Screws in Southern rifle triggers

[Old Time Hunter]

I have a question. Is it a modern thing , to put screws through the trigger plates on Southern styled rifles . I have 4 old iron mounted hog rifles I believe were built mostly in eastern Tennessee and a few relic pieces. NONE of them have screws in the trigger plates! They do have screws holding the springs in place . The only thing I can ever remember see ,holding the triggers in was, the trigger guard! Until recently seeing Southern  rifles on here , I don`t recall seeing this on old rifles I have viewed over the years. All the old rifles I have, have a tiny "step" filed in the guard that engages the front of the trigger plate and the guards make contact with the triggers further back. Why did modern builders change this practice?  The old method seems to have worked fine or at least it did on mine , as they all function as they should?

[Bob Roller]

IF the trigger guard was shaped so it captured both ends of the trigger bar then there was no need for screws thru the bar or the extra work needed to put them in.I doubt if the old gunsmiths had the advantages of full sets of good quality drill bits in every size  up to one inch.
The Hawken used a screw thru the area behind the guard and two coming down thru the tang and threaded thru the bar.
  While on the subject of screws I am wondering if there has been any improvement in the supply of cross screws that don't look modern with threads all the way up to the head of the screw.I am thinking about making some with "V" slots instead of the modern too wide flat bottom types seen today.I haven't really looked into the cost of 12L14 in 5/16 and 3/8 and maybe 7/16.
Bob Roller

[Hungry Horse]

 The only SMR hardware I have encountered out here on the left coast from an original rifle stumped me because there were no screw hole to anchor it in the stock. When I got them, they had been stored in the drawer of an old desk, that saved them when the house caught fire. The smoke smoked them all equally, so it is likely they all came from the same gun.A gun that had nothing to hold the triggers in, but the triggerguard.
 By the way, these triggers have been shortened to fit in a guard that is not very deep, likely by the original builder.
Those triggers offer more questions than answers.

Hungry Horse

[bama]

Many Southern rifle triggers where held in place by just by the trigger guard. This was probably more common than not. I think today we  lean toward the front of the trigger plate being held in place by the tang bolt and a wood screw being used to hold the rear of the trigger plate in place. I like to use two through bolts on Southern Rifles because I think this helps strengthen the very slender wrists. There are very few good original Southern rifles that have not been broken at the wrist, a very week point in all rifles but especially southern guns.