I am looking into putting together a short range rifle used only for elk in the thick timber. Nothing over 200 yrds. I am looking at a lever action. The three guns in no particular order:

Marlin Guide 45-70
Browning BLR 30-06 shooting 220 gr.
Winchester 30-30 (A bit light but under 200yds)

Any suggestions?

Browning blr in 358 winchester. Get this years shot show special. Stainless with laminate stock takedown model with scout scope mount. Short handy and hard hitting. Despite what you may of heard a 358 is very capable at 200yards.

Somehow people , especially gun writers ,can't seem to differenciate between the 35 Rem and 358 !! It ought to do the job.... I've heard that the Marlin 45-70 is a very popular elk gun in the pacific NW. It should be.You might also look at the Win 1886 and even the Ruger #1 or my Browning 1885 would do the job. 45-70 rules !

How many FEET will you have to hold over an elk if you are using a 45.70, shooting at 200 yards? I personally would not feel very confident with that caliber at that distance.

I'd opt for the .06 and a 180 or 200 gr. bullet.

The 45-70 should not be bad at 200 yd's. My slow revolver loads only drop 16". More velocity from a rifle will cut that down a lot.
My BPCR doesn't drop much with heavy boolits but I never measure it.
If sighted for 100 yd's, my guess is a top of the back hold would do it.
I also would like to hear from guys with exact figures with smokeless loads and different boolit weights.

From a couple differant reloading books one should beable to get 2000 fps out of a Ruger or marlin 45-70 with a 300 gr bullet.

Sighted in at 2 inchs high at a hundred the drop at 200 would be around 8 inchs aim just below the top of the back pull the trigger and you have one dead elk.

How about a short action rifle in 338 federal or Browning may make it in their BLR.

The 45-70 mild factory 300 @ 1850 drops about 5" at 150 and 12" at 200 when sighted at 100 yds.

I've got a Marlin Guide Gun in 450 Marlin for excatly this purpose and every thing it has hit has gone down in a big heap. Very effective.

I've also got a Remington Model 700 Classic in 350 Rem Mag. It does pretty much the same thing.

Both are good short range elk guns.

how about one of the winchester 1895 repro's in 30-06 or 30-40 krag?
I'd pick the 30-06.

One of two for me .358 winchester in a BLR or a Model 7 in 350 Remington Mag. I have owned neither but I think that would be excellent choices. The 350 mag would hit as hard as my 35 Whelen and believe me they'll take an elk to his knees.

Turnbull 1886 or 71 in 475 Turnbull with 350 or 400 Barnes TS. Proven and accurate. Just my opinion.

I have killed deer with a 45/70 [scoped Ruger No1] at 230 to 250 yards.

The first thing to decide is do you want to be able to use a scope? If so I would want it in a QD mount. If so then that will somewhat limit the kinds of rifles you have to pick from.

Since you specified lever action I would want a 358 Win or bigger.
A 45/70 would be hard to beat.
If you do not want a scope a 1895 in 405WCF would be a good choice.

One of the Turnbull rifles would be sweet as well.

If I were to undertake that hunt I would borrow my Brother's Model 88 358 Winchester , a very sweet rifle.

180gr bullet, .30-06

I've shot elk with a Model 94 in .356. I wouldn't hesitate to hunt in thick timber with my BLR in .358 or my Remington 673 in .350 Remington Magnum. I see that the latter two have received frequent mention in earlier posts. There is a reason for this.