Alternatively, you could just get a 5 gallon bucket of wheat, and your own electric or hand powered flour mill, and mill it as you need. The grain will keep for ages in a bucket with a lid, provided it's stored in a dry location. Just don't mill more than you need, since freshly milled flour won't keep near as long as the store-bought stuff, but it's much better for you!

Yeah I think I'm coming to the same conclusion Bobby, thanks for the input everyone!

If you're going to get a BP cuff, you might as well get a stethoscope. Also the pulse/ox machines come in handy when I do medical calls with the Fire Dept.

Also, as odd as it sounds, we've found it handy to have blood sugar strips and tester; the reason being that if you can treat somebody with some orange juice, or a PB sandwich, it's much better than assuming he's just an unruly drunk. I've seen so many people appear "drunk" when all it really was was low sugars. Of course if sugars are too high, the fix is a little harder since not everyone has a syringe of insulin in their pocket.

A pen light is also handy, both for being able to see what you're doing and testing to see if someones pupils are equal and reactive.

A pocket mask with a 1-way valve to be used when doing CPR is a plus, especially if you need to treat a stranger or anyone that may have a contagious disease or infection (ie. HIV, Hep. etc) or just to keep their vomit outta your mouth. Lots of times people get a little too enthusiastic when doing rescue breathing, which ultimately causes the patients stomach to fill with air and then send the stomach contents out their mouth.

Water-Jel blankets are also awesome if you have to treat someone with burns.

And if you have a really good sized bag, throw in an AED for good measure ;)

Love the lists you guys came up with so far, will be adding a few things to my own bag!

Check to see if there are people you work with that will ,based on the law of averages, own one or both of those pistols. Offer to provide the 9mm and most people will happily agree to let you test fire.

I fired both at a range up by me. My opinions, from what I can remember...

226
Decent trigger
Top heavy
Grip was ok,the angle is based on the 1911 angle, which I love, just didn't feel right on a 226. The newer versions have a re-designed grip. Might have replaceable backstraps.
Parts aren't as plentiful, at least that I know of, your AO might be different.

17
Good trigger, audible reset
Balanced rather well
Grip is based on the Luger angle, so it points high for some people, low for others.. Personal variances always happen.
Replaceable backstraps in the newer Gen4s. They make the grip thicker (front to back) and add a beavertail as some people have received wicked slide bite.

On the topic of parts/upgrades, there are infinitely more parts out there for Glocks than SIGs. Just the nature of the beast I suppose. So always keep that in the back of your head.

What does this young (I'm assuming) Naval ossifer wish to do with said pistols will also help determine which is better suited for you.

Also, just to add variety to your life, I'm going to suggest you take a look at the M&P series pistols. They have great ergonomics, and are very comfortable to shoot.

Haha well I used to be a young ossifer, 11 years ago!! No longer in the service now though. The purpose of the pistol would be mostly for target shooting, and to become proficient in the use of a pistol. Your point about parts availability is a good one, and may be the deciding factor. I do have a local glock dealer, but nothing local for Sig (all Sig stuff woul dhave to be mail ordered). I mostly looked into Sig because I had used one before and they do have a reputation for high quality. I do hear great things about the Glocks as well though! Would ultimately like to get into competition shooting, likely in the production handgun type class or something like that.

Hi all, still doing some research for my first pistol purchase. I've had a little bit of training using the 226 when I did basic officer training with the Navy, and have fired a couple other semi-auto pistols at ranges. I've never personally fired the Glock (any Glock for that matter). For anyone that has used both, how does the Glock 17 compare to the Sig? Does the Glock trigger take some getting used to? I loved to shoot the Sig, and found it was comfortable. Just looking for some opinions, reviews etc. Thanks, and Merry Christmas!

Well I finally got some magpul gear for the 590A1, it made a huge difference in how it fits me and how it feels to hold it. Still trying to decide if i want to keep the  ghost ring sights on there all the time, or maybe try something different like a red dot. Would definitely like to get a light for it. Other than that it should be just dandy how it is.

Here's a pic!

Are the rails like the T-track that is used with woodworking supplies?

http://www.leevalley.com/en/hardware/page.aspx?p=61646&cat=3,43576,61995,61646

I hope this link works. Having some thoughts, as my truck is always carrying 'stuff'.

Yup, that's pretty much what they are like. Although on the ones that are on the truck there are spaces at regular intervals so that I can slide the tie-down hook down the rail, rotate it 90 degrees and then remove it, without having to slide the whole length of the rail and out the end.

I know my pics are upside down right now, not sure how to fix it since they appear ok when I view them on their own using the links where they are stored. Until a mod. has time to tell me how to fix them, please do a handstand while viewing, thanks :)

Looking forward to starting some training! I wonder would a side saddle be a good addition? Perhaps keep a few slugs in there for when they are needed? I'll definitely get a new butt stock for the 590A1 as I find the length of pull on the factory one to be too long, will likely try the magpul. My old wingmasters are so dang smooth, but I do love that tang safety on the 590A1. What sort of rounds are good for training, and what are good for home defense? I was thinking it would make sense to train with the same rounds I would use "for real". Would reduced recoil 00 buck make sense?

Brand new 590A1 gets here tomorrow! Woo!  It's the 8+1 model with 20" barrel. Anyone use the Magpul SGA stock? Was looking around for upgrades, but who knows, maybe I'll be lucky and it will feel just great as it is.

That does sound pretty awesome!!

Yes that's a good point for sure. I got thinking that after Bobby suggested I put a couple thousand rounds threw it getting comfortable with. I think what I might do is use the Wingmaster for duck hunting and put a 26" barrel on it, and put the high volume of training rounds through the 590. Ton's of ducks and geese to hunt around here! I'll have to look into what I need to reload as well, I reload a ton of .308 for match purposes now, but I assume almost none of those supplies would carry over to shotgun shell reloading, except maybe the scale.

Haha that's quite a haul. I mean the little island though.

I would like to get my first pistol, and thought a Glock in 9mm would be a good choice. Was looking at the Glock 17, seems like a decent gun for the price. It's a little big, but that doesn't much matter as I can't carry it around or anything except to take it to the range, you know, being in Canada and all. :)

So I've been presented with a couple options. I think I'm gonna go with the Mossy, purely because I'm ambidextrous with shoulder held weapons, and the safety would be easier to operate both sides. Is the 590A1 with a bayonet worth the extra $$ (also has 9 shot capacity) or should I get a regular 590A1 with 18.5" barrel and  shot capacity? Don't have the option for a 20" 9 shot'er without bayonet. Is the bayonet just a sales gimick?

Yeah definitely gonna get a couple, even just for comms between my house and workshop. I'm not 100% sure, but I think the ATA (analogue telephony interace) eventually turns the phone calls into VoIP (pretty sure it runs Asterisk), which I would think could (should ) be encrypted? The telephony stuff is pretty much outside my realm of expertise though.

That's good to know. That's pretty much as big as I go most of the times with steel anyway. 3/16" square tube is the thickest I've welded with my mig welder (lincoln 175). Although I'm thinking of stepping the welder up to something like a miller 212, so as long as my plasma cutter could cut as thick as I could reasonably weld, I think I'd be ok.

I do have a travel trailer than I could always tow with the truck, but if for some reason that wouldn't work out, I wonder if something like this would be worth a darn? Stumbled across it when I was searching for wheels for the 5x8 utility trailer I just built.

http://www.tealinternational.com/TailFeather/Model8-0.html

It says a turn-key kit is $8300 though, yikes! I wonder if someone could come up with something similar for less?

We make those two, except my wife calls them poop cookies! Ah well, they're still delish!

Stumbled across this when I was trying to think of an easy solution to have a phone and wifi in my brothers house, workshop, and my parents house since all the buildings are within 100 m of each other. This setup was pretty much all I had in mind, but was already built for me!

http://villagetelco.org/mesh-potato/

I really like this post. I think all of these different personality types, or whatever they should be called, can easily been seen in everyday life. Heck, I personally know people at work that fit each of these types, and boy can it be a "pleasure" to deal with some of them; and I write software for a living! I could only imagine how much more amplified these characteristics would become if, God forbid, it turned into life and death situations. Excellent food for thought, thanks.

Looking for a home defense type of shotgun. Thought about maybe an older wingmaster with a new barrel, or a 590A1, any one here prefer one over the other? Or would you recommend anything else? Don't wanna go broke on a Benelli M4, though they are pretty sexy!

Yeah I think that' solid advice. Can definitely find of of those truck somewhere. Any good sources for a solid axle swap? A side project for this is to build and program my own transmission controller (as shown here: http://www.msgpio.com/manuals/mshift/4L60e.html). Would definitely be a fun project, and have a nice little Toyota Tacoma TRD I drive daily anyway, so I won't need to rush since I'm not depending on the project truck to get to work. Now...to find the motor. Any good sources south of my border that might ship one up?

I want to take on a half-ton build project, probably of an older chevy. I do have a 4L80E and transfer case I can use, but I thought it might be cool to look at using a turbo'd V6 instead of a V8. I figured if Ford can pull it off, why not :)

My question though, is what would be a good V6 for a starting point. By "good" I mean, strong enough to withstand trailer towing and offroading while turbocharged. Would a 4.3 fit the bill, or another engine? Maybe the 3.8 used in the Turbo Grand National?

Hi all, stumbled across this site when I saw the sqaureD pics somewhere. Looks to be some nice content here, hopefully I can contribute as well as benefit from the existing knowledge! Cheers!