[darkgael]

Bottom line: SXSs are hunting guns. That's what they were made for...not Trap, not skeet, not Sporting Clays, not CAS. Yes, SXSs have been used for all of those sports but they shine in the field more brightly than any other venue.
I suggest that, much as I share BJP's feelings about quality (and I do), there are few SXSs that are going to be put to the 25K test.
As to $400 guns......the used market has been kind to me, though the guns that I have chosen to buy are antiques. Despite that, I hunt with them on a regular basis and have even shot SCs with one.
In one afternoon, I picked up a Parker VH and a LeFever Nitro Special for less than $800 total. Both guns were and are tight and bright. It was the LeFever that I used at Sporting Clays and did well enough that one of the other fellows in the party wanted to borrow it.
Pete