RE: Youth elk caliber
My great-uncle would always hunt every thing with a .308. He'd hunt his deer with it, elk, and a bunch of varmits. He'd go to Alaska with his buddies and his .308 (Whatever he couldn't hunt with it, he'd go with something bigger). He was a .308-believing man. I guess it must have been a good gun. I don't know the brand of rifle he had though.