I'm not sure why you would want to go UP in caliber and DOWN in bullet weight? IMHO if you are going to launch a bullet in that 200 grain range go to a 06 or 300 Remchesterby. Once you go up to the three three eight then muscle up a bit in weight as mentioned earlier and go two-fitty. But shoot what groups the best in your rifle that still give you a good SD and BC. Elk can be a lot harder to kill than some bigger animals. Speed kills for sure but there are other factors to juggle as well. Super velocity does weird things up close and personal. I'd take a WAG and say most elk are shot closer than 3/10ths of a mile. Sounds like you have options, so it's a "want to" thing not that you have only one rifle. The Whelen is hard to beat on wapiti as I bet you already know. The hottest and fastest and bestest are rarely the same. It's all fun in the hunt before the hunt. jm2c
