If you ever get a chance to go elk, or moose hunting, I would suggest that you start a thread on suggested caliber for those animals. I'm pretty sure the smallest caliber suggested by any true hunters of those particular animals would be a 270 and would go up from there.I would bet ya a dollar no one would recomend head shots. I've been hunting elk for years with some pretty darn good elk hunters, and I've never seen anyone use any caliber smaller than a 270. I've also seen hundreds of elk harvested and not one single head shot!!!