Hey, thanks for all the input on this thread, people.
I am surprised at the negative opinions on the Taurus OSS model, to be honest. They were developed for USSOCOM and designed to be reliable in humid, grity, dirty and other unfriendly environments. SOCOM put out a calling to firearms companys to design a new military grade pistol and was talking about tendering a 650,000 unit contract to whoever designed the best and most reliable pistol.
The OSS models are the pistols that Taurus designed to submit as their prime semi-auto to meet the demanding criteria, but SOCOM backed out of the offer in the long run. So Taurus had this (I presume) totally awesome military grade pistol they had designed, and decided to offer them to the public. At least, thats how teh story goes on the interwebz.
Anyways, I found a guy that is close to my hometown, and he has a PT 24/7 OSS .40 cal in stock. I'm going to at least go and hold it, and hold some .40 cal glocks, rugers, etc, and decide on "fit", feel and reputation.
Keep the suggestions coming though please, because when I go to check it out, I will be writing all your suggestions down and taking a list with me! Thanks everyone.
Oh, and also: I'm not broke. I have a great job, and money is not a serious issue. I just can't justify spending more than 8 or 9 hundred on a firearm.
Ammo for .40 cal isn't much more expensive than 9mm either, so I'm thinking the Taurus or a Glock, but like I said, I am going to go and feel them out.
EDIT to add: The PT 24/7 OSS also won the NRA "Pistol of the year" award in 2005. Not that I'm trying to convince anyone here, but I thought it was worth mentioning if you guys hadn't heard about that.