How do I keep the triggers wires of my conibears from swinging when set? I have 2 Duke #160s and the trigger wires on both swing when they're set before going off.

Is it the wires or the trigger swinging? If it’s the whole trigger, file the dog indentations deeper, till the trigger fits snug in the dog. A conibear safety is nice to have for testing out your filing so you don’t have keep compressing your springs. A little safer as well.

This should solve your problem: http://www.trapperman.com/trapperman/Basic_Sets_Bodygrip_Adj.html

I have a dz belisle 220s . I got one of them that it goes off so easy. High wind set it off one day 2x. I pulled it. The dog isnt bent. The trigger was moving in the wind. I need to file the dog maybe.

Yes.

Filing the notch of the dog deeper will take up the slop, but may increase the amount of force to fire the trap. I like to mash the trigger bracket to take up the slack.

That will also work but I don't think it will take more pressure to spring the trap If you file the notch.

Bctomcat's link has the info you need, refer also to fig b.

Thanks everyone!

I have found that all the adjusting required with duke traps make them false economy....after 3 years of loosing animals I finally have tweaked mine to where I THINK they will work properly...wish I had bought something better...they have nice strong springs for sure...

I have been running duke 160s on coons good luck. I would like to try some bridger 160s. What size rounded file do I need?

don't forget to open the trigger yokes by tapping a nail or punch on both sides of the jaw..thanks to Joel for the pic

Trapjohn I’m not a body grip guy. What does “opening the trigger yoke” do to help trap performance?

I remember when traps worked well right out of the box; none of this tinkering nonsense.

There is still some traps like that.

I have done what traprjohn has shown in his pictures with some of my 330s. Some the triggers had to move to far before the trap fired.(this was on traps that I had replaced the broken triggers) It seem to help them fire a little quicker.

What size file do I need to get?

indeed, this is how to avoid hip caught otter!.....think how fast they can be moving and otter can be nearly 1/2 way thru BEFORE the dog even releases.

just measure it
I think mine needed 9/32"
after measuring, look at chain saw files

this is what helped me the most

It starts pushing up the trigger quicker with less trigger travel. In other words, by having them tapped out further, it takes less trigger travel to push them off the jaws.

yep, it makes the yoke trip the dog a bit quicker.

Thanks you. I started out with square file. I worked a few over. They work good now. I can tell a big difference now. Going to go get a round file asap. Thanks again.

I feel It's more important to tune up your BGs then It Is to tune your foot holds. And very few trappers tune their BGs.
I've had BGs where the trigger wires were laying flat and the trap was still set and who knows how many critters passed through that trap.

I have a small collection of BG's representing about 4 or 5 brands. The smallest of the small up to 220's. With the exception of the Dukes.....all of them have crisp, sensitive triggers right out of the box. One Duke 110......the triggers had so much slop the trigger wires would flop back and forth over a 2" arc before it would fire. The dog started out seated solid, but as the trigger wires started to move, the dog kept rising....and rising.....and rising.....and trap had still not fired. You could pre-set it, but then the triggers would flop back and forth.

As I studied the traps that worked well, a common theme stood out. When set, the position of the dog was such that the dog had just barely enough meat left to grip the striker bars without firing. A hair's breath, but just enough......and while doing that.....it was seated solid in the trigger clip/bracket. So the moment the triggers move, the trigger bracket starts to rotate and that in turn pries the dog up, dog loses it's grip and fires. The amount of whisker movement on most all of them, except the Duke, is about 1/2" or less for the 110/120 size. Again, the dog has just barely enough grip on the striker bar to remain set without firing.

So where does the Duke go wrong? The notch in the trigger clip is too deep, allowing too much grip on the bar. I tried the nail trick and no joy. Did not help much. What did help, and what proved to be a super easy fix, was to put the trigger clip in a vice and tap down on the tops to flatten them out some. What was a tall skinny oval now is a rounder oval. That lowers the tops of the trigger clip and in doing so, raises the notch in the trigger clip, reducing the amount of grip the dog has on the striker bar. Go too far and the trap won't stay set at all. So go easy on this.....a couple gentle taps and test fire it. Easier to take it in one direction than to overdo it and try to get the deep oval back.

Filing the dog's notch deeper would not help. ALL the traps already had a deeper notch in the dog than needed. Even when seated as deep in the trigger clip notch as they will go, none of the notches on the dogs bottom out on the bar......all are already showing daylight. The dog only goes down as far as the trigger clip's notch allows.

Good traps get this notch depth adjustment right out of the box. The Dukes..........not so much.

Hayday’s post is worth reading a couple times. Mashing the trigger is the way to go in my opinion. With just a little practice, sloppy 2 way triggers can be turned into much crisper triggers that will fire from all 4 directions. When I fixed mine, I used a vise. If I ever buy any traps that need to be modified again, I will probably try visegrips first to do the same thing, only hoping to do that same thing with more consistency.

Standard Vicegrip pliers might be just the ticket to smash the clip down. Start out with em doing nothing, then half turn at a time.....first one side, then the other. Keep test firing until you get it just right.