I don't think there has ever been an Elk walked this earth that a 300 WBY wouldn't knock it's pecker in the dirt with enough authority to impress the most seasoned Elk Hunter.

But .338 Win Mag is certainly a good choice on Elk. I've shot a couple with one. I didn't have to look for them. Shooting a 250 grain.

.338 Federal is pretty good just some of the .338 bullets at the higher weights are meant for the Win Mag's velocities. Something to watch out for. The heavy .35's are show stoppers on whatever you can hit doesn't matter.

I like the .35's terminal performance better myself in the 200-225 grain camp but you'll go back and forth on all these forever splitting hairs. Same with racing engines..... there is no replacement for displacement. When you are ready to get serious there is a different answer. .338 Win Mag and .340 Weatherby.

.338 Federal in a compact rifle would make a good deer rifle but really when I think about these I think about Black Bear being on the menu or something built a little thicker than a Whitetail. Same w/ 358's. They shine on whitetails as sort of a brush gun in that regard. Work great on bigger mid-western deer.

180-200 grain from a .30-06 would do about the same in the end. So there's that.

No government employees were harmed in the making of this mess.