When I got my Gonic someone suggested that i shoot 110 grains of 777 2f and a heavy lead conical. I think they were 480 grain. That gun doesn't have much of a recoil pad on it and man I could feel it. Also I was finding little lead flakes on the patch when I swabbed and I really gave it a good cleaning to try and get all the lead out of it when I got done shooting. I really think that 80 grains would be all you would need on a Elk.