loswick,
if its to be a general purpose defense weapon, and the first handgun in your collection, consider a snubnosed S&W .357mag revolver
1) lots available used, but even new WELL within your budget
2) available in all steel, steel&alloy lightweight, and now Titanium and Scandium alloys for ultralightweights. You can get a snubbie 357 that weighs 12 ounces! The recoil would be hell, but in a life or death situation felt recoil is the least of your worries. When carrying the other 99.99999% of your life, extra weight sucks.
3) as revolver lovers say, its "SIX for SURE"
Actually with a snubnose it's 5 for sure, since the smaller J-frame snubs have one less round for reduced size. If the gun is to be only for home defense, then you could get one with a larger capacity wheel.
In any case, revolvers present far fewer worries - if it's in good condition, it will fire. No sensitivity to different kinds of ammo, no failures to feed, no failures to extract, etc. Limp wristing is a nonissue with revolvers.
4) Revolvers can be shot from inside a pocket. Autos can too, but only once. Autos also cannot be repeatedly fired when held up against someone's body.
Buy what you like, but if youre looking for your one and only handgun, or in any event your first one, the snubnose revolver might be the better "all around" choice. It may not win any bullseye competitions, and it might not carry 20 rounds, but it carres 5 rounds of a potent caliber and you dont have to be anal about the gun to be confident it will function.