Sterling 600 vs mb650 cast

Alright I did a little searching and I wasn't really coming up with what I was looking for. I have 3 dozen mj600's and 2 dozen jakes. After the past few seasons iv been leaning toward likeing the sterlings more even though I did catch a 32lb female bobcat by one toe last season with a jake they will always have a home in my shed but they are just big and heavy.i have never owned or handled a mb650. I'm leaning toward buying a dozen to try but I'd like to hear what you guys have to say. sell me on why you like one vs the other. I'm looking for life span,bedding characteristics, holding power, over all quality, really just any of your guys opinions on these two traps. I trap coyote, cats and a few fox. Should I try a dozen 650's or just stick with the sterlings? I'd like to get my hands on a dozen mj500 as well but they seen super hard to come by.

Stick with the Sterlings I have had a few MB 650 cast jaw traps . They have a dead spot on the back of the pan that a Sterling DOES NOT have . I have about 75 Sterling MJ 600's . So I would gladly buy you a dozen MB 650s for a Dozen of you old Sterlings, IF you insist on trying them. PM me if you want to work out a deal . LOL!

No no. I'm keeping the sterlings. Just wondering if 650s are worth trying. Score sterlings 1-0

Sterlings are the best, but the 650 cast is also a great trap. Have had zero issues with them. Also easy to repair and replace parts. Fixed 3 tractor casualties from this fall including 1 ran over by a 4 wheel drive dually tractor. One tough trap. The trigger system is what sets them apart and the Sterlings have the best trigger mechanism on the market.

Buy 1. MB 650. Buy a trap pan tester. Start on the MB 650 pan. Set tension at 3 or 4 lbs. THEN start at dead center of the pan. As you go to the 12 o’clock position if WILL get heavier ! Then you hit a big dead spot. I will bet on this!

One reason MTP came out with the MB650 was availablity. Guys just couldn’t get the Sterlings.
Like others have said before all three traps are excellent choices. Consider cost and different features offered on each and only you can make the desicion. I have used the 650s and Jakes from their initial offerings great traps. I do like the ability to adjust pan tension when I want. Keep experimenting with your traps until you are confident and have a system down.
Hope this helps.

Never seen a Jake trap so can't comment on them. I have MB650s both cast jaw and laminated. They are a real nice trap, but they do have the dead spot (as does the 750, only I swear worse) I run the pan tension real light, about as light as I can without it going off, this helps alleviate the dead spot, but if you have problems with lightweight nontargets this won't be good for them. Here we don't have possums, almost no coons and skunks are generally hibernating so I don't have those issues.
Sterling is a better trap, but not as available.

Has anyone taken the 650 and put a washer(s) on the Jaw hold down rod at the bracket besides me (like Seldom suggested a few years back)? No issues from me as that solves a lot of my pan tension problem. All three traps are of professional quality and does the average fur harvester NEED that quality of a tool when they are running 24 sets and checking daily? I know,,, its WANT not NEED LOL.... the mike

650s suck. Pan notch deal rounds off, hadone get both thumbs while bedding, chucked it in the weeds. Ya, I know guys have put case hardener on the notch and underside of pan, but that is just too much crap to worry about on a foothold trap. Also, dead spot as mentioned.

Mike haven't heard of this, can you post a picture of the washer setup.

All I run now is the MJs the only thing that messes up a good MJ is some joker that thinks it needs improving! LOL That’s my opinion mod away

Sounds like I better just stick with the mjs. Wish I had a few off the 500's to try out.

Ran the 600s for a while. Great trap but to expensive and no pan tension adjustment bugged me. Ran 650 i/o for years. Good trap but dead spot and after years of use I had trap prematurely firing problems due to the pan notch. Still caught hundreds of yotes in them. Both traps bed great and hold well with good feet.
The 500s I did t like at all. Terrible feet for me. Didn’t catch many yotes in them but all were bad.
Jakes are awesome but get tired of constantly having to adjust pan tension. Corner catches are nasty.
Bridger 3 full mod with i/o lams work well. Great feet and don’t break the bank. But require some work.
Montana’s held great with good feet. Tough for me to adjust.

The point is there are things you can knit pick about every trap. All have pluses and minuses. I’ve ran about all the #3 and #4 size yote traps and caught yotes in them. They all work. Just depends on your goals and money you have to spend. And how much work you want to put into the trap and chain rig.

I have about 7 doz. 650. Are they perfect no but I get good performance out of them. I ran sterling's for a while . just me I didn't. Like them as well as the 650. The only way to know if you like them is to try them . you decide.

Sterling has small pan. The area of the pan that will pop a 650 is actually bigger. If you cant catch and hold coyotes and cats, just as many as you can with a sterling, well I would say your fibbing. The 650 does have wear problems. Need a new pan after it pops a few hundred times. The back of the pan gets wore where it engages the notch. The notch needs dressed after some serious use also butI have never had to replace that. Sterlings the little notch to create tension gets worn. Trap is plenty fast enough that lack of pan tension is not a problem. Though people who read instead of trap will disagree with that too.

The reason the 650 has the "dead spot" is the angle of the pan post ( fulcrum point) is not stretched out enough. AS with all traps the closer to the fulcrum point the pressure is applied the higher the tension is . The further away from that point the tension is less. To help that I set mine at 2.5 pounds dead center so at the fulcrum point its approximately 3 pounds. If fox are in the mix I set them floppy, yes I still get pad caught coyotes. Ive never used the MJs but Glenn was way ahead of his time. All the great traps we have now we can thank the coyotes for all the improvements not the BMPs Just to hold them, and the trappers that cared. For me I prefer a trap with less moving parts than either. One thing for sure we now have lots of awesome choices , in the end the decision is yours and yours alone. Remember tho you can buy a trap cheaper but it's real easy to wrap 5 bucks into modifications to every trap just to get close to a trap good to go. Also, if there is a weakness coyotes will exploit it till it eventually fails.

Trust me there's alot more to designing a trap than slapping springs on steel.

I will preface this by saying I’m a fan of the 600; however, if comparing dead spots versus square inches on a pan, if you subtract the dead space on a 650, there is still more pan area on the 650 than on the 600. That said, if the only argument is the dead spot, it’s not a great argument.

But I agree with Gary…the fulcrum point could be changed for a HUGE improvement.