This is a great gun, I have it in the 3.5" which you do not need because if you're waterfowling you're probably not shooting 3.5" steel and the non-tox loads available in 3" have incredible performance. It's simple to take down, with high quality parts. I'm big so I don't notice any recoil with it, but my lil buddies say it kicks. It's easy enough to load, not an unpleasant trigger for a shotgun, has had no trouble with buck, bird, or slug, and shoots and cycles effortlessly. It takes If you want a good hunting gun as is or with a dot, it's not difficult to rig one up. It's drilled and tapped, there are pic rails or direct mounts for pistol / aim points patterns that you can find.  I mounted a PA microprism on mine because of strange proclivities and ocular aberrations. It brings the cheek weld up a bit because of having to add the pic rail and the low mount option to the optic but it's clear and accurate.  For competition use / customization, it exists, but it is not compatible with as many m2 or stronger parts as one would hope. Briley makes a bunch of parts if you eventually want to do dumb stuff with it. That'd be how you can get an m-lok forend or extended capacity. There are a couple of people who will chop down your barrel / fit it for different chokes if that's your game, but it's a rabbit hole and seems to be an area of dramatically diminishing returns. The difference between this and premium benelli or beretta autoloaders for waterfowling is mostly going to be the finishes. The SBE has a DLC coating or something essentially everywhere on the gun. It has the chromed barrel, so the inside is going to be corrosion resistant, and most of your other parts are going to be pretty decently lubed. You may get some surface rusting, but rattlecan go pshhhhhh.  TL;DR great gun for the money if you're a hunter, can mount a dot with minimal effort, anything more than that you're probably going to want to jump into a different ecosystem that has better aftermarket support.