According to the CO Division of Wildlife an Elk/Moose centerfire rifle must be a minimum of 6mm/.243, use expanding bullets of 85 grains and have an impact energy of 1000-ft lbs at 100 yards.
So if we take the 1000-ft lb mark and use it to mark the effectiveness of the elk cartridge. Take the .30-06 then pick 3 bullet weights 150, 165, 180 grain and find the point where they fall below 1000-ft lbs. I used Federal's web sight for my data.
150 grain soft point
BC .313
energy @ 400 yards: 1127-ft lbs
energy @ 450 yards: 993-ft lbs
165 grain soft point
BC .393
energy @ 550 yards: 1025-ft lbs
energy @ 600 yards: 924-ft lbs
180 grain soft point
BC .385
energy @ 550 yards: 1000-ft lbs
energy @ 600 yards: 899-ft lbs
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I can agree with this except the "cutoff" is more like 350 to 400...
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If you zeroed your rifle at 200 yards the bullet drop on all three rounds was around 24" at 400 yards, and 96" at 600.
6 feet of drop in 200 yards.
You would have to hold about 2 feet high at 400 yards so if you are hunting at this range and beyond it will take a lot more practice than just one range session to zero your rifle. The .300 Win mag only extended the 2 foot of drop mark by 50 yards with 150 grain bullets. The .300 WSM was not much improvement over the .300 Win mag. So really the .30-06 is all you will ever need to shoot elk at 300 yards and stay over the 1000-ft lb energy mark.