O/Us
Here are several makes of O/U that have not been mentioned that you might want to look at.
Remington 3200 - big heavy well made gun that can be found on just about every list of used guns. Remington stopped making them a while back but they can often be found New in the box and unshot. They make excellent Skeet guns and are a lot softer shooting than the Brownings. Not popular today because they weren't built with choke tubes, the barrels were fixed choke. Did I mention they are heavy
if you buy one start pumping iron.
Remington 32 - rare but they show up on the used market. Skeet guns go in your price range and have fixed choke barrels. They were last made in 1947. the famous K32 and K80 were derived from the Remington 32. Good solid well made guns.
Stay away from the Remington Peerless and 300, unfortunately they are dogs and not up to the standard of the earlier Remingtons.
SKB/Weatherby - japanese made O/U that are the equal in quality to Browning Citori and Beretta. Not as well known and often can be had for less money than a Browning or Beretta. The Weatherby guns tend to be a bit fancier than the SKB.
Miroku - someone mentioned these, they are Browning citoris made for the British market. Miroku is the company in Japan that manufacturers them. A bit more expensive than comparable citori models because they are imported via "Grey Market" From england. Somewhat of a cult gun, once popular with Sporting Clays shooters. No better in quality than a common Citori.
A word on the Baikals, the guns I have sen have been solid but crude. They look like they were made at the village blacksmith shop. Forget about the finish. However, they are solid internally. The russkies regularly competed with them and won, and if you can find one with the infamous "Tula" chokes they are good skeet guns. Just hope they don't break, fixing them may cost more than the original gun.
The Stoger and IGA guns are not up to the rigors of even casual skeet shooting.
The consensus here points to Beretta or Browning Citori. go to a skeet club and you will get the same opinion.
For interesting reading check this out :
http://www.shotgunreport.com/Articles/ShotgnHvn.html
Geoff Ross