I came into a couple dozen of each of these. NOS original Montgomery’s, i am curious what if any mods would be possibly needed. Base plating is what I am thinking on for now, curious to hear from those who have ran these in the past.. or still are.

I have used a lot of Montgomery's since the late 70's and early 80's. Enough experience (mistakes LOL) to have opinions. Take a picture so we can see What you have as the oldest ones with the Montgomery pan may be worth saving as a collector rather than modding as users. Picture should show the broadside look for the lever height, the close up of the pan and the dog or dogless style with the jaws. I don't want to suggest something that you may not want. .......................the mike

Here is an example of the 4’s, all are the same look. Hope this helps, and thank you for the insight.

Yes. That is one of the first models with just the word Montgomerys and the size of the trap (4) on the pan. In good condition its worth about about 15 - 20% more than the later models as the chain looks original also. Levers are set low so that is another indication of an early model. You might want to keep a few for that collector value and see if you can buy some already modded as its a little bit of a chore to remove the coil springs, cut the base, remove the jaws to remove the levers then sliide on/install Bridger levers (correctly - boy I know this one - duh), then re-weld the base, install any base plate at the same time with the jaws correctly aligned and finally slide and set the coils back on the pin. Lam the jaws if you want now. Some guys will file the jaws thinner on the sides and file the existing lever holes open more to get them to raise higher on the jaw for a little more torque for the jaws but replacing the levers with larger opening ones is a better fit for me. IF YOU TRY TO PRY THE JAW TIPS OUT OF THE FRAME (or bend the frame) by not cutting it to remove those jaws,,, you run the risk of breaking either the tip or the frame (at the bend) - know this all too well! I will try to get a picture of a few I did a month ago to show you the after. NOW with all this said, some fellows will install a 2nd set of coils (4 coiling) to the trap as it stands and then ad a base plate and be done. Nothing wrong there but it will take more pressure to set one and those short standard levers are slippery when muddy (retired any/all Mont. 1.5's from my water line in the late 70's after 1 year because of this). Too old to struggle with an overpowered trap on land or in water. I'm sure there are other opinions on what to do with them as I'm not the only answer but this has been "My experience" .............. the mike

Thank you for your insight! I will clean up a few with a bronze brush and some old oil and see how they look afterwards. Looks like I have something to keep me busy in the shop for a few evenings, perfect!!

Here is what (my experiences) your old Mont. should be fixed too. Higher levers, center swiveled, wider or lam jaws. Including a picture of where we cut the base near the end and rewelded it after we added the Bridger levers. This is a #2 and has held a lot of coyotes for me w/o bend or buckle and #2's are lighter steel than the bigger ones. You can buy a # of traps (different makes & manufacturer) now days with all this done for you most with round jaw types. I like the little added area of a square jaw in the # 2's and use either a sterling or MB 650 for tough winter soils but there are others that will suffice and do a good job. Years ago we had the Mont. and V's so we adapted them in the 70's and use larger V's Levers ....... the mike

The Mike, whenever I cut the base to remove the jaws my trap modifier guy would use a full length base plate to be sure to reinforce the cut section.

TC1 was asking, so,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, before I opened my "big" (happy) fingers here, I thought that there are other ways of tweaking this trap and I hate to see a mod that cost as much as just buying essentially the same (or different) trap and mods for about the same money in today's technology. Ruining a collector trap was my brilliant forte as you should see my assorted "coon" user traps that include several #1 S.Newhouse longsprings that I did in the 70's when coons were high and brains were short (in my case). No better LS have I used but a costly education in trap value was learned when I cut and removed original chain then fasted it to the opposite side of the spring as suggested by big name coon trappers. Glad I left the #0 LS S.Newhouse's alone! I will say, I still like the #1 LS Triumphs for # 1's and it didn't hurt too bad when I modded them (still use some) and found out their collector value was/is small. Dobbins told me it was his favorite #1 later when we talked so I felt better about it. Anyone chime in with a picture of a Mod and/or technique for this fellow as my opinion (based on a lot of mistakes) is just that. ..................................the mike

Any and all opinions and options are welcome here and very much appreciated. Btw the Mike, I did pull out a dozen of each size that were the shiniest and set them aside for a rainy day…. But have about 3 dozen to tinker with sometime.