Which gun would you take?

[BreechFace]

375 Ruger all the way! The Trijicon on top is perfect as well!

What a great rig for the hunt you described.

 

[RockAndSage]

if you're not going to use a Ruger Alaskan in .375 Ruger to hunt Alaskan moose, what are younsaving it for?

Getting to the heart of the issue...

 

[PA Hunter]

The gun didn’t have the range? Or your buddy didn’t have the skill/practice with that rifle to make a good shot???

No he is a very good shot, his gun didn't have the range and he took a poke at it last day hunting as getting dark.

 

[BreechFace]

No he is a very good shot, his gun didn't have the range and he took a poke at it last day hunting as getting dark.

The 375 Ruger’s ballistics allow for quite a distance while maintaining potency. Interesting, he felt he was limited.

 

[Yukon Cornelius]

Yes, he clarified that.

I have a tendency to comment before I finish reading a thread.

My bad.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

No he is a very good shot, his gun didn't have the range and he took a poke at it last day hunting as getting dark.

Yes, he took a shot he hadn’t practiced with and didn’t know enough about the gun he was using to realize he was making a poor choice/shot.

The problem here isn’t the gun, it’s your friend shooting it.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

The 375 Ruger’s ballistics allow for quite a distance while maintaining potency. Interesting, he felt he was limited.

Because he has no idea what the hell he’s doing. Let’s just call a spade a spade.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

Getting to the heart of the issue...

exactly and it should have been the first response to the thread.

Like the guy said, if you aren’t going to use your Ruger Alaskan for an Alaska moose hunt, why do you even own it?

 

[PA Hunter]

exactly and it should have been the first response to the thread.

Like the guy said, if you aren’t going to use your Ruger Alaskan for an Alaska moose hunt, why do you even own it?

He has allot of guns and he practices allot.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

He has allot of guns and he practices allot.

Apparently not enough. I’m guessing he’s either:

A: not as good as he thinks he is
B: didn’t practice enough to understand the gun

Or

C: both

I’m leaning towards c.

 

[Alaska92]

No question here……the .375 Ruger mentioned is the easy choice for this application. The mention of taking two rifles…..silly.

 

[Alaska92]

I would take the .300 my friend made the mistake taking his 375 Ruger few years ago didnt have the range and wounded a moose. Easily would have had it with his 7mm. Moose are not hard to kill just take a bit to fall over with their large lungs.

There is more to this story.

 

[luke moffat]

I'll just mimmick what others said here. Moose are NOT increidbly hard to kill. Either rifle will work just fine. The 375 is likely not the lightest tool in the toolbox but youre float hunting not chasing sheep up and down mountains for 100 miles over the course of 10-14 days.

375 Ruger all the way cause if you don't use it for a hunt like this like someone said, why own it?

 

[35WhelenAI]

I would take the .300 my friend made the mistake taking his 375 Ruger few years ago didnt have the range and wounded a moose. Easily would of had it with his 7mm. Moose are not hard to kill just take a bit to fall over with their large lungs.

That's not the guns fault. That's lack of respect for the animal and a selfish choice, as was clarified in multiple posts one way or the other after this one that you shared.

 

[BrownBow]

Without a doubt the 375 Ruger.

 

[ridgerunnerrron]

Take the 300. Or whatever you are most comfortable with. My moose never took much and moose die easily. I shot three w a 264 M and two dropped in their tracks. Shot my first one heart shot from a 243.
I shot the three big bears of NA all with one shot from a 300.

 

[Phelpsgamecalls]

I’d take the 300. We used a 300prc and both moose we killed died quickly with a well placed shot.

 

[RecentPhase]

.375 Ruger and drop it right on the river bank.

 

[buffybr]

I just saw this thread and reading through it I find some of the responses interesting.

.375 Ruger all the way. If you're not using the Ruger in this scenario what are you going to use it for?

Good point!

In 2003 I booked a Cape Buffalo hunt in Zimbabwe for the next year. Since I didn't have a rifle larger than .30 caliber, I bought a Remington 700 in .375 RUM. It was a stainless barrel and action in a laminate stock. The stock was too short for me, and since I like to tinker with guns, I re-stocked it in a Richards laminate stock that fits me.

I worked up a 3-shot 100 yd moa load for it with Barnes 300 gr TSX bullets and used it the next year for buffalo and bushbuck in Zimbabwe and other Plains game in South Africa. I then used it again in 2007 with 270 gr TSX bullets on another PG hunt in the Eastern Cape of South Africa.

It then sat in my safe until 2021 when I booked an Alaskan Brown bear and Moose hunt. It's now back to it's Safe Queen status in my gun safe because although I've used in on other animals as small as 20 lb African Steenboks, I consider it too big and powerful for any of my "normal" hunting.

... But there are alot Remingtons out there with triggers that I would never bring on a once in a lifetime hunt..

Ever since my Dad gave my first rifle, a Rem Model 514 single shot .22 rifle in the 1950s, I've had at least one Remington rifle. I've been lucky enough to have gone on many "once in a lifetime " hunts, and many of them have been with Remington Model 700 rifles, all with their factory triggers.

I used Rem 700 rifles on 3 of my 6 African hunts. Two with different 7mm RM rifles, and another 2 with my .375 RUM. One trip I took both a 7mm RM and my .375 RUM rifles.

I've used my two Rem 700 7mm RM rifles on three different Canadian hunts where they put 2 subspecies of caribou and a muskox in the B&C record books. Those were definately once in a lifetime hunts.

And not once in a lifetime hunts, but I've also used my Rem 700 rifles on deer, elk, and antelope hunts here in Montana.

In 25 years of shooting hundreds of rounds of ammunition in load developement, practice, and hunting with my 3 Rem 700 rifles, I've never had any kind of problem or issue with any of their triggers.

As to the OP's original question, if I would go on an Alaskan just moose hunt, I would probably take my .300 Wby shooting my 180 gr Barnes TTSX handloads.