If I were to buy an elk/grizzly gun, I would look at 2 cartridges. The 35 Whelen, and the 9.3x62. Both have similar case capacity, but the 9.3 can push a 286 grain bullet into the 2300-2400 fps range, which should be plenty to handle the big bears and elk under about 250 yards. That also is about as fastas the 35 pushes 250 grain bullets. Only draw back to these two would be there aren't a lot of factory cartridges available, so handloading would most likely be the option to go with. But, they would be able to be had in standard length rifles that aren't going to break the bank too bad and which most people would be able to shoot quite accurately more than other cartridges. Good luck.