I have a 6" S&W M29 44mag and I am wondering if I were to use it for moose what bullet I should choose. I plan on pushing what ever it is to the max. I don't want to go over 250gr since I want to be able to practice with it and I don't want to beat the snot out of the gun doing so. I see offerings from Barnes, Swift and I know there are others like the FTX from Hornaday. I want something that is not going to loose weight however but I am skeptical that even the 225 gr barnes will have enough juice to make a successful one shot kill on a broad side shot even if it is doing 1500 + fps I am interested in the Swift 240gr but it doesn't look like it opens up as large as the barnes. The nice thing about the lighter bullet would be a quick follow up shot if needed however. I am figuring I would be shooting at 100y or less which wont be a problem for me to accomplish.

What would you suggest for a bullet for Moose?

300 XTP.

I think 100 yards is setting your expectations a little high with a 6" 44 mag.  44 mag out of a 20" or even 16" lever gun, 100 yards would be reasonable.  50 yards and under is where I would set my limits with a 6" revolver.  I also really think you need to reconsider going above 250 grains.

Dragging a moose out of spruce bog is not fun...ask me how I know.  You will want to drop that SOB before it makes into chest high water.

Also, AK takes recovering game very seriously.  

My first choice would be the second post, my second would be speer 300 gr Unicore.

I would call the .44 mag a bit light for Moose. The .500 Smith and Wesson would be better. No actually a .300 win mag would be best.

For some perspective @ 100 yards the XTP is delivering about 700ft/lbs at the point of impact...about 800ft/lbs @ 50 yards.
180grn 30-06 @. 2800f/s @ 100 yards delivers 2700 ft/lbs at point of impact.

I am not sure XTP is the one. I might consider a bonded soft point for better penetration. I am thinking the XTP may start to open up a little early due to the thick hide and muscle you need to get through first...

Hopefully someone with more real world experience shooting at Moose will jump in. Good luck

How about a heavy solid lead bullet like Buffalo Bores 340gr?

44 is too small for moose.  Using the heaviest/strongest bullet at under 50 is still marginal.
I hit a 400 lb cow elk right behind the shoulder with a 300 gr hard cast swc at 40 yds once with a 44.
She went 600 yds down into a hell hole, and added a huge effort to the pack out.

Hey if anyone wants to donate to me a S&W 500 I will definitely kill something with it. I don't imagine I'll get any takers on that offer. Heck I'll take a 460 if you don't have a 500.

A 44 mag. for moose?

OP, may I inquire why you would choose a 44 mag? Your username would indicate a better choice considering the huge difference between energy delivered.

I tend to agree with this.



The last moose I shot was at 75 yards with a 308. (I don't remember what grain bullet.)

4 shots before he went down and he ran about 100 yards total.  The moose was standing in front of a beaver flowage when I saw him.

I told the two with me I was going to shoot until he was dead, or I was out of bullets, because I didn't plan on swimming today.



First shot was broadside tucked behind forward shoulder. (both lungs)

Second shot was broadside behind forward shoulder as well. (moose spun 180 degrees after the first shot.)

Third shot through the hump angled into the chest cavity. (Moose running directly towards me, I was shooting from a slightly elevated position.  Dumbass didn't know I was there.)

Fourth shot quartering away angled into chest cavity from about midway on the side.



The moose still ran another 20-30 yards before falling over DRT.  They CAN be tough bastards, but they can also drop with a .22



Shot placement will be key, and almost any 44 bullet will work with the right shot.



 

I get the impression the a lot of posters weren't around when the 44 was the biggest round chambered. Quite a few moose fell to a hard cast 44 mag bullet back then. I would choose a good HC load to ensure a forward shoulder shot does the trick.

As always, know your capabilities and ranges...

I am pretty young but always laugh when I hear everyone talking about needing the latest super magnum whatever. Most people would shit themselves if they knew what people killed on a regular basis with handguns and little(at least by todays standards) rifles.

Hell they have even taken Moose with 4440’s to.   That was before the 44 special came out.   The Indians took many of Moose, Buffs and other large game with stone arrows before the advent of guns.

The last grizzly in CA was killed with a lever gun in 44-40. My accountants grandfather was the man that killed it. She said he completely emptied the gun on it as it came after him.

Never thought of that, but you know, you are right. Something to note however is that it seems from my reading on those like Elmer Keith and then based on my observations of hunting television shows hand gun hunting on purpose is a rather modern phenomenon. Mr Keith certainly took big game animals even at extraordinary ranges for the 44spl's and 45 colts he had at the time but all were targets of opportunity, he was certainty an above average shot with revolvers and he even admits that not ever instance resulted in a clean kill. Todays modern bullets and higher powered cartridges help assure cleaner kills than 50 or in Mr Keith's situation 60-75 + years ago

I've taken 3 with handgun. One SRH .44 and two with the .454.

Large meplat, NO HOLLOWPOINT. You don't need or want expansion, you want penetration and the ability to crush heavy bones. Go as heavy as you can. If you don't reload, look at some of the Buffalo bore options or something similar. If you do reload, hardcast flatpoints are gtg.

Moose are fairly fragile if you hit them correctly. With a handgun, ideally, you will do structural damage such as taking out a shoulder. A moose isn't a whitetail, if a moose drops to a 3-point stance with the shoulder down because a shoulder is gone, they often can't get back up. You should be fairly close to ensure making a solid structural hit. If you miss the mark by a little and take out the lungs, you might have a bit of a hike on your hands, but it will still die relatively soon.

I've had one drop immediately and die within seconds with 300Gr .44 mag from about 30 yards with a solid shoulder shot. I've also launched a 400gr FP from a .45-70 rifle at nearly 2100fps from 20 yards away and had to pack him out a hundred yards or so because I missed the bones by a couple inches when he tried to turn right before the shot.

What about something like this doing just over 1100 fps? Its a stout load no doubt and one I have already loaded and chronoed in my S&W M29. My only issue is it seems to be really heavy for the gun in the recoil department and not a load I plan on shooting a lot. I can handle the recoil and shoot it well enough to plow a moose through the shoulder at lets say less than 50Y.

I haven't yet but could experiment with loading them back wards. That would give the ultimate full diameter crushing surface area.

Number two was a recovery from the neck of a bull moose. The Barnes 180 gr. TSX  entered the left side, demolished the neck bone and was stuck under the hide on the right. Barnes in your situation would be a good choice. Number two was shot from a 7mm Rem. mag at 100 yds. At 100 yards the 7 mag is somewhere around 2500 FPS maybe more, and around the same energy. My point is moose are tough critters with thick hide and large bone structure. With proper shot placement a 44 mag from a handgun will do the job...same could be said for  a .22.

Looks like it would be a good round to me. Barnes should hold together.

Op, 44 will do it, but you need to be close unless you want to chase it.....personally, stick it  right in his ear is best  if you don't want him running far.....I've seen them shot with a lot of long guns, a few pistols..while lots of things will kill them, it may not do it anywhere near where you shoot it...in other words, you might only get 1 shot at it, it may disappear into 15 ft tall brush so thick you can't walk thru it..rarely do we get shots on moose out in the wide open and when we do they normally are right on the edge and ready to duck right back into the thick stuff.....by the way, I shoot 300 rum, where we hunt you get one shot, and you want to stop them right there on the 1st shot..has worked damn good over the years. hardest was a nice bull  hiding in a clump of 6 ft brush on a slope, I knew by the way he was laying there that he had cows surrounding him, we crawled in to the 201 yard mark behind a small knob..I knew there were cows all around us and we weren't gonna get closer without them getting up and him disappearing, only part of him I could see clearly was part of his nose, left eye and ear, and the bottom of his rack..waited till just shy of dark for him to get up, he didn't, so finally I proned out, used my pack as a rest and put a 200 barnes X into his left ear....had 2 cows jump up less then 10 yards from where I shot..... only guys I have seen have good results with handguns were shooting 454 cassul or 500 s&w..both had small tree stands overlooking a common  thick brush area that over the years has held moose...both set in those stands for hours and hours over about a week each before they each got a bull, 1 got a spike fork(young bull that most likely won't survive the winter)and one got a 4 brow tine 42" bull...but thats it for hand gunners that I know of..good luck..

OP,...do you handload ?

these homebrew LEE 315gr flatpoint GasChecks with a max load of H-110 are kinda hard on the S&W 29, but . . .


( note 45ACP brass for size comparison)


loaded to the longer crimp groove in my 44SBH

I do hand load and cast.