I own a Ruger P89 9mm. I absolutely love it. I think I paid like $411.00 out the door for it. I'm thinking of getting another Ruger in .40 or .45 this fall.

rugers are indeed a very good gun.the only prob i see is if you got the gun for protection. you will find out it has very little stopping power.the 40 or 45 is the ticket.i have the glock mdl 22,40cal.no stopping power is why police depts went away from 9mm

I carry a Glock daily and own several of them. They are a combat gun with combat sights designed for shooting fast under combat situations and make excellent self-defense pistols. If you can, shoot several different types of pistols before you settle on one particular one. You might find a big difference in how they fit your hand and shoot. If you like a .45, get one. If not, a .40 gives you almost as much stopping power and it's only slightly hotter to shoot than a 9mm.

Get a .45.

Another option is to look at a quality revolver such as the Ruger GP100 in .357.
Some advantages - if truly for self defense no slides to rack, no short racks, much less prone to jam. 357 is a proven stopper and can also use light loads for the range.
By the way, I'm a 45 auto fan but there are some definite and possibly life saving advantages to a revolver that should be at least considered.

I would love to shoot several different models, but with no sporting goods store around, that allows that, it would be impossible. I'm still looking, thinking about travling to Des Moines or Kansas City, maybe there I would have the opertunity to do that.