Trigger study from Log Cabin Class

[BillPac]

I have attached several pictures of triggers that we discussed in class on Saturday.  First is from the Yeager we had to study and the second is attributed to a Honaker pistol.  All we have is the trigger assembly.  I will let Ian handle any more of the descriptions and questions.

[b bogart]

That set trigger for the Jaeger was just outstanding. Ingenious! The inlet wasn't much more than a simple trigger. Went together like a puzzle.

[Chris Treichel]

The Jaeger triggers look very similar to Swiss triggers I have seen.

[David Rase]

I love the Honaker attributed trigger.  One question, where is and how does the front trigger spring work?  I can't see from the pictures any spring to keep the front trigger engaged.
David

[John Archer]

Hey Dave...

There should be a second small spring under the large spring evident in the photograph that will engage a notch in the front trigger. If you look hard at the last photo you can just make out the base of it where the screw captures it.

John.

[Gaeckle]

Hey Dave...

There should be a second small spring under the large spring evident in the photograph that will engage a notch in the front trigger. If you look hard at the last photo you can just make out the base of it where the screw captures it.

John.

........You are correct, that is exactly where the front spring is.........both triggers are testimony to ingenuity.......

[WaterFowl]

New be? How is the bottom trigger held in place in the stock?

[Ian Pratt]

It is held in only by the guard. Though not seen on every gun ever made in the South, this arrangement is not uncommon. The breech tang is secured to the stock by one or more wood screws. If you remove the guard, the triggers often drop out of the stock.       

[Bob Roller]

About 40 years ago,I made up a set of triggers similar to the German/Swiss
type shown.They worked fine and I think I sent them to Germany to a man
in Koln.I have an incomplete double set trigger Bill Large gave me many years ago
and we thought that perhaps they had survived a fire.
The new double set triggers I make use a long,hollow rectangular spring to
put upward tension on the front trigger and is held by the same screw that holds
the rear trigger spring.
When I was in high school,I made at least three muzzle loaders from old parts and
the triggers were held by the guard and that's all they had to keep them in the wood.

Bob Roller

[Robby]

Any chance of getting measured drawings of these, maybe in the tutorial section?
Either way, pretty cool, thanks for showing them.
Robby

[WaterFowl]

Thanks Ian!..sounds like they need a tight inlet?..More .any issues with wood swell or shrinkage?

[Hungry Horse]

Bob;

  I have a set of triggers that came to me from a house fire, along with a lock, and buttplate. Although, the triggers appear to be used, they have no mounting screw locations, or threaded hole, that might have allowed mounting. Do you know if mounting triggers simply by capturing them in the mortice, and under the guard was a system used in the nineteenth century?

                      Hungry Horse

[Bob Roller]

Hungry Horse,
I have seen high quality rifles,mostly European with tight,dedicated inletting on the lock AND the triggers.
These were caplocks so it was certainly 19th century work.Few American guns were this precisely done and
if such work is found on them,usually it is on a fine match rifle.I'd hazard a guess that some of the rifles in Hamilton and
Rowe's book on the American Schuetzen Rifle are this well made but I can't say which ones.
Some of these fine triggers were imported from Europe and one of my German contacts says many of them came
from the watch makers in the French speaking part of Switzerland and after looking at some of them,I can believe it.

Bob Roller