Greetings gunGAF, I'm looking for a little advice on shopping around for a handgun. I currently own a Remington 11-87 shotgun, but I'm looking for something a little more focused on self defense. With the current political climate, I guess this is something of a "doomsday prepper" purchase, so I'm curious about specific criteria, such as reliability, commonality of ammunition, ease of cleaning, durability, and power. I guess the "commonality of ammunition" is maybe the only unusual one there, but I've been playing Fallout 4 recently and the constant ammo shortage has made me take that into consideration IRL. My budget at the moment is $500. If you guys have any recommendations I'd love to hear them.
Check out the Springfield XD models. I currently own a XD 40 sub-compact and I love it more than the Glock 23 I owned before it.
The Smith & Wesson M&P pistols were my next choice.
Walther, Ruger, Sig Sauer, CZ make good guns in your price range.
Probably want to stay away from Taurus, Glock, clone brands (Bersa) and entry level 1911's (rock island).
9mm is fine, 40S&W has more stopping power, 45ACP has more stopping power but the ammo is expensive. Don't bother with any other caliber because it's going to be more expensive, harder to find, or not have enough stopping power.
Don't forget to budget for conceal carry classes, holster, ammo (target ammo and JHP, you'll want to make sure your gun will shoot both without jams).
Pistols are easy to take of, just need some a patches (and patch holder stick), caliber specific brush, gun solvent and gun oil. Hickok45 has a good video on glock cleaning but the principals are the same.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZf4mUM10Vc . He uses a cleaner that's also an oil but I've never seen it at any of my local stores.