The .338 Remington Ultra Magnum is your best elk rifle of the two...

With the Federal 225g Nosler Accubond you have found your BEST elk load in this caliber!

Velocity:
Muzzle: 3020fps
100 yds: 2846fps
200 yds: 2678fps
300 yds: 2516fps
400 yds: 2360fps
500 yds: 2210fps

Energy:
Muzzle:4556ft/lbs
100 yds: 4045ft/lbs
200 yds: 3582ft/lbs
300 yds: 3163ft/lbs
400 yds: 2783ft/lbs
500 yds: 2440ft/lbs

Wind drift @ 10mph
Muzzle:0.0"
100 yds:0.5"
200 yds: 2.2"
300 yds: 5.0"
400 yds: 9.1"
500 yds: 14.9"

Trajectory:
Muzzle: ???
100 yds: +1.4"
200 yds: -0.0"
300 yds: -6.2"
400 yds: -17.9"
500 yds: -36.0"

With the .338 Remington Ultra Mag you can kill elk at distances far beyond where you should be taking a poke at them.

I took a look at all of the factory rifles available in .338 Remington Ultra Mag and this is what you have to choose from:

Remington 700 XCR
With this rifle you get a nice look, synthetic stock, stainless barrel (26") and a fair price tag. Suggested MSRP $893.00

Unfortunately I think thats about it. If there are others I couldn't find them. Fortunately the XCR is f'in sweet so you shouldn't feel too bad.

As far as a scope for your elk rifle goes I would recommend the Leupold VXIII 2.5-8x36mm scope, but everyone here seems to like the Zeiss Conquest scopes and will probably recommed one in the 3-9x range. Either way you are dropping $400 for a scope.

If you are in the process of choosing hardware to mount your scope you should look at Warne rings and mounts. I think that these are some of the highest quality on the market.

I would probably have a professional do the mounting of the scope, and the boresighting of the gun. That will really save you from having to do all the work yourself.

If you need someone to sight the rifle in for you, or if you want someone to take it elk hunting in your place I would be happy to help. Just drop me an email at [email protected] and I will fly out and get a good 'un for you LMAO.

If you have any other questions, please ask someone else. I have officially burned myself out on this one.

Good luck on your elk hunt, and please PLEASE PLEEEEASE post some pictures of the rifle after you get it!

As for one more juicy tidbit. If you sight the rifle in to be 3.0" high at 100 yards you will get a maximum point blank distance of over 350 yards. Which means you won't even have to use any hold over. Just put the crosshairs in the middle of the kill zone from the muzzle out to almost 400 yards and you will make a vital hit. That is performance!!!!!!!

If that's not enough for those steel clad elk you could use a .378 weatherby or the .375 RUM. Both are more than any measly scrawny little .338 cal and it might be needed for shooting mountain to mountain at those elk.

Properly sighted either will kill elk at half a lightyear and do so with ft-lbs left over. Heck, I know guys that live in Wisconsin that shoot elk in Colorado and never leave home.

Can't wait for some bigger rifles to come our way. The elk may get even tougher as time goes by. I am sure that I couldn't chew one even now.

Ok TomfromTheShade, I'll bite. Why do you llike the .338 Win over the other two I asked about.Is there a performance advantage in the .338 win over the .340 Wby and .338 RUM.

Not to answer for Tom but the 338 is more than enough gun for elk with ballistics that are ideal for elk at a probably much lower over cost to buy and to shoot not to mention ease of finding ammo. Weatherby ammo is very spendy unless you roll your own. The 338 RUM is mainly an African game gun and is much more than needed in recoil and performance. IMO. Good Luck on your elk hunting.