+1 on idiot employees.
why not go for something that has worked for years? A nice old Enfield. If it's good enough for CF Rangers, it's good enough for whatever she's doing, no? Must be a reason they are still using them up there and not some fancy shmancy stuff.
X10!!
IMHO buckshot will make neet little holes and not really cause much damage, when a bear attacks, you want to disable it immediatly, thus buckshot NOT doing the job. A slug will not make a "neat little hole", it will loosen up bone muscle and ligaments RIGHT NOW!! And IMO this is what you need.
Of course a rifle would be best with good penetration, but if its for work reason, im sure that there is a "company policy" that someone made up somewhere that says, "with buckshot all you have to do is point it in the general direction, you cant miss", EPIC FAIL!!!!!!! You can miss with buckshot, rather easy.
I seen an m14 freeze up at the range and missfire, nicely oiled up, even in southern alberta winters.
X@ on having it dry as a bone with dry graphite as lube, and i really cant thing of an action any better than a lee enfield. They worked good in the trenches in, they will work good for bear defense.
BTW there are some guys here that live up in the arctic, if you want dedicated first hand info on what to have for bear defense, those are the guys to talk to. Not to mention the guys that have been in that situation while working there.
Whatever she buys, shoot it, LOTS, and take LOTSA ammo for practice sessions. In this situation, a gun is not jsut a hobby, its a matter of life or death, treat it like such.
But i hope she never needs to use it,
