elk are a lot tougher than deer and i would be caught dead hunting with any less then 180 gr. bullets. 160 will work ok but they are a lot less forgiving on slightly misplaced shots. Good luck
Really.So tell us just how many elk that you personally have killed.I have only killed 14elk myself and have witnessed first hand another 10 or so,but my limitedexperiences have shown that bullet construction is far more important than bullet weight.A bullet like the 168gr tsxor the 165gr failsafe or barnes xwill out penetrate much heavier bulletsof different construction including most 180gr to 220gr bullets.I have killed several elkusingpremium 140gr 7mm bullets with no problems at all.