The 30-30 will teach him to hunt....He'll have to get close, but isn't that what hunting is really about? My neighbor's 14 year old son killed a whopper bull with a .243 year before last....scored 410 3/8, I believe...the biggest bull killed in Montana in 2012. He crawled to within 50 yards of the bull and killed it with one shot. Having said that, I don't advocate using a .243 for elk....a larger caliber is better, of course...but it goes to show if you get close and chose your shot carefully, caliber isn't all that important. I'd rather see someone get close with a smaller caliber gun than someone blasting away with a big magnum at 600 yards or more, which happens far too often.