A quality handgun should last your entire lifetime, assuming you take proper care of it.
Defects are possible with ANY maker and should be allowed for. It is one reason my primary defensive handgun has a near matching mate. Both are 1991A1 .45s.
Only the very casual and uniniated will trust a handgun without a 500 round break in period. Other than this, I put no stress on large expenditures of ammunition. A few thousand, or a million, what ever floats your boat. This assumes the user is young enough to put that much range time in.
True non-gunnies will not apply the proper care and exercise of logic in ownership and use. Pick your pistol and learn it well. You will then be at least partially ready if the time of need ever rises for you.
All of the caliber, velocity and power factor rages are a waste of time. Get a reasonable defensive pistol, learn to shoot well. Putting the bullet where it is needed and when it is needed is the major art form. 19 time out of 20, this will do. Hey, gambling runs in my blood, 19 to 20 is good odds. There is no such thing as a sure thing, excepting we are all gonna die, sooner, or later.
Jerry