Shotgun recommendations for clays

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auto or O/U, or pump?

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O/U preferable, or otherwise SA.

Gunbroker has some Tristar O/U’s in the $600-850 range. I owned a tristar youth 20ga semi that I kept for home defense (lost it in the boating accident), but it was a nice reliable gun for the money. Think I only paid like $350 for it. I’m sure the O/U’s would be fine guns without breaking the bank also.

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Browning A5 or Benelli M2,

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Neither are good trap guns. Those are both field guns.

You can use field guns for clays but a trap gun usually has a 70/30 point of impact. Meaning 70% of the pellets hit above your aim point.

You can achieve the 70/30 POI with a pad that raises your cheek.

In Semis, look for a gun that had shims that you can adjust the rise on the stock. Those will help as well.

My son is on his school's trap team. I bought him the Browning 725 sporting or something like that. I has a higher rib, adjustable comb and 32" barrels.

Look at the CZ Redhead Premier. I have a 20 and it's a great gun and not a safe queen. I shoot a bunch of clays with it.

best bang for the buck: Winchester Model 101

Longtime clay shooter here - lots of good advice here and my 2 cents
For a skeet/sporting clays gun I would find a used win 101, win 1001, citori or beretta O/U with 28/30" barrels and chokes. If you want to shoot trap get a trap gun - took me 10 yrs to take this advice but you need a high shooting trap gun to effectively shoot trap.

If you are recoil sensitive get a gas semi - Beretta 391 is my choice but a browning gold is another option they can be picked up for a good price. There are new gun options as well. I see some rem versamax around as well but given rems issues I wouldnt buy one.

I shoot a few hundred rounds week between skeet trap and sporting clays - I reload and my standard load is 1 oz #8 1300 FPS, if its a competition I will use 1 1/8 oz 1250 fps. recoil doesnt bother me and I like fast shells they make up for a little bit of swing and lead if you get lazy
Have fun and good luck

Love my Mossberg 930 JM Pro....not a regular skeet/trap shooter but it is sweet and holds 9 rounds...smooth as butter

The Benelli montefeltro is a nice shooting gun Franchi makes a version or the binelli super sport I have that in a 20 ga and it’s a damn blast to shoot clays or dove you can prob find a browning used for a 1000.00 look at some used skb good guns not made anymore any of the other ou mentioned are fine pull the trigger they will go bang some are a hair on the heavy side for bird hunting My Beretta DT 10 clays gun is like 9 lbs my browning skeet gun is prob 8. If you can I would actually hang around and shoot other guys guns, lop cast and head position are key some guns just fit better. Plus a good fitting is worth every penny. When you decide on a gun take it and chokes ammo and pattern the gun and each choke take pics keep notes, I usually shoot 7.5 8 & 9 and pattern with each choke. It’s like golf you know the yardage of each club in your bag so it’s good know the choke and yardage. I don’t change chokes much anymore but when I started and I was not as good of a shot, so I wanted as many pellets on the target as big or appropriate pattern as possible have fun it gets expensive quick. People think golf is expensive ha ha not even close.

Sub $800 range.
CZ makes some great guns, both Auto and O/U
W 101 is good.

Maybe outside the box,

H&K / Benelli Super Black Eagle 12GA semi-auto -- used
Browning or Berretta O/U --used