Bar none, the best bang-for-buck 9mm out there right now is a barely used
CZ 75B or BD. You can get one for $300 or sometimes under. It's a phenomenal pistol that you will never regret owning and will never sell. Trust me, I did the research about a year ago into the best bang-for-buck 9mm pistol out there.
Another major contender in bang-for-buck (inexpensive, totally reliable, pretty accurate) is the Ruger P95 or P89 (new or used). You can get a used one for $200 if you look hard, but $250 isn't too hard to find. It will last forever and fire even +P+ rounds.
I fired the two head to head and found the CZ to be superior in terms of ergonomics and accuracy (plus better looking
). So for about the same price as a Ruger, I got myself a barely used CZ 75 BD, and I couldn't be happier. I will never sell this gun....
A lot of people have suggested great guns, but bang-for-buck, they're not as good as a CZ 75. Glocks are $500. XDs pretty close to that. Sigs, H&Ks, etc. are all fantastic guns, but much more expensive. I just don't think the value of a CZ 75 can be beat. For a long time it was the best kept secret, but now the popularity is increasing (and so are prices). So that's another plus... if you ever want to sell it (yeah right!
), its value will likely INCREASE if you take good care of it.
Just my $.02 from a guy who just went through what you're going through right now not too long ago.