make some noise and hope they do. I have seen some pretty dumb tourists with cameras and moose. Wonder more tourists aren't killed. Give them (moose) their space and they usually just wonder off.

Take Care

Bob
 
Seriously, don't go shooting the moose. I can tell you the local juries will be a lot less charitable towards a moose killer than a bear killer. You kill a moose you're basically stealing it from someone else's table. And EVERYBODY in this state has been chased by moose, so there's no room for BS'ing a story about DLP. Basically, you'd better have busted bones and hoof prints on you.
 
"And EVERYBODY in this state has been chased by moose, so there's no room for BS'ing a story about DLP."

Besides, I think you're talking about Alaskan Moose aren't you Cosmoline? The moose I seen when I was in Alaska put most of the Shiras moose we have around here to shame size-wise.
 
Ya Cosmo, you AK moose make ours look like goats by comparison. Still, moose killers are treated the same child kidnappers in this state, or so it seems.
 
S&W Mountain Gun in .44 mag with suitable loads

will be ideal for anything you might encounter, short of carrying something so huge you might as well be carrying a lever gun. Another option is the Ruger Alaskan, available in 454 Casull and .45 Colt, .480 Ruger, and now .44 magnum.

Usually moose won't hurt you. Just get out of their way. Bear can be different.
 
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