Considering what I should get for a multi-purpose pistol. I want to spend no more than $550. I want it two be a good reliable, Accurate pistol. Want it to work for close quarters hunting Whitetail. and I want it to be an acceptable gun for the 3 gun challenge.

I am leaning towards a Springfield XD Tactical in a 40sw.

I know that the best choice for deer in an auto that is reasonably priced is a Glock 10mmauto, but I'm thinking way too much recoil for any kind of comp shooting. The 9mm is the best for the comp, but lacking power for any kind of game hunting and a little weak for personal defense.

Any thoughts/suggestions?

well guy if you're going to shoot a 3 gun challenge with a gun for less than 550 and then use it to hunt with and all this with 1 gun i sure wish you luck

Kinda what I thought. What about simply a good gun to shoot the challenge with?

I keep thinking about doing a 3-gun challenge. When I do, I will do it Heavy Metal style:

1. M1 Garand
2. 12 guage pump gun (mossie 500)
3. .45 ACP Revolver (moonclipped).

The point being, you can shoot 3-gun with anything you want. Just go out and have FUN and don't worry about being compeitive.

On the other hand, if you are just jonesing for a new toy, the XD is a darn fine place to start. My wife has one and it's quite a decent pistol.

In that price range, the S&W M&P is a great gun. 40 S&W or 45 acp will do deer

My XD 40 is a great IDPA/3 Gun Challange pistol.
As for hunting with it? No way! Take your shotgun put a slug in it. Buy a cheap rifle, in 270 or 257 Roberts, even a .243 beats a pistol. Take you tactical rifle in .223, anything beats a pistol!

Buy a single shot pistol chambered in a bottle neck rifle round.

Rusty, thanks for the info. I do hunt with rifles (300wsm, 30-06, 22-250, 12 ga, 50 black powder). I should have added that I intend to use it stricktly for very close shooting, like tracking wounded deer through brush. Pretty much using as a carry pistol. Thanks.

The 40 is a very fun and easy shooting round, excellent at what it was designed for which is shooting human assailants..
Carrying one in the field for the occassional and unlikely chance of having to use it against a predator such as a dog or a lion it will do decent work.
Planning on hunting with one, or even worse yet to carry one to attempt to dispatch adrenaline charged wounded game even as small as deer is a very, very poor idea.
A 357 mag would even be a far better choice, higher velocity with a good 158 grain expanding bullet such as a Hornady XTP will knock the stuffing out of a deer if shot through the vitals.
A much better choice would be as mentioned a 10mm or a 41 mag or a 44 of some sort or even a 45LC with warm handloads.

I have shot a 40 a lot, and shot animals with them as well and they really will leave you feeling the lack.
You can buy a used S&W 44MAG and use medium loads for your hunting if you don't want to go full bore, and they will do a fine job of dispatching game.
Plus you can load it down with 44 specials and still shoot your 3 gun matches quite handily.

Frnakly it boils down to this in my humble opinion, you can shoot whatever at targets, but game is another story, especially wounded game.
I have trailed many, many wounded animals in my life and you may only get one shot to put them down, you want it to work or else you just may only have succeeded in running them completely out of the country.
Or in the worst case scenario you may fail to stop them from getting to you.
And yes even a lowly deer has the capacity to run a horn through your guts, I have been there as well and learned my lesson.
Thankfully he did not achieve his goal before I achieved mine, but it was close for a bit there.

+1 What Bucko posted!

Well,

A 3 gun challenge pistol...

I competed in IPSC standard class with my Vektor SP2, Mossberg pump and R5 (5.56mm) assault rifle.

I also competed in the open class and here I used a 38 Super Briley pistol with the same shotgun and rifle.

I always carry my 1911A1 Colt Government while hunting and I have dispatched quite a few animals with the 230gr RN or semi watt cutter.

But following wounded animals bucko is quite right that you may only have one shot at stopping him and then you want the stopping power of a rifle.

I used my 303 Brit for this in the past and now my 500 Jeff will be with me to do this job...

My 2 kwanza