I use to use 1 1/2 single longs. Great trap in water, didn't work out for me on land.
Loved the old B&L double undersprings, quit using them because I had to find a hard surface to set them with my feet and near impossible to easily release non targets easily.
Never cared for single spring jumps because of the push-up effect on the pan it had when springing.
Tried the Montgomery stake and take conibear and no matter what, always had a 1/2" gap in the jaws when sprung.
I still like double longsprings but sometimes they just don't fit well at a location because of rocks, concrete etc.
Never had much of a problem with my Victor and BMI bodygrippers, been using them forever.

Any traps you have morphed away from and what was the reason?

#1 coilsprings. The northwoods #1 was supposed to be "the" coon trap for awhile there. I caught coon in them, but had too many pullouts and they are hard to bed solid. #11's are 100 percent better, IMO.
I had a bunch of #1 jumps I got cheap once too. They caught stuff, but too many sprung. Sold them and found better water traps. These days I'd just as soon have a 1.5 or 1.75 if I'm using a foothold for mink or muskrat.
Also don't care much for 110s for muskrats anymore either. The have their place, but 160s are better in most instances. And those old 110 Victors where never much for strength. I want a bodygripper that takes them right to the bottom fast.

I started with Victor 11/2 longsprings after seeing a Disney movie where they caught ermine in them. Those stayed as I built up my collection but got sold or stolen over a period of 10 years. Next, I got into the trap of choice for fox, which was the #2 victor coil, but I never caught any fox and they were lousy for coon. Sold them when I went into the Navy.

In the 80s, Tom Krause was suggesting the 1 1/2 coil was a better fox trap and I could afford them (and I was starting to catch fox) so I bought lots of them. In 1995 I toyed with becoming a Buddhist and sold everything except my cages. In 1996, I stopped that line of thought as my farming friends called until the phone fell off the wall. This time I bought lots 220s, 1 1/2 coils, and some #11 dbl Kong’s after rereading Bob Noonan’s articles and egg traps.

Got rid of the 220s when I thought MN would ban them (but I got 160s and like them better).

Got rid of the # 11s because I was missing too many coon. The 1 1/2 coils were better—I felt.

Got rid of the eggs after 5-6 years. Bought some Griz and some Duke DPs

My new trapping buddy was using ztraps. I had a couple Zs at the time and a bunch of the Duke and Griz that I was liking, so together, we invested in Zs for our combined line.

I also started making a few dollars on coyotes. The #2 Montgomeries didn’t do it for me. Nor did the Montana #2. Both got sold. But, I got a deal on #3 Montana’s and my partner uses 550s exclusively. Those are what I use for canines now. I don’t think I’ll be selling either of these any time soon

I went from coils to longsprings and jumps. Love the #2 jumps for mink! Never lost a yote in a 3 long

I tried #11s for coon and had troubles with them, to many hind foot sprung traps at trail sets.
Another thing I remember was using 0s and 1 longsprings for muskrats, I was afraid to use anything bigger and had some losses. I will use a # 3 now for rats first.

The original 1.75 victors made by the old woodstream corp..They took the trapping world by storm in the early '80's as a multi purpose predator trap.I had a few friends who swore by them,and I guess if you ran a couple of traps before work they were all right.Running them all day was another story.I'm not saying I didn't catch coyotes in them,I did,but I had a collection of them too that the jaws were yanked out of the frames.Paw damage on reds were unacceptable.Bought a bunch of Northwoods 1.75's they were supposed to be beefier,and they were,but I had the same problem with trap damage,although I can't ever remember having the jaws yanked out like the victors.Bent pans,bent spring levers,spring pins backed almost all the way out.I didn't have those problems with my 11/2 round jawed Montgomerys!I saw in a couple of publications guys who were paying attention to the catch to loss ratio on these traps ran 60% held to 40% loss(If I remember correctly Charles Dobbins wrote on this) and that's about par for my experience to.

Started with #2 Victor dbls. Caught my 1st coons and fox in those traps. Went to Northwoods coils when they came out and I thought they were easier to bed. The double longsprings took to much digging. Still have my 1st #2's and my first bunch of Northwoods coil springs. I still use the #2 and #3 coils now. Just replaced the coils with music spring coils. I liked my #1 Northwoods, caught a lot of coon and mink with them.

Im on a kick now that I will buy every cast jaw trap I can find, and it aint many I aquire in a years time. Its just something about cast jaws that look so good.....and I use them.

What kind of 3 longs? I've always used coilsprings exclusively but I just got 3 Sleepy Creek #3 DLS to try. They are so different from what I'm used to, I hated them at first. I'm probably going to try them though to give them a fair chance, maybe I'll end up liking them. They definitely take some getting used to!

I like a lot of the older traps as users. The 3N is a favorite of mine because of the cast offset jaws. It's what I imagine a 550 would be in a long-spring. I also like the old double jaw #1 and #1.5 longs for muskrats, I've got them in Diamond, Triumph, True Value, maybe another. All just user quality. Still strong, still catching fur. I tried some #3 Victor sq jaw coils, with inner laminations and music wire springs, this season. Liked them as an exposed blind trail set trap. There's a lot of good older traps out there in my opinion.

Canebrake, i use mostly 3 victors, but i have some 3 sleepy creeks i use also. They work very well.

My Uncle gave me a Gibbs Two Trigger Trap and it just grabbed my imagination on trapping... I then really started trapping with a dozen Victor 1-1/2 coil springs and managed to pick up a few 110's. After watching the series Centennial, I ran out and bought three 330's, 2 No.4 Jump Traps, 3 Victor No.3 coil spring. And to be a Mountain Man, 1 No.4 Newhouse double long spring! After that a lot of hodgepodge array of traps have been picked up over the years, I did buy a dozen Victor No. 1 coil springs and No. 1 stop loss long springs. Recently a dozen Z-traps, 24 Bridger 155's and 19 MB550's. I also have a small collection of some older traps, the Gibbs Two Trigger my Uncle gave me is the most precious trap of the collection...

By the way, those Victor 1-1/2 coil springs I bought over some 40 years ago, still using them.

I started out with the Herters 110s. The ones where the trigger had a pendulum action and had to move a couple inches to fire. By the time I figured out they weren't a good trap my muskrat population declined......and it sure wasn't from me and my Herters 110s.