RE: shotty purchase
Since I like semi auto's I would choice the M2. There is a big price difference between the Nova and M2. Some other very good semi auto's that are priced close to the Nova would be the Beretta's 390,3901,Pintail/ES100, Franchi's 612,712,I-12 Stoeger 2000, Weatherby SAS, and Winchester SX2. The Beretta ES100/Pintail, Franchi I-12 and Stoeger 2000 are all inertia operated and all of them including the M2 are owned by Beretta. The I-12 and 2000 may be the easiest of all semi auto's to clean.
The M2 and SBE II share many parts like the stocks, forearms, magazine tube assembly, and bolt face. Other parts like the receivers, barrels and trigger groups are all different.