Older than Dirt.....geez man, you're making me feel bad now..../ although I'm only a couple of yrs older than you are.....
Anyway ......buy one of the Browning Buckmarks...even the least expensive one ...the camper....and then dress it up with a rail, a new barrel, a compensator, new grips, etc from Tactical Solutions...and put a small red dot sight on it ....you're under $ 800 probably / for a gun that's a little different ...and a lot of fun to shoot ( and get a couple of extra mags as well..)....
or loosen up the purse strings a little and pick up a model 18 S&W revolver....( but I'm not giving mine up either )...
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a .22 that has a really nice trigger ....and there are so many of them on the used market right now ...are a variety of the High Standards....I have a Sport King model ...( none of them are sexy ) ...they're kind of old school ...but they are fantastic shooting guns ....like the Browning Challenger models or the S&W model 41's....but those are going to cost you more money...