Moose bullet for tikka .243

[Treeman_MG]

I do get the recoil thing. I’ve had an old Ruger M77 shooting those 200 grain partitions for a long time. That thing will beat the absolute crap out of you from a bench. So much so, I won’t shoot it more than a few times just to verify zero (because I don’t want to induce bad habits). When shooting at animals though, I barely even feel or hear it. I have been shooting another 300 WM lately, this one suppressed. It has noticeably less recoil and is easy to shoot more ammo than I should. Everyone has their idea of ideal. I think maybe I’m in the old dog camp of bigger animals equal bigger gun. It’s not that I can’t learn new tricks….maybe I don’t want to. My wife would surely agree. Hope your hunt goes great!

I am insanely jealous of all you guys that live in states that allow suppressors!

That's about why I sold my 300. . . I didn't want to shoot at from the bench, load dev was dreaded. Sure, you don't really feel it when shooting at an animal, but I was definitely getting bad habits from mine. I was a die hard big gun guy until a couple years ago - my other guns were 444 Marlin, 358 Winchester, and 356 Winchester (still have the .35's!). But going to smaller guns, and being able shoot ALOT more has had a huge impact on my shooting, especially field shooting.

Thanks for all wishes on my hunt, love the great state of Alaska, it will be a good time regardless of whether we kill something!

 

[24valve]

Personally I would not consider a 243 for anything bigger than deer unless it was cow elk up close.

Yep 243's are marginal on bull elk at distance...

To the OP's initial question, 95 TMK's are quite violent out of a 243. I have not seen any of them on moose, only elk and mule deer.

I have killed 3 Shiras moose. First one was front on a bull shot with 338, dropped on the spot, bullet did not exit. Second one was a cow at about 40 yards, one 338 through the chest appeared to be a miss (it wasn't), I put a 2nd bullet through the chest which didn't appear to faze it, it just kept walking, third shot also in the chest didn't change its pace any. It went about 50 yards before going down. Third moose, also a cow, took a 375 taylor through the shoulder broadside, did not flinch, a second 375 about 4" to the rear of the first shot put it down.

On moose behavior after being hit, I have only witnessed two (shiras) in person but they were similar to what you've shared here. Both took three rounds into the chest at less than 100 yards, went 40-50 yards before falling over and dying. One was a bull moose with a 270, unknown bullets, and the other was a cow with a 300 WM and monos.

My belief is that if you NEVER miss your exact point of aim and always have a good shot angle, a smaller round is just fine on big animals. However, I hunt in the real world where animals do not always cooperate, vegetation that you didn't see before the shot suddenly appears, and where shooting positions are not always rock solid.

I agree, the real world is a very different place than the range. Which is where the shootability of a smaller caliber (when paired with fragmenting bullets for adequate terminal performance) really shine. Less stable shooting positions make accurate shots with larger calibers exponentially more difficult.

 

[MtnW]

Yes- but only for me because I don’t want to waste moose meat. No doubt a TMK will kill faster on average, but also cause more meat loss. Being that shots on moose aren’t typically very far and that they don’t tend to take off when hit- I prefer less wasted meat.

WOULD LOVE TO SEE PICTURES OF ALL OF YOUR MOOSE KILLS OVER THE YEARS,
Actually would love to see all of your hunting experiences photos outside of the raghorn bull elk that you may actually have a photo of. I say , FORM- BIG HAT NO CATTLE