Let's revive this old thread

Closed jawed for me.

The one thing I have not heard mentioned about offsets is the pinch point.thats where I have seen the most foot damage.at the top of the lever where the offset starts.with a closed jaw trap you don't have this.

As much as we want them to be centered in the jaws,that is usually not the case

Also that is the point where laminations end at.

I trap live market and run bridger 2's fully modified and mb 550's.both offset. I also run some bridger 1.65's closed jaw if I have a chance of catching fox.when I got the bridger 2's, the offsets looked to wide to me. so on a few dozen I took them down to about 1/8".they did good with minimal damage UNLESS the foot was over in the lever on the pinch point.that would result in a cut every time.thats where the lamination stopped.the others I left the offset gap stock 1/4". I noticed pretty quick more damage with the stock 1/4" offsets.decided to try some mb 550's because I heard they wouldn't require any work.well got damage with those also.so I took the offset gap down to 1/8" like I did the first batch of bridger 2's I did.damage went way down when caught center of the trap except on a few of the really hard fighters. But if caught over on the side in the pinch point,would be cut Foot every time.i got frustrated and started setting all my closed jaw bridger 1.65's for fox AND coyote and foot damage went way down on coyotes.so closed jaw only for me now.

My bridger 1.65's are laminated by the way.im looking to get some more traps similar to the 1.65's that I don't haveto laminate and do mods on for my live market mix line of fox and coyote.im thinking of trying some mb 450's

Dang fellas.yall gonna let this thread go dead again?right in the middle of trapping season?

OK, lol. I prefer Offset traps for Coyotes!

I prefer a larger jaw spread then the MB 550 has. But they are a good trap in urban areas.

A #3 Dogless Offset trap is hard too beat IMHO.

Way back before the BMP study the argument for and against running off set jaws was one side said the gap was easier on feet while the other side said it was for better lock up.

Smash laminations are an add on while cast is designed to come out of the mold as the jaws are cast .

This certainly isn't the first thread on this topic. lol

I've tried both and ended up selling all of my offset traps. This pic is from 2011, sending out the last of them .

Great thread and there are still a lot of questions amongst trappers.
I think that the "live market" trappers can offer a different perspective in this discussion.
What hasn't been mentioned yet that I think is crucial, is "time in the trap." A lot of states have
a 24 hr or once a day check law while others have a longer time check. I believe that the reason for a lot
of the trap modifications aka improvements were due to the original older weaker traps that the government trappers
were forced to use on longer trap checks. These longer trap checks were due to assigned traplines that covered huge territories
that one trapper just couldn't get to daily. And /or poor weather didn't allow the trapper to travel into that trapline.
Stronger beefed up bases, extra chain and swiveling and jaw laminations increased the foothold traps abilities to get the job done and hold the critter
until the trapper could check the line. With added jaw laminations, extra spring strength was found to be necessary. the old timer Newhouse, Hawley Norton
and other similar double long spring traps had a lot of the characteristics that are described by trappers today. The one thing that most did not have was extra swivels
on the chain. The #2,#3,#4 dbls traps had ONE SWIVEL...the #114 Newhouses had two. My thought have always been. think if these older traps(#2,#3,#4) had a chain swiveled off the
base of the trap like the #114 and had an extra swivel in the chain how many more animals would have been held?
All we trappers can do is evaluate and try to improve our equipment as needed. Each animal is different and acts differently in the trap. Some never stop fighting and others fight a little and just lay down. I will say critters like possums and skunks will drive a conscientious trapper crazy trying figure out what to do with our traps when targeting coyotes and encountering these smaller fragile boned animals. Today's traps are the best we have ever had....my hat is off to the manufacturers.
Just my take hope this helps to enlighten a few newbies.

A little stick/rock in an offset makes for a lost critter.
A little stick/rock in a closed jaw makes it an offset.
I care absolutely nothing about foot damage except on ferals and Reds, but I still see more damage with offsets vs closed jaws.

Great information everyone! I agree time in the trap is crucial.

What do some of yall thing about the pinch point on the offsets I talked about? Do any of yall notice the cutting like I did when the paw gets over on the side? I also run a few jakes.gret traps with little to no foot damage when caught in the rubber.but caught over by the lever,some of the worst I have seen.i put big pans on them and use them strictly for cats now

I own over 100 of the MB450's and 72 MB 550's, no off sets, two coil. If I had to choose only one trap it would be the 450. Only real advantage of the 550 for me, is the extra jaw width that helps deal with the toe nails on badger and their approach to a dirt hole.

I don't understand why anyone would 4 coil a trap myself.

Have always preferred a closed jaw, multi-species trap.

No lams, no 4 coil...Also like a square edge jaw, not rounded.