Since you,ve been shooting a 22 250 I recomend the in no order 260rem 7mm08 308win 338 federal 6.5x55. Its simple you already have and shoot a rifle in a short action you presumably shoot well. Get another 1 in the larger caliber. A million moose have fallen to the 6.5x55 in Europe ought to be enough elk here.

.30-06. Well known all around cartridge. Buy ammo in appropriate loads anywhere, even borrow from hunters in the field. When you get around to acquiring more specialized rifles the .30-06 will continue to provide a useful function as a back-up to the specialized gun.

30-06, readily available ammo anywhere in the world in case you go in a hunt and forget . Cheap to buy too, wal mart has 150 grain federal shok for $12.99, good way to get proficient by shooting alot and not going broke.

I second this.. I own a model 70 (wood/blue), 270 and have shot lotsa white tail, mule deer and elk with it.. No issues with its capability or "adequacy" to kill hooved game.. The 270 is the best kept 'Secret' strong enough for a man but made for a woman...

Having said that I would be equally happy with a 30/06, I would just get used to that caliber and rifle.. Ideally a great match to a 30/06 would be a a Leupold Vari-X III with Boone & Crocket reticle. I don't own an arsenal and probably never will, too many other things to spend money on like a new bow.

Actually one more thing I'd like to add and sorry about the thread drift..

After many years of hunting I have come to the conclusion that bullet construction is very important.. After using a bunch of different lead bullets (premium and generic), I am blown away by the Barnes TSX bullets.. Our hunting group started using them about 4 years ago and Its amazing how tough they are and how much damage they impart.. We seldom recover Barnes bullets but when we do they are together and expandedas advertized.. In the leaded days, we retreived way more lead bullets and about half of those didn't stay together so well, they DID do the job (I can't say they failed), but I am impressed with how the Barnes just don't break up like the leaded ones..

We bulk load up 140 grain 270 TSX for 4 of us and 2 more in our extended group want in.. I know, I know you're supposed to tweak the load to your gun, but nobody in our group's complaining with the accuracy from the generic load.. My gun and ammo is still more accurate than I am...

I know plenty of hunters here who have taken elk with .7mm-08 factory loads. Same goes for the .270 and the .30-06. There seems to be a general feeling here that more elk have been taken with the .30-06 than any other cartridge. It's all about shot placement.

As for the .300WM, I have a buddy who hit a big Muley buck at the base of his skull across a canyon (maybe 400 yds.?) and pretty much blew his head off. That's a lot of juice!