If you are talking IDPA and that sorta stuff the answer you will get is .38, .38 super maybe ww9X23, .45 loaded soft, 9mm. Most all those boys reload, and if you plan on competing the general answer is to roll your own.
While 9mm is cheap enough, the general consensus is to handload to make the PF you are shooting.
For 1000 you can buy a pretty nice piece in any of the calibers mentioned above in a 1911 and maybe in a used race gun such as sv.
Course thats jest tha begenning.
Blessings