If you've wandered over to the shotgun forums, you'll see that Mossberg's are pretty solid weapons. The common debate over there is Mossberg 500 vs Remington 870. It's analogous to the 9mm vs .40SW vs. .45ACP in the autoloader forums.
I shoot a Taurus 24/7 Pro 9mm. As for Wolf, I've been told to keep away from it too. They coat the steel cases in polymer now, but that gums up the action of some guns. Also, I've heard the steel cases can be rough on extractors. There are plenty of brands of cheap target ammo out there, so I figure it's cheap insurance to get something else. I've used WWB (Winchester White Box), CCI Blazer Aluminum, Federal American Eagle, Sellier & Bellot, and Remington UMC. My Taurus has had no problems with any of those. The cheapest is WWB if you can get it at Wal-Mart in the 100rd packs. Otherwise, CCI Aluminum is usually the cheapest. I've taken a liking to Sellier & Bellot lately since it is more accurate than CCI and only slightly more expensive. S&B is brass cased so I've been saving the cases in case I decide to reload in the future.
You're next question is going to be about where to get cheap ammo. Some links are:
www.cheaperthandirt.com
www.natchezss.com
www.midwayusa.com
www.cabelas.com
www.sportsmansguide.com
Wal-mart has pretty low prices on cheap target ammo. They charge $12.88 for 100rds and $7.17 for 50rds of WWB. Also, I negotiated a good price on ammo with my local hardware store. They have a firearms section and were selling WWB for $12 (Walmart has it for $7.17). I said I'd buy a case of ammo if they worked with me on the price. I got it for the same amount I'd pay for it online with shipping and handling. It wasn't a steal, but I got a good price and the money went to a local business.
You next question (after the other one) will be about self-defense/home-defense ammo. Buy what you can afford to practice with and what your gun feeds reliably. Federal Hydra-Shok, Federal Premium, Federal EFMJ, Remington Golden Saber, Winchester SXT, Winchester Personal Defense, Winchester Ranger, Speer Gold Dot, Hornady XTP, Hornady TAP XTP, and Corbon DPX are some of the more popular rounds. Personally, I've tried both Hornady TAP and Remington Golden Saber and currently have the GS loaded in my nightstand magazines. The TAP seemed to be a little hotter and I shot better with the GS 124gr (not +P). I wouldn't want to be shot with ANY of the above-mentioned rounds, and it seems to be a matter of personal preference. I'd buy a box of cheap Remington UMC at Wal-mart to make sure that hollow points load reliably and then try one of the above-mentioned "premium" rounds.
FWIW, my father-in-law has a Ruger P-Series in .45ACP and he hasn't had any problems with it (at least none that he's mentioned to me).
I'm new to all of this too, so take all of this with a grain of salt. Shoot straight, and keep the loud end pointed away from friends and loved ones.
