ok, two words "BAD IDEA"!!!!
if you are hunting with a seasoned hunter, then maybe because they might have good shot placement and an idea of where to shoot given the postion they are in, but with an inexpereinced hunter I would say .308 with 150 or 160's is more up their alley and is a lot more foregiving if shot placement is not ideal. I would recommend 30/06 in a 180gr, but with a 30/06 you have much more recoil (unless with the managed recoil remington stuff of light handloads) and only a little improvement in bullet weight.
Personally I love the .243 for everything from large mulie's on down and I load accordingly. But for Elk sized critters I won't go with anything smaller than a .270 and prefer a 7mm Rem or Weatherby mag or my 30/06. If in bear country I might consider my .300 weatherby mag, but 30/06 with 180 gr's is enough to discourage an unruly bear.
Oh and my first elk was shot with an old surplus enfield no4 mk1 in the big and slow .303 british using factory remington soft points. The bull just looked at me and then fell over. the broad side shot right behind the shoulder left his vitals as mush and the bullet never exited and maintained almost it's entire weight and performed a perfect mushroom expanding dramatically. Of course this is the only round with the remington soft points that I can say this for, most of the faster caliers (.243, 270, etc..) don't expand that well in my expereince.
go get that inexperienced hunter a .308 or 7mm-08 or 270 or 280 or maybe even a .257 weatherby or roberts
