I'm pretty sure the perennial straw man creator, Coyote Hunter, was the one who started throwing recoil tolerance into the mix on this thread.
He doesn't own a 300 WBY, so it cannot be considered a viable elk round, much less "nothing better" as the thread title states.
Of course, if he owned one, it would be the best choice and he would slouch down to peck out 16 paragraphs in every post about how it is the absolute ultimate elk round and nothing else should be considered.
Does your mother know she raised a fool?
When determining the 'best' of anything you have to take individual preferences and capabilities into account. The OP has this to say about the .300WBY: "High but manageable recoil..." "Almost unlimited bullet selection..." "widely universal availability of factory ammo" "Why undergun yourself with lesser armament...? "or overrun yourself with higher recoil?"
There are plenty of people who can't handle the recoil of a .30-06, let alone a .300 WBY. Many people would consider the lower recoil to be a significant advantage for other cartridges with recoil they can actually manage.
For reloaders, bullet selection is the same as for other cartridges that use 308" bullets. No advantage to the .300WBY for reloaders.
Midwayusa shows 87 factory loads available for the .30-06 plus another 14 on backorder. The .308 Win shows availability for 96 factory loads with 19 on backorder. For the .300WBY midway shows 22 factory loads available, period. The cost of .30-06 factory ammo is also substantially less in most cases. Other cartridges also have a big advantage over the .300WBY in terms of availability. The advantage goes to the other cartridges.
"undergun" is a qualitative judgment that many people would disagree with but, that aside, no one I know feels "undergunned" for elk when they using any of a number of other "lesser" cartridges. For those who prefer less recoil the advantage goes to the "lesser" cartridges.
Using a .300WBY is to "overrun yourself with higher recoil" for those who haven't learned how to, prefer not to, for physical reasons cannot or for any other reasons choose not to manage or deal with the recoil of a .300WBY. For them the advantage again goes to "lesser" cartridges.
If I owned a .300WBY it would be like my other rifles. It would get used some years and not others. I've never considered or claimed any cartridge to be the "absolute ultimate elk round" and never suggested that "nothing else should be considered".
Say "Hi" to the men in white coats.
Coyote Hunter - NRA Patriot Life, NRA Whittington Center Life, GOA, DAD - and I VOTE!
No, I'm not a Ruger bigot - just an unabashed fan of their revolvers, M77's and #1's.
