I am still floundering - for sure the 338 Win. Mag. by all info I have found is a good round gor elk. I am headed on my first, and probably only, elk hunt in 2014. I have a 308 Win., 30.06 Spr., 300 Win. Mag. and 338 WIn. Mag. All shoot great and I am comfortable using any of these. I hunt white tail deer a lot and have uses the 308 Win. rifle that I have (Styer Pro Hunter Mountain) for many, many years. My delimma is which should I take on the elk hunt! All have either Swarovski or Ziess glass, excellent riggers, and are very accurate. I am leaning towards the 338 Win. simply for the sake of it being the hardest hitter of the 4. But man I love that 308 Win. !!

Any of those will work. The 300 and 338 will give you more range and authority. I have 6 rifles more then powerful enough for elk, but just to be different, I'm thinking of taking my 375H&H next fall. So take whatever you like best, and take one more as a backup.

338-06 is what I would use with 185 gr barnes, but that's just me

I use a 30-06 using a 180gr Barnes TSX. My hunting partner and I have killed 10 elk in the past 7 years using this caliber and load.

Bryce Towsely for American Hunter on his choice for elk:
http://www.americanhunter.org/articl...lk-cartridges/