Which and why?

Longsprings. No one else need answer....
They just hold and hold and hold.

I like the compactness of coil-springs especially when having to do a lot of foot work. I personally am able to bed CS better than LS.

It probably also varies depending on water vs dry land.

A guy can use both in his arsenal.

A lot more digging to bed a DLS and In the winter It's going to be even tougher.
I guess I could never understand the DLS mind set.

I'm kinda with Beav on this. I like my double longs in the water, but as I get older and lazier, I would rather bed a coilspring on land. More and more it seems sensible to just use one shape and style of trap in the dirt and standardize everything.

i use 95 percent coil spring the long springs i use are for beaver

Do you use a cookie cutter?

I'm with beav on this one. I've used the longs for a good part of trapping years but have filtered them out almost completely over time as there is just better equipment available (in the coils) nowadays.

The one nice thing about coils is you can change out the spring rates to whatever you wish. That said, some coil spring traps hold alot better than others...and it's not always a spring strength thing.

I use almost exclusively coil spring traps because of their compacted size but I do set some long springs in water every year for nostalgic reasons as that's all I had growing up.

I'm no expert but it seems , at least land trapping, the guys that make their living or are very efficient at trapping depend primarily on coil springs. And their seems to be a reason why.

Mostly coilsprings but a few double longs for beaver and coon just because I like to now and then The Long springs make me think about all the old mountain men tales I've read about.

I use both for coyotes and coon, other land critters here. My arsenal is probably 50/50 mix and I just grab and set haven't really thought about why one over the other. I'm confident in using either style.
Jim

I personally think it is about the application. I have caught critters in both. I started trapping with longsprings and still have them but I prefer to use coils because of the more simplicity in using them.

Coilsprings! More compact, less chance of entanglement, causing pull-outs or wring offs. Coilsprings can be easily resurrected. 30+ years in the business, that's my $0.02.

No...no need for gimmicks, and I can't see them working in rocks or roots. But if you use the same trap often, cutting the right size bed becomes automatic.

I was opposite, i started with coils and went to longs when i saw yotes getting out of coils right before my eyes.
I will say my son uses mb550 and bridger #2 dogless coils and so far so good

If I had an animal trapped in one or the other and it was lunging trying to get at me, I'd feel a little safer if it was a DLS. Does that help? lol

for me its easier to release non-target animals from coilsprings