Guy,
I never owned a 30-06, but my best friend and hunting buddy for over 60 years had one and used it for everything; except water fowl and upland game birds
. I witnessed many times it's capabilities in his hands. However being the wimp I am, I went with his little brother the 308 Win; which I admit does rather well also. The 30-06 dominates in the heavy bullet arena, but the 308 Win with 180 grain Partition holds it's own and has served me well for elk and deer. I used to reload his 30-06 ammo for him and I admire the round. But being a tight wad, I didn't want to spend the money to step up to the 30-06. LOL
In recent years I have discovered the wonders of the old 7x57 cartridge, that provides such excellent ballistics performance with the .284 bullets, with low recoil as well. So now I own two 7x57s (Ruger M77 MK 2 and a Brno made Peruvian sportified Mauser based on the 98 model action). They have become my primary deer rifles and with the right reloads can serve as backups for elk hunting.
Still the 30-06 stands out as the American standard for big game hunting, and has earned that reputation over and over. That ELD 212 rounds sounds like it is ideal for elk! Enjoy and good hunting!
CJ
