Unless you are only chasing trophy bull elk (fully-mature, six point or better), I’d probably not go with a hard recoiling round like the .300 Win Mag. While it is a splendid elk cartridge, it isn’t very fun to shoot at the bench and really isn’t necessary for 95% of all “Western” hunting.

Any standard cartridge from .25 - .30 cal is fine, with proven rounds like the .25-‘06 Rem, 270 Win, .280 Rem, .308 Win and .30-‘06 being your best bet. Even smaller rounds such as the .257 Roberts, .260 Rem, 6.5 Creedmoor, 6.5x.284 Norma, 7mm-08 Rem and 7x57 Mauser are outstanding Western cartridges that can be made up in light rifles that don’t kick. In fact, my two longest shots on game animals were both taken with a 6.5x.284: 435 yards on a huge bull elk (125gr Nosler Partition) and 400 yards on a trophy Pronghorn (120gr Nosler Ballistic Tip). Both dropped at impact and did not move.

I know it isn’t sexy, but you’d be hard-pressed to beat the .30-‘06 for a Western rifle to hunt elk and everything else with.

If you’re going to be hunting Mule Deer and Pronghorn, something like the .257 Roberts, .260 Rem or the mighty .25-‘06 are perfect.

Mostly deer with an occasional elk hunt, something like the 6.5 Creedmoor, .280 Rem or the classic .270 Win are perfect.

A good variable scope with anywhere from 9X - 16X magnification on the upper end is great out here, as is a good rangefinder.

If I didn’t have what I need already and if I lived back east and wanted a sweet Western rifle, I’d pick a Winchester Model 70 Extreme Weather SS in the classic Western cartridge...the .270 Winchester...and top it with a Leupold VX-5 HD 3-15x44 CDS-ZL2 mounted in Talley LW rings.