There isn’t an elk alive that can’t be killed by a 30-30 through the lungs. Back when my eyesight matched irons well I could use my old 30-30 to hit an elk vital size target at 400 yards 3 times in a row any not too windy day. That doesn’t make the 30-30 a 400 yard elk gun.
Use whatever you like on elk, the 30-06 with150 grain good bullet is to me the starting point of effective on elk if you think a 3-400 yard death run might take that animal out of your recovery area. I’ve seen a decent bull shot through both lungs with 180 grain Barnes a broken off side shoulder walk over 100 yards toward the private boundary before I finally stopped him. That was a from a 300 win Mag used by a good shooting active duty marine at 330 yards. They are often tough to kill and too tasty to let get away.
