Is there an ultimate brown bear, elk, and moose cartridge?

[thinhorn_AK]

Just looked at that, sweet set up!

So not unpleasant like my 223 and 77s ?

It has some buck to it but maybe because of the stock shape it isn’t bad at all. I had a weatherby 375HH that scoped every single person that shot it, bruised the thumb knuckles and took skin off fingers. I hated that gun. The 2 375HH rifles I have now both shoot great. I was out shooting the m70 stainless classic a week or so ago and it handled well. That xcr2 though…..I’d buy another one. I had the bolt tig welded at accu-tig in fairbanks and dropped a trigger tech trigger into it. One of my favorite rifles. Nice to carry and nice to shoot. For the record, I’ve never tried a 223 with the 77g smk or whatever.

 

[MaraviaDave]

Cool, you keep crunching sectional density numbers for those 100-300yd shots on moose. I’ll just keep stacking the moose and filling my freezer every year.

Do you know what Sectional Density is?

Sounds like you’re confusing SD with Ballistic Coefficient.

Sectional density is defined as a bullet's weight (mass) divided by its cross sectional area. The heavier a bullet in any caliber (diameter,) the higher its SD. And the higher its SD, the better it will retain momentum.

The bigger and tougher the game, the higher the bullet Sectional Density you want in any caliber. The momentum behind a high SD bullet helps it penetrate deep.

A simple analogy……a golf ball and ping pong ball are roughly the same diameter. They each have a big difference in weight. Would you rather get hit in the forehead with a ping pong ball @ 20mph or hit with a golf ball @ 10mph?

The golf ball is going to have more momentum and retain energy better, because it has a higher SD.

Isn’t a high SD what we want for moose? A bullet that will drive deep through heavy hide and muscle, along with breaking bones?

 

[ElGuapo]

.338/.340 Win, Weatherby, RUM

 

[300 win mag]

elk and moose are one thing.peninsula or kodiak brown bear is on another level.been there done that.shooting at big bears at 400 yds is to put it nicely foolish.ask any quality guide.also common sense helps.good hunting to all.

 

[300 win mag]

Proudly stand side-by-side to a .223 shooter when a bear comes a sniffin' too close, and be so chivalrous as to employ my 35 Whelen AI with a 250 gr Barnes original X bullet at 2600 fps. But what do I know, I am a moron too... "Man Of Rifle Of Necessity" for the job at hand.

 

[300 win mag]

thank you both.yes sir 223 with 77 grainers on all of them out to 300 or 400 yds.yes a great cartridge but for me no thanks.when in grizz country.not thie elder.i value my life.

 

[Bravo6]

The 375 H&H with the right bullet is very capable out to 400 yards. The Barnes 270 grain LRX is a great choice. I've killed quite a few bull moose with this cartridge and bullet combination. It's also a relatively comfortable cartridge to shoot. The recoil pulse is more of a progressive push, as opposed to a sharp snap (Recoil Energy 37.59 ft/lbs and Recoil Velocity 15.32 FPS).

From my perspective, ft /lbs of Kinetic Energy is not the best measurement of terminal ballistic energy....when shooting large game, with heavy bone and muscle structure. In the table below you'll see some of the other ways of quantifying terminal impact energy (e.g. Optimum Game Weight, Taylor K.O. Factor, Momentum). Each method places different biases on bullet velocity, bullet weight and bullet diameter. Of all the formulas the Taylor K.O. Factor seems the most accurate for moose...because it takes caliber (0.375") into account and shouldn't be understated

My bullets are leaving the muzzle at 2839 FPS and are still above 2000 FPS at 400 yards.

Ammunition is loaded by Unknown Munitions using Norma Brass and RL-17. Jake's ammo is incredible!!

When I initially zero'd my rifle I shot seven 3-round groups, with an overall average of 0.427 MOA. Followed by truing my Kestrel 5700 ( Applied Ballistics software), which called for a truing distance of 718 yards. Shooting into a paper target set at 720 yards...I shot one 10-round group...with all 10 shots grouping into 0.673 MOA as measured by Ballistic-X. The correction to muzzle velocity required for truing was 0.28% (2831 FPS-->2839 FPS) The AB Custom Drag Model for the Barnes 270 LRX was wicked accurate.

The longest shot on a bull moose with this setup has been 427 yards. Broadside, double lung hit, excellent terminal bullet performance, bull tipped over within 5 seconds.

My purpose in mentioning all of this, is for anyone considering a 375 H&H, my experience with this cartridge and bullet combination has been really good. It's been very accurate, comfortable enough to shoot and has been devastating on moose and interior Alaska Grizzly bears.

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Wow, that's fantastic, any idea what powder used on that cartridge they loaded for you?

Thanks much!
Jeff

 

[MaraviaDave]

Wow, that's fantastic, any idea what powder used on that cartridge they loaded for you?

Thanks much!
Jeff

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