Just about any new rifle will do you good. Winchester, Ruger, Remington, Savage, Howa. Savage and Howa offer the most bang for your buck, although I don' t personally like the round receiver on the savage. Howas are kind of a sleeper and are becoming more well known and they are made with many features that most other rifles are do not have. They are definetly worth taking a lood at.

For cartrige the .270 and the 30-06 would be very hard to beat for a first rifle. Ammo is at every store that would sell ammo and it' s cheaper than most of the others.

Being 18 years old you probably won' t be going on any out of state elk and moose hunts any time soon? By the time that you can afford an elk or moose hunt you will be able to afford a new rifle. Even so these two cartriges will serve you very well on one of these hunts with the edge of having heavier bullets going to the 30-06.