I gave you my input a bit earlier, but after some time at the range today, I think I will reiterate:
1) Browning Buckmark. Feels awesome in the hand. Extremely well built, with a "luxurious" feel of high quality. It was cloverleafing at 5 yards, and gave me 3" groups at 10--and I am really not that great of a shot. And best of all, it is fun enough to shoot that it served as "filler" since I cannot afford to shoot 9mm for my entire 1 hour range slot.
2) Finally shot my Stoeger. As expected, very accurate with little recoil. The thing that stands out about it among others I considered is its feeling of quality. When you don't have the $$$ for a big collection or big names, you get a taste of the big name feel with this pistol (much like the Browning). I.e., the slide glides like butter, and it is even a joy to DRY fire since its DA + SA trigger pulls are so damn smooth. So in addition to being a sweet shooter, it screams pride of ownership--and that combination is even more rare at its price.
I researched for a long time, and chose very carefully. I am convinced that the $800 total that I spent on the Cougar, Buck Mark, and a CZ82 could not otherwise possibly bought so much quality with so few apologies.