Decent inexpensive side by side?

Try the Stoegers. They will work good enough for starting out. The more serious competitors say they aren't durable enough, but these guys compete every week.

I figure if you get hard-core enough, you can upgrade.

Find some CAS discussion boards for extremely detailed discussions.

I have Stoeger Coach guns in 12 and 20 gauge. Grand kids use the 20. Been using them for about three years now. So far so good. The 20 gets twice the use of the 12 since the two grand kids shoot with me and share the gun. So, I can not complain about the durability of the guns. Accuracy seems fine, but they are shotguns and the ranges are short.

Another vote for stoeger. they are great value for the money, and have several different finished available. The biggest downfall for CAS is they have extractors and not ejectors, so it takes longer to manually pull the spent shells out. You could have the chambers polished, that would help a lot.

The Stoeger SxS's are pretty nice. Nice wood, fit, finish... Great product. Only thing is, SHOP AROUND! Some gun shops will completely gouge you on price. They should run about $350 max.

CIA coach guns are pretty cheap,about $375-$450 around here