I have to agree that the 30-30 is no rifle to hunt elk with. Its killed elk in the past but with what there is availble now days leave the 30-30 at home. It is a horrible elk cartridge with an extremely limited range and if you hit bone like the shoulder you'll never see it again. Some say you need 2000 ft-lbs of energy to take an elk but I believe to be closer to 1800. Just so you get an idea Federal makes a 170gr partition for the 30-30 and out of the muzzle it has 1830 ft-lbs of energy and 1320 at 100yds. So unless your friend plans on "holding up" an elk this cartridge should not be used. A .270 is better than the 30-30 but I don't believe that to be a very good choice either. My personal minimum for elk is a 30-06.