A handgun is an individual thing. What feels good to some will not with others.
I always prefer to stay with the major manufactures. I have owns S&Ws, glocks, Berretta, Sigs, and have shot most of what is out there. The Sigs have always been my favorite (except the sigpro)
Things to consider.
What fits your hand? some smaller hands will have trouble working the controls on double stack magazines.
Gun size. I recommend a full size gun for most people instead of the compact version. A 226 sig vs a 228/229 A glock 17 vs 19 or 26 glock 22 vs 23/27. S&W M&P standard vs the C model etc. The full size gun will have a longer sight radius . Some compacts have a shorter grip making them more difficult to control. The larger gun will also be a bit heavier and absorb recoil better. The ultra small guns are popular as being easier to conceal, but there are the above drawbacks. Also a Sig 226 or Glock 17 will conceal just as easy with a quality holster as the 228 or 19.
Trigger you will find four basic types.
Double action only: Like shooting your revolver without touching the hammer. The trigger pull is long and cocks the hammer as part of the process with each shot.
Single action only: The hammer is fully cocked when the slide is operated. The hammer must be cocked before it is fired but will be cocked on the subsequent rounds. Most carry them cocked with a safety on “cocked and locked†The trigger pull will be much lighter
SA/DA: First shot is Double action, subsequent shots the hammer is cocked so it is single action.
Half ****: Made popular by glock. When the slide is operated, the round is chambered. The (internal) hammer is cocked half way. When pulling the trigger, you are cocking the rest of the way like you would a double action only, but it has a much shorter trigger pull. About ½ of what a SA and DA have. S&W M&P , Sig 250 and I think a Springfield XD all fall into this category. I really recommend this for most, although I prefer the SA/DA myself. (There is a training time issue with the SA/DA)
Controls, Some have safeties , decockers, mag release safeties and it will depend on the actions. I’m a more is not always better guy, and prefer not having an external safety.
Caliber 9mm is a very good round but only if a high quality ammo is used. Gold Dot 124 has been proven. (Macho guys will tell you it is junk, but they are full of it) I prefer .40 over .45. If you are restricted to round ball ammo, a 45 would be my choice. The 9mm will be easier to master for most shooters. If you go with 10mm or even 40, you need to spend more time practicing and training. The average person asking “what kind of gun should I buy†will fire 50 rounds or less a year…. Usually less. Practice ammo cost can be a big difference.. I can buy 50 round CCI Blazer Brass for $9 The same in .40 will run $13. I went to a class and shot 250 rounds Sunday with my .40. I could have shot 350 rounds for the same price with my 9. Price some 10mm ammo
Mag capacity. You are in a 10 round limit state. If you have small hands and plan on staying there the rest of your life you may want to consider a single stack magazine gun. The grip will be smaller. Sig 225 and 238 come to mind. But if you move you can always obtain double stack magazines latter. The 226 sig .40 is not that much of a change 10 round vs 12 round in their double stack. But 10 vs 15 with a 9mm.
If you buy a better quality gun, it will not matter too much shoot it, get used to it. If you don’t like it, it will retain quite a bit of it’s value. You’ll loose heavily on holsters however.
