I would leave the 30-06 a 30-06 and just go kill elk. If the max range you are shooting is under 500 yards, you already have a fantastic elk cartridge.
You ought to look up the thread "deceased by Scenar" and see just how effective the 155 Scenars, when fired out of .308s and 30-06s are.
A 155 Scenar at 2900-3000 fps would certainly be plenty.
In spite of what neophytes and flatlanders say and think, you don't need cartridges that often get used for African dangerous game just to shoot an elk. The are really not that hard to kill in spite of BS spouted.
I will check that thread out.
I kiled my first elk with a .308 pushing 180 grain Nosler Partitions. He was dead as can be 75 yards away. My issue was no exit wound, no snow and elk tracks everywhere. Blowdown was so thick I heard him fall to the ground with a loud thud and saw which way he ran. He was only 70 yards away and it still took me 30 minutes to find him. I was kind of panicing until I did.
Bullet went through both lungs, no shoulder hit, just lungs and balled up against the far hide. Just a trickle of blood from the entrance wound. I decided I wanted full penetration after that and grabbed the .300 WBY, used it all over the west and two plains games hunts in RSA and Namibia and never looked back...until this year. I realized that I was carrying way to much gun and scope (and binoculars and cloths and body fat) than i needed in that blown down timber.
