This will be my very 1st .45 handgun purchase and it will be for carry and home defense. Budget is limited so any advice or suggestions on the best bang for the buck out there (no pun intended) will be great, TIA!
Glock 21, or H&K USP .45.
Might want to take a look at he S&W M&P in .45ACP.
Iāll warn you though, if youāre on a budget, actually shooting the damn thing is going to get really expensive, really quickly.
The M&P .45 price and quality is very good and its probably the easiest .45 to shoot that I know of. Order it from Grant with Apex parts installed and you are good to go. I also like the Glock and HK 45ās but HK will about double your price and the Glocks are little less friendly to new shooters (muzzle flip) and come in less convenient sizes i.e big or small but no medium.
I love my HK45. I have small hands and its super comfy and soft shooting. The M&P is loved by many and is much cheaper. I find the G21 and USP45 to be too big.
What is your budget and how big are your hands? .45 is scarce and expensive btw.
I have to say this, if the budget is ālimitedā then you are definitely looking at the wrong caliber! Ammo for the .45 ACP is scarce and very expensive. Choose wisely.
For the money the M&P would be your best choice
M&P .45. See a trend yet?
I agree. Budget and. 45 is like 2+2=5. Not being a smarta#$ about it but be patient and look through the older threads on the handgun and the ballistics forums. With all the info on here I switched from. 45 back to 9 and switched my carry platform over. 9s are SO much cheaper to run. Hereās an example: Walmart prices for 9mm is $20 for 100 rounds (federal 115g fmj, 2 50 rd boxes) versus a 100 round box of 230 Winchester fmj .45 for $35. And I am convinced now with the proper ammo being key a 9mm round is as good as the other mainstay handgun self defense calibers. Not to mention higher capacity and faster follow up shots and with the ability to buy more ammo at the same price more practice. Another consideration might be FNās FNX9. Check with Grant (C4IGrant). He runs GandRtactical and he had mentioned that they were supposed to be getting those in. If I misquoted you Grant I apologize. If he does start selling them I guarantee you he will have the best prices anywhere. He already does on another platform he carries and I highly recommend, the M&P line. Not trying to talk you out of a .45 but just food for thought! Hope I helped man and good luck.
-Jax
Iām a die hard GLOCK man but might have to agree here. I donāt care for any of the .45acp offerings from my beloved GLOCK. The G30 and SF are too blocky, the G36 is a freak of nature, and the G21 and SF are just to damn big overall.
I would suggest looking at the HK45 but the price is way up there.
I would REALLY suggest a 1911 Commander but anything I would suggest would far exceed the cost of the HK45. 
If you arenāt in a hurry the XDm will soon be out in .45acp. They are pretty big too though.
If youāre dead set on a .45 then the M&P is your best bet. I donāt care for the Glock offerings in .45
As others have suggested the .45 is not a ābudgetā caliber to use. I very rarely shoot my beloved 1911ās due to ammo costs.
M&P45.
This would be a āclueā 
another vote for an M&P45.
Iāve mostly had 1911s, but decided i needed a ācheapā 45 too and something out of the 1911 platform so i could be a little more exploratory.
I got the M&P45 midsized and I love it. Got it with thumb safeties so it feels familiar to me. Great to shoot, easy to carry, good capacity. The only thing that didnāt do anything for me was the trigger. But there are plenty of solutions for that. My solution was Ben at Boresight Solutions, and i also got the grip texturing done. I heart Boresight.
M&P45. I had two, liked them a lot. I decided I liked the Hk45 better, but itās not twice the gun for a 2x price tag it carries over the M&P45.
If money is no object, then I say HK45 or HK45c.
This^^^^^
Kielproof, what firemedic is talking is not so much the gun but the guy that recommends the M&P. Check out DocGKRās info on the terminal ballistics forum. A good one is
https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?t=26028.
He has some great info on comparing the performance of handgun ammo.
Has anybody mentioned the M&P 45 yet??
Ill āBuckā the trendā¦ For you first 45, I would recomend a lightly used quality 1911A1ā¦ Something in the $400 rangeā¦
B
M&WHAT!?! Who makes this this?! The military or is it the police?