I am going to be contrary here, and say that neither of those rifles is a good set up for a first time elk hunter that shoots factory ammo (probably is not a high volume shooter).
The 280 is way too heavy, and I bet the 7 mag is also heavy. I'll bet that Leupold is also a gloss scope with Ao, and you need a 10 X gloss scope with AO for elk hunting like John Candy needed another sandwich.
A 308, 30/06 or 270 is going to be less expensive to shoot(read practice here), and with the astoundiung price of factory ammo, and the more astounding need for substantial practice, that is an issue.
Also, all of those calibers are available in fairly portable rifles, which is another important issue.
The scope needs to be reliable and user friendly. A fixed 4 power gives more than enough aiming precison on elk to 600 yards or so, and is light and reliable.
I would have a trigger job done, and I'd have the stock glass bedded so it wouldn't be as apt to change zero after being knocked around on the trip, humidity changes, and temp changes.
A Nosler Partition from any cartridge in the 308/30/06/270/280/7 Mag class with Nosler Partitions is going to kill elk just fine.
JMO
Royce
