I don't mean to be an a**, but it always makes me laugh a bit every time I hear: get a revolver; they're way more reliable than any semi could ever dream of being.
The funny thing is, I started with a cheap Taurus PT-99 a bunch of years ago, and I don't remember that gun EVER jamming on me. I now shoot a Para P14-45, and after over 4,500 rounds through it, I can count with the fingers of one hand how many times it's jammed on me, and I’d still have most of them left. And that was with my first reloaded rounds under the stress of my first competition. The failures were easily and quickly cleared and I just kept on shooting it (I also quickly found out the jams were caused by lack of tension in the extractor, so I pulled it out and bent it with my hands. 4,000 rounds later, not a single jam)
On the other hand, the first revolver I bought was a S&W 686, supposedly one of the best ever made, and you guessed it, it's jammed on me! Shooting factory ammo, no less
The primer on one of the UMC .357 Mag rounds in the cylinder just backed out of the brass enough to jam the cylinder. Not something you expect in a revolver and it took me quite a bit of time to clear, so I had to stop shooting. It them happened to me once or twice the same day, so I just stopped shooting those rounds. I think it was too hot that day, about 32*C and those rounds were loaded pretty hot (over 1,600 fps). They haven’t caused any problems on cooler days. Oh, and I can also remember the time I backed off the mainspring tensioning screw about ½ turn, trying to get a lighter trigger pull on the cheap. I got failures to fire ½ of the time (my fault, I know
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So, to answer your question, I’d just go with the best low recoil handgun you can afford. I’ve never had a SIG 226, but if I was starting today, that would be one of my top choices. I know it was, back when I first started, but unfortunately it was out of my price range and the Taurus got the nod.
