Guys, was ogormans big iron trap the only one of its kind in 86-88?? I’m trying to remember.
I do remember seeing a trap with the coni type springs on a foothold. And I can’t rightly remember where I saw it.
I did have an ogormans catalog from that time period.. maybe that’s where I remember seeing it??
I do remember seeing a page dedicated to someone passing away,,, but again I don’t remember exactly who it was.
Wish I still had it… lost it and a ton of other things when our house caught fire.

There was a standard long spring model also.

The custom traps O'Gorman put on the market were The Wyoming Line of Big Iron Traps. They were built to replace the 114 and 4½ Newhouse because of their cost, risk of theft, and collector value. These traps were specifically made for the beaver trapper in the West. They allowed for trapping in fluctuating water conditions and weighed enough to drown a beaver in the right water conditions. The first series of traps were designed and all handmade by Robbie Campbell of Casper, Wyoming and as such, named the Wyoming Line of Big Iron Traps. The Wyoming X, Wyoming XX, and Wyoming XXX were introduced to the market in 1983-1984.

The Wyoming X has 3/8" jaw thickness with a 6 1/2" outside jaw spread. The trap has a gun notched trigger and two Blake and Lamb #4 springs. It was spring swiveled with a mid-chain Wyoming Stake swivel and has no stamp or WYO X stamp on a round pan. It was the economical version of the "Texas Special" and intended for coyote, cat, and beaver.

The Wyoming XX has a 7" or 8" outside jaw spread made to order to conform to state laws. The XX has heavy offset or non-offset jaws with or without teeth and came with one or two Newhouse 4 ½ springs. It also has a gun notched style trigger, bottom swiveled with a mid-chain swivel, and has no stamp or WYO XX stamp on square pan. The trap was intended for beaver, wolf, and otter.

The Wyoming XXX has a 9" outside jaw spread. The trap sports heavy ½ inch thick jaws with ½ inch offset with teeth. It came with one or two Newhouse 4½ springs. It also has a gun notched style trigger and bottom swiveled with mid-chain swivel and has no stamp, WY XXX T stamp, or WYO XXX stamp on square pan. The trap was intended for beaver, wolf, and otter.

The Wyoming XXX was the first trap produced for the Wyoming Line of Big Iron traps. It was the only trap of the three with the possibility of two different types of pan stamps or no pan stamp. After O'Gorman named the traps, Robbie ordered a custom WYO stamp for the stamping process. Prior to the stamps arrival, pans were stamped WY XXX T and all put on by hand. The T stands for teeth. The traps with WYO XXX were stamped after Robbie received the custom WYO stamp. The XXX was put on by hand. Like the Wyoming XXX, some of the WYO X and WYO XX traps may have no pan stamps. The Wyoming X and XX traps that were stamped had the X and XX put on by hand also.

Only three or four dozen traps were made for each individual type of trap (less than 150 traps in total were produced for all three types of traps combined). All Wyoming X, XX, and XXX traps were first run and hand built in the summer of 1983 by Robbie Campbell in the trapping offseason. He made the jigs for the traps, did all the stick welding, and the construction of the traps.

After O'Gorman's first efforts to make a more economical 114 clone with Robbie Campbell, he decided producing large numbers of the trap needed to be stamped out and machine made for faster production. The next run of all Wyoming Big Iron Traps was done by Sterling Manufacturing out of Rogers, Nebraska. Glen Sterling had the necessary equipment to produce the traps and make manufacturing much quicker and easier.

The first trap to hit the market made by Sterling Manufacturing was the Wyoming XX Big Iron in 1985-1986. This trap was a fabricated steel prototype. The Wyoming XX Big Iron has an 8" outside jaw spread, case hardened 3/8 inch laminated jaws, ¼ inch offset with teeth, Sterling double base plate, D-ring, bottom swiveled, gun notch style Sterling trigger, unstamped square pan, and two NH 4 1/2 springs. There were less than 50 Wyoming XX Big Iron traps produced for O'Gorman Enterprises.

The Wyoming XX Big Iron trap was the predecessor to the Wyoming XX Beaver and Wyoming XX Alaskan Special. The Wyoming XX Beaver Trap and Wyoming XX Alaskan Special were produced from 1987-1992. Only 1000 of these traps were made for O'Gorman Enterprises. The traps have an 8" outside jaw spread, cast offset jaws with teeth, Sterling double base plate, D-ring, bottom swiveled, gun notch style Sterling trigger, and an unstamped square pan. The Wyoming XX Beaver and Wyoming XX Alaskan Special were identical except for the custom made wire springs. The Wyoming XX Alaskan Special springs had more wraps, thicker diameter of wire, and larger dimension of spring eye to produce 100 pound springs. All these individual spring characteristics were calculated mathematically to produce 100 pound springs. Spring production was seventy percent Wyoming XX Alaskan Special and thirty percent Wyoming XX Beaver for the 2000 springs made in total.

No O'Gorman Wyoming XX Beaver or Wyoming XX Alaskan Specials made by Sterling Manufacturing had laminations or round pans. All original traps produced have 114, JAW, and OGORMAN on the inside jaw face from cast molds and all have bolted jaws to cross frame. Only custom made Sterling springs were put on these traps. The molds used to make the Wyoming XX Beaver and the Wyoming XX Alaskan Special are at Tom Parr's trap museum in Galloway, Ohio. The production of these traps from start to finish was a lengthy two year process that O'Gorman had over twenty thousand dollars invested in just the first production run.

The Sterling MJ600 with a factory enlarged pan was also put on the market in 1987. The trap was intended for beaver. The MJ600 has a 6½ inch outside jaw spread, 18 inches of machine chain, three Sterling swivels, and an O'Gorman Long Line Cavalry Picket Pin Swivel on the end. Only twenty dozen of these traps were made for O'Gorman enterprises.

Looks like the right person ^^^^^ replied to this thread!

Just curios, Newhouse and Blake and Lamb was no longer in business in that time period, correct? So the springs of the first run were NOS parts? were there that many available?

AI is amazing….?

One of my biggest trapping regrets,I always wanted some Big Irons for beaver.

GotFur3, thanks for the EXCELLENT response...did Glen produce a MJ600 with teeth?

Vinke no AI. Article is in NATCA. Robbie used Newhouse springs on the XXX and XX and B&L on the X gcs. I'll ask Glen Jr about MJ600 with teeth MChewk.

Thank you Sir

Anyone have a picture of them?

There are Russian made footholds with conibear style springs, probably were being made back in the 80s, but I'm unsure. Other than O'Gorman's the only US footholds I'm aware of with conibear style springs are foot snares. But I'm sure some backyard tinkerers have made some.

Very interesting read, I took would enjoy seeing pictures.

The Rudy Red Wolf uses coni style springs. I’ve never seen one, but the odd Frenchie uses the CS version out east.
Page 93….
https://fur.ca/wp-content/uploads/2...LIVECAPTUREtraps_MARCH2026_FINAL-ENG.pdf

Here you go Bear Tracker. Wyoming XX-Alaskan Special . Alaskan spring vs Beaver spring model on bottom

Thanks for the history lesson.

This is a 1985 XX model with the Newhouse springs.

Some CHUNKS of iron! Thanks GotFur3 and Ross

Yup, I believe this is it!!
I thought at the time that this was the must have trap if you were going to be the best trapper in the world.
I was maybe 16-17 years old when I first saw it in the catalog.

Awesome iron

M

MChewk, I remember O'Gorman writing that the MJ600 makes a decent beaver trap with teeth welded in but they were never for sale in his catalog.