When I first started fooling around with body grips (BTW, I have traps from Belisle, BMI, Victor, Duke, Bridger, Northwoods, Sleepy Creek and WCS) one of the first things I noticed was how different various trap brands were in terms of what it took to fire the trap. That begat a much closer look as to how the triggers actually worked. Most of what you can find as far as fixes to traps that won't fire right talks about filing dogs, etc but from what I can see, 99% of the fault lies in the trigger wire clip.
That being said......a few comments about the dogs. First......have to state the obvious.....but trap is set when very narrow nearly flat area on inside edge of the dog's half moon notch comes to rest on very narrow nearly flat side on outside edge of striker bar. But round on round. No part of actually flat. Trap fires when rotation or side to side movement of the trigger clip starts to pry the dog up. It loses its delicate grip, slips off and trap fires. Friction.....or lack thereof, helps it or hurts it. Too much and trap won't fire. Too little and trap won't stay set. Waxing a body grip can make for some unwanted excitement. Also related to this is dog design. Belisle and BMI dogs are easily half the thickness of some others. Knife edge is holding trap set vs. a wide claw. Less friction and less force required to pry the dog up. No coincidence that Belisle and BMI are the best tuned traps out of the box......by a mile.
You can easily test the dog fit by setting the trap........without the clip.......move that off to the side. If the notch in the dog seats over the bar....no gap.....and holds.......dog is doing it's job. Ive only encountered one dog that would not stay set. A Victor 160.....the dog was stamped wrong.....no flat spot and dog kept wanting to slide off. So few strokes with a round file on edge to create a flat spot and it now stays set. Second part of this is the ideal condition is when dog is in contact with bar on both sides.......no gap anywhere. If notch is too big, and there is a gap in the notch towards dog side when set, that is a problem. When clip rotates in one way.....if it does not come into contact with the dog's notch, clip rotates past it and dog never moves. Same thing happens when opening in the clip is too large and edges of the dog don't rest on the clip. It just hangs down and flops back and forth. One variable few think about is how trap is set. If set so animal encounters trigger on front jaw, trigger wires are pushed in.......clip is trying to pry up dog on side away from animal.....if slop in clip the notch may miss dog. Wires keep rotating and trap never fires. If animal hits triggers on back jaw, clip is prying on half of dog in tension.....no gap......trap fires. And there is a gear affect. The more the trigger wires rotate, the less the clip rotates.
.
So ideal condition is when dog is holding, but seated barely on the edge of letting go.....dog is sitting directly on the clip on both sides and moment animal moves the trigger wires.....forward or backward or side to side (4 way trigger) dog lets go and trap fires. This is shades of gray.....not black and white (some traps more sensitive than others).
I've got traps with 3 dog notches and only first 1 or 2 are usable. Trap springs will scrunch together and you can't pull bars together close enough to seat in the 3rd notch and trap is under so much tension........read mondo friction......force required to rotate clip That is just bad trap design.
So on to clips.........these are made by stamping, then folding. The stamped part also forms the notch in the clip. Amazing how bad some of these are. Every BMI I have.......those were perfect. Belisle about the same. Others, not so much. Worst may be Bridgers. Dukes are a mixed bag. Generally a sloppy fit that allows too much rotation. Solution is to flatten top of clip, which raises the notch. Put clip in a vice then gently tap on it with a hammer. BTW, a vice is a good place to test fire a body grip. A controlled bang when it fires.
Lastly if the notch in the dog is too large such that the clip rotates past it, one solution was put out by tman Coon Duke (Todd) where he used a small nail to pry in a wide spot in the clips notch. The old square jaw Victors were made that way, and to my eye, is the perfect way for body grip clips to be made. That widens the radius of the clip at bottom of the notch to amplify the movement of the trigger wires. A way to increase sensitivity without having to tune the trap to razor's edge.
Last edited by HayDay; 07/20/24 12:56 PM.
