I always enjoy this topic because it was instrumental in my early elk hunting pursuits 25 years ago. Anything suited for the great western elk hunt had to have a magnum primer stuck in the case or it wasn't ethical. I gladly played those games with a variety of 338WM's, 300WM's, 300 WSM's, and one 325WSM. All brought elk home - cows and bulls from 125 yards to 385 yards. But so did .270 Wins, .308 Wins and 30-06's - with "deer bullets" that the others in our camp were using. Well, 25 years later, I have a couple of thousand primers to sell. Well there is that Talkeetna way in the back of the safe waiting to go to Alaska again. Anyway, the moral of the story is your plain old deer rifle is an elk rifle too! Maybe a bump up in bullet quality is prudent, but you'd be better off upgrading something else like boots, a backpack or a binocular. Good luck.
My home is the "sanctuary residence" for my firearms.
