Just killed another cow elk with a 130 accubond at 2850 fps out of my swede, 306 yds, 1 shot and down, heart shot, bullet exited. 2 other cows shot at closer range previous years the accubonds have not exited with lung shots, 200-250 yds, but expanded perfectly and were balled up on the hide on the offside.
The farthest I have had any elk travel with a good lung or heart shot has been 50 yds, most have been down in less than 10 yds. Going to get around to trying the 120 TTSX one of these years but the accubonds have been working so well.
My bulls have been shot with a 280 and the bull in my avatar was taken with a 257 wsm. Place a decent bullet in the vitals and it will work. Built a 280 ackley just for elk but my swede is so much lighter and easier to carry that I find myself grabbing it instead. I think many use calibers larger than they can handle, therefore they don't practice with them and shoot poorly as a result. A precisely placed bullet is much more important than caliber.
