I never set a Duke 16, but when my All Purpose Boy and I set his and my #15's we had to use a homemade set of oak tongs to do it, as well as put our weight into it when compressing the springs. Full discloser though, we only tagged two bear with them, and had them set off and found nothing except a big catch circle several times. I'm thinking the Newhouse traps my Grandad used to trap bear with had considerably stronger springs!