It seems like your focus is on new pistols, but if used is a possibility some of the best deals out there are S&W's. $450 or less will get you a very nice 5900 or 3900 series pistol.
My everyday range pistol for 15-years, the one that gets thrown in the bag with a Skippy jar full of ammo, is a M5906. That pistol has broken in a lot of new shooters and is the one I bring for others to bang away with. I've stopped saying how many rounds its fired due to the BS flags folks rain down on me, but the truth is the truth.
