I forgot to answer the OP’s question. I have 25 years experience shooting handguns and have owned many of them. There is no simple answer as to which gun to get. I can recommend a few that I like but they may not work for you.
I would recommend shooting any gun before you buy it and if possible, shoot as many as you can before you decide on one. Some people love revolvers, some love Glocks, there is no way to know if they will work for you unless you hold them and hopefully shoot them.
The other reason it’s hard to suggest something in a certain price range is, deals vary by store, region, and if they are new or used. Used is often a better deal than new but you need to know a bit if you are jumping into the used market. For a first gun, let’s stick to new.
All that being said, it sounds like you probably can’t carry it since you are CA. Correct me if I’m wrong but you are probably looking for a full size or medium frame not something to carry.
I would suggest 9mm over .40 or .45 due to lower cost of ammo, reduced recoil and wider range of loads. I have been shooting for a 1/4th of a century and I still prefer 9mm so don’t think that .45acp is an “expert” round or something to graduate to. 9mm and .45 are different. .45 is not simply bigger and better, it can’t penetrate as well as 9mm. I have done my own ballistic tests and 9mm really impressed me.
Anyway, Glock would be my suggestion but it seems just out of your price range. The Taurus 92 series is not cheap anymore. The secrets out and they command prices inline with their quality now. A new one is $550-600 near me, I bet CA is more expensive then Indiana.
Perhaps the best budget full sized auto in 9mm is the Ruger app-95dc. Get the Stainless steel version. I had two of them at one point and didn’t pay over $300 for either of them. They are as reliable as any gun made and are stunningly accurate during rapid fire. They are not what I would call “accurate” guns because if you put them on a bench, most won’t do much better than fist sized groups at 10-15 yards. The interesting thing about them (and this goes for Beretta’s and Taurus 92s as well) is that you can shoot them almost as well rapid fire as slow.
It helps to be shooting a full sized pistol in 9mm but not all full sized handguns will shoot this well. My SIGs are very accurate off the bags but during rapid fire they are very mediocre because of the high bore axis and grip. The stiff DA trigger SIGs tend to have doesn’t help matters.