I agree, up to a point with James Bond there...the Hi-Power is a remarkable firearm...I want one.
Please do consider that you have, in general terms, four types of full-size autos.
1. The bone-fide single actions. These are your 1911s (many of which come in 9mm), your Hi-Powers, Tokarevs I think. With these you must have a cocked hammer to fire the weapon...the trigger does not cock the hammer. Once you rack the slide or fire the weapon, the hammer stays cocked so you only have to cock it once. This present what is for some a quandry...the necessity to have the thing "cocked and locked" to be at the ready. Many don't like that, others have carried cocked and locked for years without issue.
2. Single Action/Double Actions. These are hammer guns where there is a long pull on the first shot if the hammer isn't already cocked, and then very short crisp single action pull on subsequent shots. You carry these with the hammer down and just pull the trigger and it will cock the gun and fire in one motion of the trigger. Again, subsequent shots are cocked. These are your Sigs, Berrettas, FNPs, H&Ks, Rugers, Third generation S&W autos, etc. These almost have manual safeties and/or decockers.
3. Double Action Only. These cannot be cocked ahead of time and each trigger pull cockes the hammer (or striker) fully and then releases it. These work just like a hammerless revolver. They almost never have safeties and don't need de-cockers because they are never cocked. These are very safe but they can be hard to shoot without practice. There are a bunch of these, again with and without hammers...Kahrs, Kel-tec (although they aren't full size), some S&W metal framed autos, some Walther P99 I think, probably a Sig or two.
4. The ubiquitous "plastic fantastic" striker fired pistol. This is probably the largest group (in terms of sales for sure and probably selection as well). These use a variety of different actions but most fire from either a half-cocked or nearly full-cocked striker position. Some have manual safeties, most do not. These are easy to use, and priced right. These are you Glocks, your S&W M&Ps, your Springfield XDs, your new Rugers and a boatload more.
You kind of need to think about what you want to do and what you are comfortable with. If you make a good, informed choice, any of the above will serve you well and each type above serves in numerous Law Enforcement Agencies and Military units around the world.
