I don't think the 410 is a good comparison but I get what you are saying. A 243 is easier to shoot accurately than a 300 win mag. Shooting a 410 with a small pattern full of holes is like shooting a 6 moa rifle.
Really novice shooters should only take the best shots, no angles and such, IMHO. Until they get the hang of things.
The biggest thing to me, is what you are willing to accept/pass up.
Limit me to a 223 and I'd happily hunt elk. But I'd also know I'm limited in range, and to shot selection.
Being that any elk I hunt falls into your statement of long travel, costs etc... I dont' go lightly armed. Typically if I were to ever gun hunt, 300 mag woudl be the smallest. MZ I carry a 54 for the extra penetration.
That being said I hunt moose with small calibers.. and I travel to do that but for some reason its not a big deal if we have to pass a shot because I have a 30-30... years ago, I'd have taken a cannon( first elk was shot with a 338/378 wtby, and could have been shot with a 243 for that matter....) just because I didn't want to have to pass up any shot presented.
These days as I age( typical for all of us I believe) its the hunt and not the kill, but I did settle on 338-06 for moose now... kind of an in between round... but still have 54 MZ and bow on the list to tackle them with eventually.
