You know, I stayed out of this for quite a while (I think since the 1st reply). Anyway, I feel compelled now to get into the argument regarding kids that aren't old enough or "tough enough" to handle a rifle capable of taking elk. "Tough" may not be a word I would use, but OK. I think a better one might be "mature," but feel about the same as EKM does. In Nevada you can start hunting when you are 12 years old. I didn't start hunting until I was 14. My 1st gun (and still have it to this day) is a Win Model 70 .30-06. My dad didn't get me to hunting until he felt I was mature enough to handle it, and understand all of the aspects of it. We were on a remote hunt for deer, and were hiking quite a ways every day. (I believe up to 6 miles one day alone). I got my deer that year. I made a bad shot on the first one, we could not find, but I took that in stride, and understood that that happens. I later got my deer.

Now for the recoil. My cousin shoots a Spanish 7x57 Mauser, cut down a bit, and some trigger work, and safety work done to accept a scope. She is 14 now I believe. She ways maybe 85 lbs soaking wet. She was brought up to hunt with that rifle before anything else, and has killed an antelope so far with it. I started with a .30-06. I have shot a .270 with heavy bullets. I feel that a .270 with 150 grainers kicks just as bad as a .30-06 with 150 grainers if not worse. Its not a matter of a "bigger is better mentality," but the fact that the same size bullet is being pushed down a bore with a larger surface area, thereby reducing the recoil. Put a 150 or 165 grain bullet in a .30-06 (premium bullet of course), and you have something that will kill elk, and will make it to the vital zones with little problem. Another example, is my uncle has taught a 90 lb lady to shoot magnum loads in a full sized 12 guage. Just another fact that you have to have something that fits you correctly in order to shoot it correctly. Now I will tell you, that that 7x57 is the smallest rifle I know of that anyone in my family hunts with. Throw in the mix a 7mag, some .30-06 and a 338WM, and elk, deer, and antelope have fallen to all of them. Do we need anything like the .338 for deer and antelope? Probably not, but if you shoot it right, and have the knowledge of shot placement, then isn't "bigger" really "better"?