So after running trail cams on some small cages with wire triggers I made and conibears , I saw a lot of smaller animals like barn rats actually gave a lot of refusals that or the where able to get though without triggering the trap alot , various reasons . The main thing being it seems they just plain didn't like having to push their face against something if they don't have to. They would but if given the option they would not. Lots of other stuff but man I'll tell you a trail cam on video more will really show you just how little your really doing. Thought I was jamming them up, lol nope. Seemed for every one I caught a few more smaller ones would just walk under the triggers or the bigger ones just don't want to push though. Tried a few different things and found for those critter the b st thing to do was to attach some kinda bait to the trigger wires. But anyhow was always curious how effective a good pan would be on a coni for rats and squirrels and other rodents so when I saw some of these made by expand a pan at the convention this weekend I had to try. because here the thing with my little cages I noticed, they do not care about climbing on top of or over stuff and if made right I was catching about Evey size rat mouae and chipmunks in a pan activated compared to a wire one Sooooo
Gotta say their really nice and heavy and with a tiny bit of tweaking they sit nice and fire pretty easy. Only deal is the trap has to be elevated a little bit but not much at all which honestly isnt much of a problem with with my coni boxes and I can always weld up a little stabilizer. Anyhow really excited to try these.
Reinventing the wheel ? Possibly. Making a better mouse trap

AV has used pans on up to 330 sized rotating jaw traps with good success. Maybe he will chime in.

Looks good Wolfdog91

I recess the pan trigger trap into the box so the trap is about 4-5" in front of bait at the back of the box. In this situation the animal is stable at the bait, not moving thru or jumping over the pan going to the bait. A mink or marten will be standing on the pan with their front feet, or bumping it with their head/neck, and fisher will bump it with their chin/chest, while working the bait. This results in a quick humane dispatch virtually every time.

When placed in the box the trap dog should point to the box entrance and the pan over the back jaw towards the bait. The pan should angle upwards about 20 degrees or so towards the back of the box over the back-trap jaw. If set level the pan may hang up on the box floor and not fire. Also, after placing the trap into position, always bend the springs downward and this raises the trigger dog a fraction of an inch above the box base.

BC’s method of pans and trap placement has revolutionized my marten set methodology. Absolutely repeatable results and has led to efficiency in standardization of boxes and bait/trap placement.

They have been around for a long time, depending on jaw restrictions

and your local warden you could get busted, an example would be a 8 inch

jaw spread for beaver and adding the pan to a 330 and creating

a 10 inch leghold

I cut my pans from corrugated plastic like what's used on yard signs. With elections coming up soon you should be able to find plenty of them around. I cut my squares with a razor knife and then paint them. Make sure to have a few extras along with you as they can get destroyed quite easily but are cheap to make.

Will say that it really pays to zip tie the traps preset if you're going to run a decent sized line with these. They are a PITA to set on the line. Just spend the afternoon doing so with 220 belisles with expand-a-pans and getting some 257s ready.

[quote=SNIPERB🦝]Will say that it really pays to zip tie the traps preset if you're going to run a decent sized line with these.They are a PITA to set on the line.[quote] What's the problem?? I find them no more difficult than setting normal wire triggers.

Metal pans are a bit heavy so the trap can be sensitive and the size of the pans make it somewhat awkward sometimes to get the pan in position to set.

Then use smaller and lighter 3/8" plywood or corrugated plastic as I have used for many years with no problem!

Nope

Bend your trigger wires as wide and low as you can THEN forward to go into your pans(material of choice) so that your pan is supported as wide as possible. They will then have very, very little tilt or wobble, be much more stable and far quicker to trigger(especially with four ways). It's like removing the slop from standard swinging trigger.