This thing with barrel length is not absolute. You will always get more speed out of a longer barrel - the issue is whether the amount you gain is worth the akwardness and weight of the longer weapon. With 150 grain loads of Pyrodex pellets and sabots, I was getting about 125 to 150 fps more speed with my 26" Black Diamond XR than I was with my 22 1/2" regular Black Diamond. With conicals and 100 grains of loose Pyrodex, the difference was a little less than 100 fps.

You will be fine with a non-magnum load (90 to 110 grains of powder) for elk out to 150 yards. I would recommend the 250 grain Shockwave or the 250 gr. Barnes Expander MZ. If you can't use sabots, the 385 gr. Buffalo Bullets and the 410 gr. Hornady Great Plains (with a MMP ballistic bridge sub base) arebullets that I know from personal experience will take elk.

Good luck. Roskoe