I am in no way an expert on elk. I have been to a dozen or more elk camps in my life. The "expert's" that I speak of are the guides in elk camp. And YES I consider them experts. I am not talking about gun writers. All, I repeat ALL, the elk guides that I have hunted with have told me two things consistently. 1. The larger the caliber a hunter can handle-the better. 2. Always put asecond round into the animal, if you can. IMO this is good advice. I can promise you a guide would rather hunt with a hunter who can shoot a 338 Win. Mag. over a 7mm Rem. I have alot of friend's who elk hunt all the time(I can no longerhunt elk), and they tell me that they are seeing more and more 375 H&H's, in elk camp.

If a hunter can not handle a larger caliber rifle, then that hunter will probably also have a problem with the 7 mag. as well. I can not argue with common sense. And common sense should tell you that bigger is better.

Flat shooting is not all it is cracked up to be. If you practice with your rifle enough to be effective with it at 300 or 400 yards. Then you should be able to handle the recoil of an elk caliber. And you shouldknow your rifle well enough to be able to make calculations concerning your trajectory. And the 7mag. with a 175 grain bullet(elk bullet), is not point blank at these ranges.The larger caliber's-like the 338 Winnie are flatter shooting at the longer distances, past 300 yards. Tom.